Material Security

["Gregory M. Krause" <grekraus@badlands.NoDak.edu>]

I'm looking for comments on material security in a University/Research
setting.  Our University's Medical School research wing has laboratories
that are cannot be completely secured.  The door to the main hall can be
locked, but each laboratory is connected to at least one of its neighbors
by a fire door that cannot be locked.  Naturally the researchers have used
the fire doors to establish suites of rooms, so they can go between labs
without going into the main hall.  Our Agreement State regulators however,
feel that we cannot adequately secure the labs, since we cannot lock the
fire doors.  Our security proposal was to have all stock material placed
in locked freezers/refrigerators/cabinets/etc., store all bulk waste in
securely locked storage rooms, and lock laboratories when not occupied.
The State wants more, but we're not sure where we want to go with this.
The State suggested installing loud local alarms on the fire doors, but
the researchers are opposed since they currently use the labs as suites.
I've proposed limiting access to the entire floors, but the professors
also have their offices attached to their labs and locking the floors
would limit student access to the professors.  Naturally completely
redesigning the building is out of the question.  Any ideas?  Please
e-mail responses to me at:  grekraus@badlands.nodak.edu

Thanks

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