Office lockout: what to do before the locksmith arrives

Check for a key holder first

Before calling a locksmith, think about who else has a key: a co-owner, the building manager, a cleaning company, the alarm company's key holder. In downtown buildings the property manager may be able to open a suite with the master key, which costs nothing.

If the alarm is armed, call the alarm company before anyone opens the door. A forced entry alert can bring police to your own office.

Proof of authority

A commercial locksmith will not open a business door for anyone who asks. Expect to show ID and something that ties you to the business: a business licence, a lease, a utility bill, or an owner or manager confirming by phone. If you are an employee, have the owner call the dispatcher or send written permission.

This step protects the business. A locksmith who skips it would open the door for a former employee just as readily.

Keep the day moving

Move staff and customers somewhere comfortable, forward the office phone to a mobile if you can, and put a sign on the door. If the lockout happened because a key snapped in the lock, do not try to dig the piece out with a knife; it pushes the fragment deeper and makes extraction harder.

• Call the building manager and alarm company
• Gather ID and proof of the business
• Forward phones and post a notice
• Leave a snapped key fragment where it is

After the door is open

Ask why the lockout happened. A worn cylinder, a bad key copy or a door closer slamming the latch can all cause repeat lockouts. If keys went missing with a former employee, rekeying the affected doors is cheaper than living with the risk.

For businesses with many doors, a master key system lets managers carry one key while staff keys open only their areas. The commercial locksmith page explains the options.

Costs to expect

Commercial lockouts on the price list start at $19.00 plus the $29 service call fee, and the final price is confirmed on site. Offices in Downtown and Uptown should mention the floor and suite number when calling.

Setting up a key policy

Small businesses rarely write down who holds keys, which is why lockouts and lost keys turn into a scramble. A one-page key policy fixes that. List every door, every key, and the name of every person who holds one, and update it whenever someone joins or leaves.

Mark keys with a code rather than the door name, so a lost key does not announce what it opens. Store a spare set somewhere off site, such as with an owner, so a single lost key never closes the business. When someone leaves without returning keys, rekey the doors those keys opened within days, not months.

If the building has its own master system, keep the building manager's after-hours number in that policy too. It is often the quickest way back in.

Review the policy once a year, or whenever the business moves, renovates or changes cleaners. Five minutes of review can show a key that nobody has seen in months, which is exactly the key worth rekeying out of the system before it becomes a problem.

Share the policy with whoever opens and closes the premises, so the first person at the door in the morning knows who to call before anyone thinks about a locksmith.

• List doors, keys and key holders
• Code keys instead of labelling them
• Keep a spare set off site
• Rekey promptly after departures