Quick reference · Electronic access control systems
The minimum functions, performance and test methods for electronic access control systems and components used for entry and exit in and around buildings.
What a door entry or access control system and its parts must be able to do, and how they are tested.
BS EN 60839-11-1:2013. BSI and the IEC list the 2013 edition as current, and no newer edition was found. Design, installation and maintenance guidance is in the companion BS EN 60839-11-2.
Confirmed two or more sources agree, or a source quotes the standard. Check one source, or a detail that could not be confirmed. Check it against the standard.
The minimum functions, performance requirements and test methods for electronic access control systems and components used for entry and exit in and around buildings. It includes logging, identification and control of information.
What an access control system and its parts must do, and how they are tested. It covers who can go where, and the records kept.
The door actuators and sensors, such as electric openers, locks, turnstiles and barriers, which have their own standards, and the sending of intruder or hold-up signals off the premises. The risk analysis is not part of the standard, and the risk levels shown are for information only.
It does not cover the locks, barriers and turnstiles themselves, or sending alarms off the site. It does not tell you how to do the risk assessment.
A grade classification table, the interface at each access point including door release timing, display, alert and logging, recognition (credential) requirements, duress signalling, overriding, system self-protection, power supply, environmental and EMC immunity, and test methods.
It covers the grades, how the door opens, alerts and logs, how people are recognised, duress alarms, overrides, tamper protection, power, weather and interference, and testing.
There are four security grades, applied to each access point rather than to the whole building: Grade 1 is low risk, Grade 2 is low to medium, Grade 3 is medium to high and Grade 4 is high risk.
The grade says how much risk a door is protecting against, from 1 (low) to 4 (high). Each door has its own grade, not the whole building.
One installer describes Grade 1 as a basic stand-alone lock with a code, card or fob, and Grade 3 as online systems with two-factor authentication or biometrics. The examples are the installer's own and are not in the standard's text.
A simple stand-alone code lock is low grade. An online system with two ways of proving who you are is higher grade.
From installer marketing. Check the standard for what each grade requires.
It has a power supply table and tests for standby duration, the charger and standby capacity, and low or missing battery detection. The values by grade could not be confirmed.
There are rules for backup power and tests for it, including spotting a low or missing battery.
Only the headings were visible. Check the standard for the hours by grade.
Components have environmental and electromagnetic immunity requirements for indoor or outdoor use. It refers to IEC 60529 (IP ratings), IEC 62262 (IK impact ratings) and IEC 62599-1 and -2.
Parts must cope with the weather, knocks and electrical interference where they are fitted.
If part of an access control system also forms part of an intruder, hold-up or video surveillance system, that part must also meet the standards for those systems.
If a part does another job too, such as a door contact that is also an alarm sensor, it must meet the standard for that job as well.
In the companion standard IEC 60839-11-2 (BS EN 60839-11-2:2015 in the UK), not in -11-1.
How to design, install and look after the system is in a separate standard, part 11-2.
BS 7273-4 covers how the fire alarm releases electrically locked doors. BS EN 179 is for escape hardware used by trained people and BS EN 1125 is for panic exit hardware in public areas. BS EN 13637 covers electrically controlled exit systems on escape routes, and BS 7273-4 now refers to it for any electrically locked escape door.
Doors on escape routes follow other standards as well: one for the fire alarm release, and others for the panic bars and exit hardware.
They are not banned outright. They are acceptable on non-escape doors, or where escape stays mechanical and single-action. A lock that adds a second action to escape is a problem. The installer is responsible for challenging a client's specification at design stage when it conflicts with the standards.
Magnetic locks are fine on doors that are not escape routes, or where getting out is still one simple action. If a client asks for something unsafe, the installer should speak up.
Nothing in this guide matches. Search all the guides.
Other guides: BS 5839-1, BS 5839-6, BS 5266-1 and BS EN 1838, BS 5306 (extinguishers), BS EN 50131-1 and PD 6662, BS 8418, BS EN 62676-4, BS 7273-4, BS 7671 (for alarm and CCTV work). Not sure what a word means? Explain this text or see the glossary.
For guidance only. Always check against the current edition of the standard and the manufacturer's data.
Built by the engineer behind Kerova, certificate software for fire and security firms.