When a Secure Pedestrian Gate Isn’t Secure Enough: 5 Ways to Stop Gate Climbing and Unauthorized Entry
A pedestrian security gate can look extremely secure and still have an unexpected vulnerability.
We recently came across a perfect example with a Push-to-Exit pedestrian gate. The gate is designed to allow easy exit from the inside while preventing unauthorized entry from the outside.
What if they climb the gate, reach over the top, and use a metal pole to push down the exit lever?
That’s exactly what happened.
The incident highlights an important point about perimeter security: you can’t always secure the gate by securing the gate hardware alone. You also have to think about how someone might physically manipulate the system.
Here are five ways to make this type of gate significantly more difficult to defeat.
1. Protect From Above With a Push Pad Protector Plate
In this particular situation, this could have been extremely helpful. The perpetrator climbed high enough to get above the gate and then used a metal pole to depress the push pad.
A conventional anti-reach shield did not completely address that attack angle.
A Push Pad Protector Plate is designed to help shield the push pad from unauthorized manipulation while still allowing someone on the secure side to operate the exit device normally. One example is the DAC Industries Push Pad Protector Plate, which is available through security and fencing suppliers.
2. Install an Anti-Reach Shield if the Push Pad Can Be Manipulated Without Climbing
The first and potentially simplest improvement is to protect the exit lever itself.
The objective is straightforward:
People inside should be able to exit normally, but someone outside should not be able to reach the release mechanism with a hand, wire, pole, or other object.
There are commercially available products designed specifically for this purpose. One example is the Lockey Panic Shield, which mounts to a gate and surrounds and protects the lever hardware. Its stated purpose is to prevent someone from reaching through the gate to release the lock.
That makes this type of device particularly interesting for a situation where an intruder is attempting to manipulate the exit hardware from the wrong side.
3. Make the Gate Much Harder to Climb
The second vulnerability is actually the one that made the first attack possible. The intruder had to climb the gate before they could use the pole. So another approach is to make climbing the gate difficult in the first place.
There are several ways to accomplish this.
Anti-climb mesh
One option is replacing or modifying portions of the gate with tighter anti-climb mesh. As you can see in the video, there is a mesh configuration already; but the gate is simply easy to grab from the top bars to hoist the intruder up.
Security fencing manufacturers produce welded-wire systems specifically designed to make climbing and cutting more difficult. Ameristar, for example, offers its WireWorks anti-climb fencing system for applications requiring anti-climb and anti-cut resistance.
Rotating anti-climb rollers
Another interesting option is a rotating anti-climb roller. Roller Barrier is one example. The system uses rotating cups that are too large to provide a reliable handhold. It can be retrofitted to existing fences and gates and is specifically marketed as a non-aggressive alternative to spikes or barbed wire.
This can be particularly attractive when you want to improve security without putting sharp objects on top of the gate.
Anti-climb extensions
Another option is to add an extension to the top of the gate that increases its effective height and eliminates useful handholds. This can be fabricated by a local gate or fencing contractor and may be considerably cleaner than replacing the entire gate.
The important thing is not simply making the gate taller. The goal is to remove the ability to get a secure handhold or foothold.
4. Consider Replacing the Exit Hardware
If the gate represents an important security boundary, it may be worth looking at the exit hardware itself.
Instead of relying on a relatively exposed lever, a properly configured panic/exit device can provide a much more controlled method of egress. There are commercial panic-bar systems specifically designed for gates, including configurations with protective shields and gate-specific hardware.
For example, Lockey offers complete panic-shield kits that combine the shield with panic hardware and other gate components. The key consideration is that the hardware should maintain free and immediate egress from the secure side while preventing manipulation from the unsecured side.
This isn’t an area where I would simply install whatever hardware happens to fit. Have the gate manufacturer or a qualified access-control/gate professional verify the configuration and applicable life-safety requirements.
5. Add Remote Video Surveillance With Live Intervention
Physical security is only one part of the solution.
The other question is:
What happens when someone starts climbing the gate at 2:00 AM?
This is where remote video surveillance can provide another layer of protection. A service such as Deep Sentinel combines AI-enabled cameras with live remote security guards. When the system identifies potential threatening activity, the video can be sent to a live guard who can intervene through two-way audio and, when appropriate, escalate the incident to law enforcement.
The act of climbing the gate can itself become the trigger.
The Bottom Line
The person who climbed the gate didn’t necessarily defeat the gate’s intended security design. They changed the attack angle.
The gate was designed to prevent someone outside from reaching the exit mechanism through the gate. The intruder instead climbed above the gate and used a tool to manipulate the mechanism. That’s an important distinction.
When evaluating pedestrian gates, don’t just ask:
“Can someone reach the exit hardware?”
Ask:
“Can someone climb, reach, hook, push, pull, or otherwise manipulate the exit hardware from the unsecured side?”
That mindset often reveals vulnerabilities that aren’t obvious during a normal security inspection.
For this particular situation, w/out any of the modifications Deep Sentinel’s live guards were able to deter break-in. But if we had to start with any two physical improvements: push pad protector plate and an anti-climb modification at the top of the gate.
The goal isn’t to make the gate impossible to defeat. The goal is to make it difficult, detectable, and actively defended.
