What does this security and access control final checklist cover?

14 items across 4 sections, covering devices and labeling, controller and credentials, life-safety interface, records and turnover. Each item spells out what the person walking the job is actually looking for, not just a box to tick.

Who should run this inspection?

The security integrator's lead with the GC's superintendent, and coordination with the fire-alarm contractor for the release interface.

When in the schedule should this walk happen?

After devices are terminated and the head-end is programmed, before turnover, and only once the fire-alarm system is live enough to prove the release.

Why do these items ask for a photo?

8 of the 14 items call for photo evidence, 13 photos in all. A checklist answer without the photo is a claim; the photo is what makes the record worth something in a dispute and lets a reviewer approve work without re-walking the job.

What most often fails a security and access control final inspection?

Doors mislabeled at the head-end, so a card event or an alarm points to the wrong opening and the wrong floor. Readers and cameras aimed and mounted but never walked against a coverage plan, leaving blind spots at the very doors they were bought for. The fire-alarm release checked by unlocking a door manually instead of dropping it on an actual alarm signal, so free egress on alarm was never proven.

Can I use this checklist in RTI?

Yes. Start a free RTI workspace, build this list as a checklist, and the Photo Gate holds the submit button until every mandatory item is answered and its photos are attached. Approved inspections roll into a branded turnover package with a tamper evident audit trail.

Free checklist

Security and access control

Security and access control final inspection checklist

Security and access control final inspection is where the punch list is either short or expensive. This checklist walks the finished work the way an owner or AHJ will see it: devices on, systems running, everything labeled. Each item gets the photo that closes it instead of reopening it. Work is commonly verified against NEC (NFPA 70), TIA structured-cabling standards. Confirm the edition your authority having jurisdiction has adopted.

Start free with this checklist Download as PDF

The checklist

Every item, and the photo evidence it needs

The photo count on each row is what RTI would require before the item can be submitted. Work the list here and watch the gate hold, or load it into RTI and let it enforce the real thing.

Devices and labeling

Readers, cameras, contacts and REX installed and labeled
Each device mounted secure and level, labeled to match the head-end naming, cameras aimed to the coverage plan with no obvious blind spots.
Door naming matches the head-end and the door schedule
Every controlled opening named consistently across the panel, the graphic and the label, verified against the door schedule.
No exposed cable at readers, REX sensors and contacts
Cable tails inside the backbox or frame, none looped on the wall face or pinched in the door swing, and the wall at each device finished tight around it.
Controller and lock power enclosures closed, locked and labeled
Covers on and locked, each enclosure labeled with the doors it serves and the circuit that feeds it, no loose cable left outside the box.

Controller and credentials

Controller and head-end online and communicating
Panels reporting to the head-end, no offline devices, door position and REX states reading correctly on the graphic.
Credentials tested at the readers
A test credential granted and denied as programmed, strike or mag lock releasing and re-securing, event logged at the head-end.
Forced-door and held-open alarms observed at the head-end
A door held past its programmed time and a door opened without a credential or REX each raise the right alarm, named to the right opening, on the head-end screen.
Door schedules and access levels match the owner's matrix
Unlock times, holidays and access groups programmed at the head-end match what the owner signed off, with doors that unlock during business hours listed by name.
No photo

Life-safety interface

Fire-alarm release and free egress observed and documented
On an actual fire-alarm signal, locked openings release for free egress as designed and are never overridden; the release watched at the door and documented.
Each lock's fail mode observed against the hardware schedule
During the integrator's release test, fail-safe locks seen unlocking and fail-secure locks staying latched while the egress side still opens freely.
No photo
Openings re-secure after the fire-alarm system is reset
Once the alarm is reset, doors return to their scheduled locked state automatically or by the documented reset step, seen at the door and on the head-end.
No photo
Special-locking openings only where the approved drawings show
Any delayed-egress or controlled-egress door is at a location the approved drawings show, with the signage and release those drawings call for.
No photo

Records and turnover

Integrator's door-by-door release test record on file
The integrator's record of the fire-alarm release and power-loss test for each opening, dated and naming who witnessed it, filed with the turnover documents.
No photo
Test cards and installer logins removed before turnover
Temporary credentials, default passwords and installer accounts deleted or handed to the owner's administrator, confirmed in writing by the integrator.
No photo

What usually sends this back

The failures are almost always the evidence, not the work

Doors mislabeled at the head-end, so a card event or an alarm points to the wrong opening and the wrong floor.
Readers and cameras aimed and mounted but never walked against a coverage plan, leaving blind spots at the very doors they were bought for.
The fire-alarm release checked by unlocking a door manually instead of dropping it on an actual alarm signal, so free egress on alarm was never proven.

Verified against

Common questions

6 answers

What does this security and access control final checklist cover?: 14 items across 4 sections, covering devices and labeling, controller and credentials, life-safety interface, records and turnover. Each item spells out what the person walking the job is actually looking for, not just a box to tick.
Who should run this inspection?: The security integrator's lead with the GC's superintendent, and coordination with the fire-alarm contractor for the release interface.
When in the schedule should this walk happen?: After devices are terminated and the head-end is programmed, before turnover, and only once the fire-alarm system is live enough to prove the release.
Why do these items ask for a photo?: 8 of the 14 items call for photo evidence, 13 photos in all. A checklist answer without the photo is a claim; the photo is what makes the record worth something in a dispute and lets a reviewer approve work without re-walking the job.
What most often fails a security and access control final inspection?: Doors mislabeled at the head-end, so a card event or an alarm points to the wrong opening and the wrong floor. Readers and cameras aimed and mounted but never walked against a coverage plan, leaving blind spots at the very doors they were bought for. The fire-alarm release checked by unlocking a door manually instead of dropping it on an actual alarm signal, so free egress on alarm was never proven.
Can I use this checklist in RTI?: Yes. Start a free RTI workspace, build this list as a checklist, and the Photo Gate holds the submit button until every mandatory item is answered and its photos are attached. Approved inspections roll into a branded turnover package with a tamper evident audit trail.

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Run it with the Photo Gate

A checklist nobody can submit half-finished

Load this list into RTI, stick a QR tag on the area it covers, and the submit button stays locked until every mandatory item is answered and the 13 required photos exist. Approved walks roll into a branded turnover package with a tamper evident record behind every line.