Tatua Dairy integrates Gallagher monitored pulse fence to minimise health and safety risks while maintaining product quality

The Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company manufactures markets and sells specialised dairy ingredients and food products, 90% of which are exported around the world.

Tatua’s security system was recently upgraded to ensure world-class access control and boundary security that enhanced Tatua’s globally recognised food safety and quality programme. This upgrade has provided additional assurances for customers who purchase the company’s food and ingredient products.

Layered security solution

At its manufacturing site at Tatuanui, near Morrinsville in New Zealand’s dairying region, Tatua invested in a layered security solution, protecting the site from the outside in. The Gallagher monitored pulse fence acts to deter and defend against would-be intruders.

Inside the facility, a range of access control products are used to ensure people entering the facility are who they should be, and have current Health & Safety site induction competencies. This allows them authorisation to work on-site and, if required, in specific production areas. Tatua operates 24/7 and has 370 employees, over 1300 inducted contractors, and numerous trucks and milk tankers accessing the site daily. It is crucial the access control system can perform several functions to ensure the site is safe and secure.

Integrated security

The Gallagher system can integrate with multiple security products from CCTV to biometric readers

Integration was a key factor when choosing a Gallagher system. Projects Engineer, Grant Webb, said, “We have multiple areas which need specific security requirements. As the Gallagher system can integrate with multiple security products ranging from CCTV to biometric readers, it ensures the right people have the right access to specific areas on site.”

Fingerprint recognition

Morpho fingerprint readers provide primary access onto the site and into buildings. As there are so many people on-site, and because contractors can change on a regular basis, fingerprint readers eliminate the need for access cards, which saves both time and money.

It also reduces the need for anyone entering production areas to carry an access card, which is a potential source of product contamination.

Licence plate recognition

Milestone Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) is used at the three entrance gates to the tanker bay. Details of the tankers delivering milk and chemicals to the site are loaded into the CCTV system interface. This links to the Gallagher Command Centre, so when a tanker arrives at a gate, the LPR system identifies the pre-registered licence plate.

This feeds back to Command Centre and grants access to approved vehicles. “There are over 60 tankers registered, that previously had key fobs that would go missing with no record of who held the fob,” says Webb. “LPR makes the delivery of milk and chemicals more efficient and has eliminated the need for swipe card readers and mounting posts that would traditionally be required to gain entry to this area.”

Command centre

The milk testing system in the tanker bay has been integrated into Command Centre. The hoses in the bay are always locked. When a tanker arrives, the driver first completes an inhibitory substance test on a load of milk. If the milk test is clear, the Gallagher system releases the locks on the milk inlet hoses via integration with the site’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, programmable logic controller (PLC), and milk testing system.

If the test is positive, an external alarm is raised within the SCADA system, and the hoses remain locked so milk can’t be delivered. This mitigates milk contamination and improves product safety.

PLC system integration

The integration with the PLC system has allowed the Command Centre lockdown feature to be enabled within the tanker bay

Further integration with the site PLC system has allowed the Command Centre lockdown feature to be enabled within the tanker bay. So, when clean-in-place (CIP) cleaning is active, the area is automatically placed into lockdown. This excludes trucks and personnel from entering the area when dangerous chemicals and hot water are being used.

Window button integration

Forklift entry into warehouses is access controlled via Nedap Window Button integration with Command Centre. The Nedap system provides a long-range vehicle identification tag for secure vehicle access to major airlocks into manufacturing plants, where forklifts deliver raw goods and ingredients.

This system ensures that only authorised forklift drivers can open the airlock. The doors on either side of the airlocks are controlled via interlock door rules created in Command Centre. The interlock rules only allow one door to be open at a time, thereby maintaining the integrity of the hygiene zone of the manufacturing plant. Both of these systems help mitigate product safety risks on site.

Simplifying security processes

Department employees also find the personal data fields important for recording health and safety qualifications, such as working at heights. When a contractor arrives, staff can check the contractor has the right qualifications to work in the area they are entering.

Contractor management 

When the site induction competency is due to expire, the contractor receives an SMS notification. Their supervisor will also receive an email. Another feature of the Gallagher system that Tatua uses is the reporting function. This is used as part of the company’s ongoing contractor management. The use of a QR code for preregistered visits and visitor passes makes the sign in and sign out process very quick and simple

A separate report is sent to each company with an inducted employee, to advise contractor managers/ supervisors on the induction status of their employees, which are emailed out on a monthly basis. This ensures the contracting companies have people with authorised access to the site and allows them to schedule their own re-inductions when required. Reporting is also used to check activity at the monitored pulse fence.

Visitor management

A visitor management kiosk is located at the main reception for all visitor registrations. It requires all visitors to read and accept Tatua’s terms and conditions of entry, including Health and Safety rules before a visitor pass is issued.

Once signed in, the Tatua host receives an automatic SMS and email notification of their visitor’s arrival. “The use of a QR code for preregistered visits and visitor passes makes the sign in and sign out process very quick and simple,” says Webb.

Multiple levels of security

Webb concludes, “Our security solution from Gallagher offers so much more than access control. Integration is key to ensuring we add multiple levels of security in areas such as delivery and dispatch, milk collection, and more. This ensures the site runs smoothly, minimising health and safety risks to employees and contractors, and maintaining quality and product safety standards.”