Tensor Takes on Mission-Critical Role for Tradebe

Tradebe is one of the largest multi-national specialist waste management treatment companies in the United Kingdom. It specialise in offering quality innovative environmental services, such as Hazardous Waste Management and Treatment, High-Temperature Hazardous Waste Incineration, Pharmaceutical and Clinical Waste Disposal, Management and Treatment and Total Waste Management Services.

One of their site's is a Thermal Treatment Centre at Fawley, near Southampton. This plant incinerates up to 105,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural and industrial waste every year, reducing its volume by up to 85% with a resultant reduction in landfill requirements.

The waste management plant was initially the property of Pyros Environmental Services, who had an extensive installation of Tensor Time and Attendance and Access Control system.

Unfortunately, Pyros went into administration the other year with the business & certain assets being acquired by Willacy Guinard Holdings Limited, part of the Tradebe Group.

Despite the change in ownership, the Tensor system remained in place, due to the potentially mission-critical role it played.

"We keep a lot of hazardous materials on site, so having a very secure and reliable access control system, complete with high-performance Fire Roll Call function, is vital to our business. Plus, whenever one of our customers visits our premises, the Tensor system gives them further peace of mind regarding the high standards of security we uphold as part of our daily activity." said Edward Hutton, IT Support for Tradebe Fawley.

Mr. Hutton explained that they are using the Tensor Smart Card system to its full potential and that it has proved its worth. When asked what he liked most about the Tensor Smart Card me pointed to one feature they simply couldn't live without — Fire Roll Call.

"Fire Roll Call is a very important feature for us. In fact, I'd say it's vital, considering the specific nature of our activity — waste disposal via incineration. We trigger fire alarms to test the Tensor system weekly and there were also a few occasions when it was put through its paces in real-life situations. It passed with flying colours, rapidly printing out the list of people that were on-site at the time."

The Tensor Fire Roll Call software automatically generates and prints out a report in case of an emergency, containing critical information regarding who is on site at any given moment and recent movements. Most importantly, unlike most other systems, the Fire Roll Call function is executed directly from the clocking stations, not requiring access to a PC or computer infrastructure that might be affected by fire, explosions, or similar catastrophes.

For optimum reaction speed, Fire Roll Call is triggered automatically via a direct wired connection between the site's Fire Alarm and the Tensor Access Control system's clocking units — a potentially life-saving approach! Lists of people on site is printed on two ultra-fast printers, one located in the main Admin Building and the other in the Gatehouse.

As employees, visitors or contractors use their Smart Cards or Smart Key Fobs to gain entry they area automatically logged onto the Fire Roll Call. If an emergency happens, then they are "ticked" as safe as they present themselves at their pre-determined fire assembly/muster points. This is a speedy process using either their Smart Card or Fobs, or by simply being checked off the printed list.

Asked what has impressed him most about Tensor, Mr. Hutton answered, "It's a very reliable system that works fine all the time." He also added "The Tensor Access Control system is certainly extremely easy to use, and the same goes for the Smart Cards — we've never had a problem with them."

Our reporter then asked Mr. Hutton about the quality of the after-sales service supplied by Tensor. "Very good, very good. We have a maintenance contract with Tensor and we're very happy with the level of service both the help desk and the engineers in the Operations team have provided" was his reply.

"In fact, we recently experienced a problem with one of the system's keypads. I called Tensor's help desk and they were very helpful in determining what the problem was and booking an engineer's visit to our site. The engineer arrived on site the following day and sorted out the problem very quickly and in a very professional manner." he added.

Would Mr Hutton recommend Tensor to other companies? "Oh yes, certainly" he replied "The Tensor Access Control System is very simple and reliable, and works just fine. Plus, Tensor is a very good company that provides excellent after-sales support".

Customer Information

Tradebe Fawley

Fawley Thermal Treatment Centre

Charleston Road

Hardley

Hythe

Southampton

SO45 3NX

Phone: 0238 088 3000

Web: http://www.tradebe.co.uk/