Increasing Security at ACC Liverpool with a Visitor Management System from Safetynet Solutions®

“It’s great that all our hosts can access the SKYVISITOR™ system and use the pre-booking feature.”

ACC (Arena and Convention Centre) Liverpool is home to the BT Convention Centre, Echo Arena and most recently the Exhibition Centre Liverpool. This spectacular world class venue is located on the banks of the River Merseyside in Liverpool. The ACC centre alone hosts over 200 events and conferences each year with around 14,500 visitors.

Identifying areas for improvement 

In early 2015 the company identified a critical need to increase the level of visitor security on site. Although their current security company covered much of their requirements (such as 24hr manned building security, access control and staff identification) the issue of visitor management and identification still remained. With over 280 visitors on site each week (simply viewing the facilities, others attending conferences and events), there were security issues highlighted:

Visitor access
How could the reception or security team identify which visitors were expected on site that day? This was a question left unanswered. Many of the visitors could simply provide their name and a valid host to be authorised access with no check as to whether they were expected.

Visitor identification
Visitors could not be easily identified throughout the building. This meant that the security team could not verify whether a person was authorised to be on site. 

Visitor management
The reception team were not able to verify at any point in the day how many visitors were in the building. Many had simply left without signing out due to not being issued with an official pass. 

So, what system did they have in place?

“Before working with Safetynet, we used to hand write our own version of visitor books and paper passes to issue to visitors. Not only did this pose a huge security risk, it also gave an unprofessional image to the visitors. It did not reflect the level of professionalism and service provided by our team.” - Emma Dunbar  (ACC Guest Relations Manager)

The SKYVISITOR™ Solution 

After approaching Safetynet Solutions® with their visitor management concerns and initially trialling out the software, ACC chose to have SKYVISITOR™ installed at three reception locations; the Exhibition Centre reception, the ACC guest relations desk, and the ACC contractor entrance which is manned 24hrs. Additional peripherals were installed as part of their chosen set up; these included thermal printers, QR scanners, webcams and signature tablets. 

The visitor experience

Using SKYVISITOR™, hosts within the ACC building are now able to provide their guests with a professional visitor experience. Prior to the visit, the host is able to produce an email invitation with any relevant site safety or event information. This gives the reception team full visibility of who is expected on site and increases overall security. For any large number of expected visitors, the hose simply uploads a spreadsheet of name and details to the system, making SKYVISITOR™ the perfect solution for conferences and events. 

Once on site, authorised visitors are issued with printed thermal passes and coloured lanyards, providing clearly visible identification. A signature tablet is also used to capture authorised signatures from new visitors showing evidence of their agreement to site safety procedures. SKYVISITOR™ automatically asks for this when booking in a new visitor. SKYVISITOR™ also provides ACC with the ability to capture photos when required and create new badge templates. 

“We’re now looking to use new badge templates on a regular basis. These will be used for events where the host requires their own logo printed on the pass.” - Emma Dunbar  (ACC Guest Relations Manager)

Upon checkout, visitors hand their passes back to the desk and sign out with no fuss. The reception team scan the pass using the QR scanner to check-out visitors and efficiently, so there’s no need to action anything manually on the ststem. In order to facilitate this, each pass is printed with a QR code automatically generated by SKYVISITOR™. 

Reporting features
The ACC team regularly use SKYVISITOR™ to run statistical reports (such as expected visitors for each day and previous visitor/contractor history). This is a crucial part of their security process – having an accurate report of visitors and contractors is hugely important, it allows them to act confidently upon any internal issues that may arise. 

Contractor management & visibility 
In addition to 280 visitors, ACC also has over 140 contractors on site each week. These contractors can potentially work on site for several days and usually require issuable items (such as headsets, radios, keys). With the use of SKYVISITOR™, the security team are now able to issue these items to contractors in advance and set recurring visits. This provides a much more streamlined approach.

Easy to Use, Easy to Access

“It’s great that all our hosts can access the SKYVISITOR™ system and use the pre-booking feature. I use the system every day on the guest relations desk and find it very easy to use. The fact that it integrates all our reception locations and updates to just one system on the SKYVISITOR™ cloud is perfect fo us. Our hosts are able to have their own SKYVISITOR™ login which saves us a lot of time on administration.” - Lee Taylor  (Guest Relations Receptionist)

Establishing Client Relations
The Safetynet team continue to work with ACC Liverpool – providing site visits, technical support and staff training for SKYVISITOR™ as well as any additional hardware and accessories. 

“I look forward to working closely with the Safetynet team over the next few years, providing a better understanding of our requirements and how we work. The main aim is to provide the most professional visitor experience possible for our guests.” - Emma Dunbar  (ACC Guest Relations Manager)

Find out more about the ACC Liverpool Group at www.accliverpool.com