An automated gate on a commercial entrance

The part of the system they actually read

A camera is a deterrent only if someone believes it is there. The sign on the gate does that work, and it does it every day for years, which makes it the largest advertising surface the group owns.

Why they look like this

Three registers, and the split is the point

read before anything else

Every sign on every gate in Harare is yellow and black. That does the warning job and none of the other one, because nothing distinguishes one company’s sign from the next.

So we split the set. Where there is a genuine hazard the code is kept exactly, because safety is not a place to be interesting. Everywhere else the signs are Sentinel green, and they are recognised from across a street.

Ask about signage

In the set

8 signs

Artwork

Vector, type outlined

Languages

English, Shona, Ndebele

Fitted by

Sentinel Integrated Technologies

The set

Eight signs, and where each one goes

Electric fence warning sign — **Electric fence warning** statutory · 220 × 300 mm Every 10m along an energised fence, both faces, and at every gate and corner. Required wherever the fence is energised.

CCTV in operation sign — **CCTV in operation** deterrent · 300 × 400 mm At every vehicle and pedestrian entrance, and at the boundary of any area a camera covers.

Armed response sign — **Armed response** deterrent · 300 × 400 mm On the gate and the street boundary. This is the one that changes a decision, so it goes where it is read first.

Guard dogs on patrol sign — **Guard dogs on patrol** deterrent · 300 × 400 mm Where dogs actually work, and nowhere else. A dog sign on a site with no dog teaches people the signs are bluffs.

Access controlled sign — **Access controlled** deterrent · 300 × 400 mm At the pedestrian gate and reception door of a controlled site.

Alarm monitored sign — **Alarm monitored** deterrent · 300 × 200 mm Beside the door a keyholder uses, and on the window of a shop or office where it is read from the pavement.

Protected by Sentinel sign — **Protected by Sentinel** presence · 300 × 200 mm The billboard. One per site, at eye height where someone waiting at the gate will read it.

Equipment asset tag sign — **Equipment asset tag** deterrent · 80 × 50 mm On every panel, recorder, motor and reader Sentinel installs. It is how a technician knows the history, and how a client knows who to call.

Walking a site

Where the signs go, in the order they are read

Street boundary

The first sign, read from a vehicle before anyone stops. It is the one that changes a decision, so nothing else competes with it here.

Vehicle gate

At the point someone has to wait. Cameras and response together, facing the driver rather than the house.

Fence line

Along the energised run, on both faces, and at every corner and gate. These are not optional and they are not a deterrent, they are a warning.

Pedestrian entrance

Where a visitor is expected to stop and be logged. Paired with the intercom so the instruction and the means are in one place.

Building entry

Beside the door a keyholder uses, and on the glass of a shop or office where it is read from the pavement.

Equipment

On every panel, recorder, motor and reader. It is how a technician knows the history and how a client knows who to call.

On a real wall

Where these end up

A Sentinel CCTV warning sign fixed to a brick wall — The CCTV warning sign fixed at eye height on a brick wall

Two Sentinel staff at a building entrance, the CCTV sign on the wall beside them — The same sign at a building entrance, read on the way in

Specification

What the sign maker needs

Material

3mm aluminium composite for gate and wall signs. 1.5mm aluminium for fence signs, which take weather on both faces.

UV stable solvent print on the face, matt laminated. Matt, because a gloss sign at the wrong angle is a mirror.

Reflective

Class 1 retroreflective on the street boundary and gate signs wherever the approach is unlit.

Fixing

Four stainless screws with caps into the wall or gate frame. Structural tape on glass and on anything that must not be drilled.

Height

Centre at 1.5 to 1.8m where a person reads it. Fence signs go at the height of the energised wires, not above them.

Artwork

Every sign is vector with the type already outlined, so a sign maker needs no fonts and nothing reflows. Scale to any size from the same file.

Book it

Book a free site survey

We walk your property, write up where you are exposed, and price the fix. No charge.

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