Locked Out of a Warehouse or Factory

Who to phone before a locksmith

When a shift is standing outside a locked building at six in the morning, the instinct is to get the door open by any means. Five minutes on the phone can save the whole call-out:

• Your key holders. The owner, operations manager, other shift supervisors, the person who locked up last night.
• Your security or armed response company. Some businesses lodge a set of keys with them. They'll also need to know before the alarm is disturbed.
• The landlord or property manager, if your lease lets them keep a set for the unit.
• The last person with the keys. Keys are often in a car or a jacket pocket, not lost.

If nobody can get there, or the keys really are gone, phone us. We're open 24/7 and fully mobile, so the technician comes to the site. More on this kind of work is on our commercial locksmith page.

Who can authorise entry to the premises

Before opening any door we ask for proof that the person asking has the right to be let in. On a business site that usually means proof of a connection to the business and to that address, not only an ID book.

The same person, or someone they nominate, should be the one who hears and accepts the quote. If the person at the door can't approve spending, the work waits until someone who can is on the line.

Getting through the business park gatehouse

Many industrial and business parks around Kempton Park run their own access control. Property listings for parks in Isando and Chloorkop describe access-controlled entry and on-site security, and some parks in Spartan advertise round-the-clock security. A contractor's vehicle that nobody expected can be stopped at the boom.

1. Phone the gatehouse or park security and tell them a locksmith is coming, which unit it's for and who authorised it.
2. Ask what they need from a visiting contractor: name, ID, vehicle registration, or a person from your company to meet them.
3. Send us the park name, the gate to use, the unit number, and a location pin.
4. If the park has several entrances, say which one security expects contractors to use.

Which door, and what's behind it

A warehouse or factory usually has several ways in, and they aren't all the same job.

• The personnel door is usually the quickest way in if it has an ordinary cylinder or deadlock. Once inside, staff can often open everything else from within.
• Roller shutters are often locked with bolts and padlocks, sometimes from the inside only. See roller shutter door lock problems for how they're secured and what goes wrong.
• Yard and palisade gates usually come down to a padlock or a gate lock.
• Electric locks or access control may be the cause, not a lost key. If a card reader or keypad door won't release, the company that installed the system may need to be involved.

Settle the alarm with your security company before the door opens. Otherwise you could have armed response arriving at a door that's being opened.

What staff shouldn't try

• Don't force a roller shutter. A curtain forced up against a bolt can bend slats or jump out of its guides, and forcing a motorised door upward while its drive is engaged can strip the gears.
• Don't climb over palisade or electric fencing. It's dangerous, and it can set off the alarm.
• Don't damage the lock "to save time". A non-destructive opening, which we try first, leaves the lock working. A destroyed lock has to be replaced before the building can be secured tonight.
• Don't solve a missing key by blocking or chaining an escape door. Obstructing escape routes in a building is an offence under the building regulations, and it puts staff at risk if there's a fire.

When stock or deliveries can't wait

A lockout at a warehouse isn't only about getting people inside. There might be a truck booked at the dock, chilled stock in a cold room or a production line that has to start. Tell us when you phone so the technician knows what's at stake, and decide in advance which door matters most. Often getting one door open lets staff open the rest from the inside, which keeps the job, and the quote, smaller.

The R250 call-out brings a technician to your site. The work is quoted on site before anything starts, and nothing is done until someone with authority agrees. Payment is by EFT, cash or card. If you need to plan for the cost, what a mobile locksmith costs in Kempton Park explains what affects a commercial quote.

After the doors are open

Every lockout has a cause. Once the shift is working, find out what it was:

• If keys were lost or taken, find out whether anything identified the business or the site. If so, replace the affected cylinders or padlocks: see lock replacement.
• If only one person had the key, you need more key holders, not more keys hidden on site.
• If a staff member left with keys, that's a sign the key register isn't being kept. Our guide to key control for businesses covers registers, shifts and lost keys.
• If a padlock or roller shutter lock failed, it may be worn, corroded or the wrong type for the job. See choosing padlocks for warehouses, yards and containers.

We don't cut or copy keys. New cylinders and padlocks come with their own keys from the manufacturer, and you decide who gets them.

Need a locksmith to look at it?

If this hasn't solved the problem, our commercial locksmith service covers it. We're a mobile locksmith in Kempton Park, so we come to your door. Areas where this comes up often include Isando, Spartan, Chloorkop.

Sources and further reading

• Anvil Property: warehouse listing, 14 Diesel Road, Isando — Access-controlled entry and on-site security in a secure Isando business park; roller shutter doors listed.
• Anvil Property: A-grade warehouse, Proton Industrial Park, Chloorkop — Industrial park with controlled access and security; multiple roller shutter doors.
• Newpoint Property: Spartan area profile — Mix of heavy and light industrial property; Kelvin View Business Park and Ergon Park described with 24-hour security.
• Newpoint Property: Isando area profile — Warehouses, factories and manufacturing plants; manufacturing, logistics and distribution businesses.
• SANS 10400: Fire protection (sans10400.org.za) — Obstructing escape routes in buildings is an offence; Part T covers exit doors and escape routes.
• B&D Doors: Rollmasta roller garage door manual operation — Forcing a roller door can push slats out of the guide tracks and strip the drive gears.