When you are in charge of an event venue, the demands of each event can be wildly different from one another. That can make it pretty tough to ensure everything is taken care of in terms of security and protection of guests. However, as the individual in charge, these tasks become imperative to your long-term success. That’s why we wanted to help you understand the value of portable child locks for cupboards. Storage space in an event venue can become home to some pretty important materials.
As such, children could be put at risk if they interact with these cupboard spaces. Temporary safety is a valuable feature to have, especially for cupboard spaces where the demands and safety requirements could change from event to event. To help you understand what portable cupboard locks can do for your next investment, we spoke with professional security experts at Locks & Handles. What did we learn about the benefits of portable child locks for cupboards? Let’s investigate!
Why Events Need Lockable Cupboards
Events are often quite transient, aren’t they? As such, the entire purpose of each room in your venue can change. From one event to the next, cupboards that contained nothing could now be home to storage of important equipment, accessories, and materials. Sometimes, it might even be where your cleaning staff are storing their cleaning equipment. The temporary nature can create confusion, which could potentially create situations where children and staff alike are put at risk.
With these factors in mind, investing in cupboard locks should be a priority. Most of the time, you can use portable – or temporary – cupboard child locks. These help to lock down areas where risks could take place, reducing the chances of a child hurting themselves, scalding themselves, and/or damaging equipment and property. Temporary staff and the presence of children, as well as other event attendees, create risk factors you need to account for. This includes protecting storage spaces.
Of course, temporary cupboard safety can be hard to organise on your own. You need to find quality locks that are removable without leaving any visible marks or signs of damage on the cupboard. Where do you start?
Portable Lock Options For Events
You have several choices to think about if you want to install quality child locks for cupboards. Locks & Handles staff recommended a few different types of cupboard locks for you to consider, including:
Push-Button Child Locks
One of the best places to start in your search for quality child locks for cupboards would be locks that are operated with a push button. These require you to enter a specific set of button presses in a set order that would unlock the door. Since no keys are required, you don’t need to worry about kids ‘borrowing’ the keys. So long as staff memorise the button combinations, these work a treat!
Magnetic Child Locks
If protecting the children from entering the cabinet in any way, shape, or form is the goal, it would be wise to look at magnetic child locks for cupboards. These can only be opened with a magnetic key that turns off the magnetic protection. That works extremely well to make sure that there is a low-profile lock system that does not look too bulky or get in the way of standard lock operation. So long as the key is kept with supervisors who can be trusted, kids are highly unlikely to break the locks open.
Spring-Loaded Child Locks
Often, the best way to prevent a child from opening a lock is to make it too strong for them to manage. Spring-loaded locks need to be given an adult-level physical push or pull to open/close. As such, kids cannot tamper with these because they lack the physical strength. That stops them from being able to open the lock once it has been secured in place.
Combination Child Locks
Another option would be to go for a combination lock system. These are easy to use for staff and hard for kids to break through. They would need to either steal the access code or guess the code. So long as staff are strict about combination codes being kept secret, there should be little to no chance of kids breaking through the combination locks. They are also durable enough to avoid physical breaks.
RFID Child Locks
If you want to go more advanced with your child locks for cupboards, go for RFID-based access. These use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to provide or revoke access. If someone, like a staff member, cannot provide their RFID access tag or card, then the locks will stay in place. These are a bit more costly, but can be used time and time again. They can also be easily distributed to staff.
These cupboard locks are extremely effective because there is no real way for a child to tinker with the locks. While other mechanical locks could be undone with enough skill and attention to detail, the kids would need to have access to RFID jammers – or similar tools – to succeed. We know that kids are more tech savvy than ever, but how many of them are breaking into RFID locks?!
Flexible Safety For Your Event Venue
With the above, you should now have a pretty healthy range of options to pick from. Most of the above options come in both permanent and portable alternatives. You might need to pay a little more for removable child locks for cupboards, but they will provide you with a more timely alternative. Yes, some venues might benefit more from just installing permanent locks, but many will not.
As such, it would be wise to think about fitting and installing more flexible safety options overall. These allow you to remove them when children are less likely to be present, giving adults and staff easier access without the same limitations.
PRO TIP: When storing these locks, make sure that you take the time to properly store them. Keep them in a place where they are protected from the weather and humidity, lest they get damaged through oxidation or similar wear and tear problems. Ironically, you might be best securing these portable locks in a permanently locked cabinet or container!
