Locked Out of Your Business or Office? A Step-by-Step Plan

A business lockout has its own pressure: staff waiting outside, customers arriving, a delivery on the way. The steps below help you get the doors open with the least disruption, and set things up so the same morning does not happen twice.

Step 1: Check the other entrances

Many businesses have more than one way in. Before anything else, check the rear door, a loading door or a side entrance, and any door that opens from a shared hallway or lobby. Someone may have left one unlocked, or it may use a different key that you have with you.

Step 2: Call the people who hold keys

Think through everyone who has a key: owners, managers, shift leads, a cleaning company. One phone call to the right person is often the simplest answer.

If you lease the space, call the landlord or the property manager. Many buildings keep keys to every unit, and your lease may require that they are told before anyone works on the locks.

Step 3: Don't force the door

Storefront doors are often glass in a metal frame, and forcing one can crack the glass or bend the frame so the door no longer closes square. Rear doors are usually steel and do not give way anyway. Either way, a damaged door takes longer to fix than a lockout.

Step 4: Have these details ready when you call

• The address and the door, and how to reach it: a front entrance, a rear door off an alley, or a door inside a larger building.
• The type of door and lock. A glass storefront door, a steel door with a deadbolt, a door with a push bar, or a keypad.
• Whether the keys are lost or simply locked inside.
• Proof that you are allowed to open it. A photo ID together with a lease or other paperwork in the business name.

What to expect

A locksmith should ask for proof that you are allowed to open the premises before any work starts. For a business that matters even more than at home: it is what stops a former employee or a stranger from getting in by claiming to be the owner.

If the keys are lost rather than locked inside, think about which doors they opened and who could have picked them up. That may be the moment to change some cylinders.

After the lockout: fix the cause

A lockout often shows a gap in how keys are handled. Use it to put a few habits in place:

• Keep a written list of who holds a key to which door.
• Make sure two people who live nearby can each open the building.
• Check that the key for the main door is not on a ring that leaves with one person at night.
• Look at a keypad on the staff door. A code cannot be forgotten on a desk, and it can be changed when someone leaves.

Our guide on what to do when an employee leaves covers key control in more detail, and six signs your business needs new locks helps you decide when it is time to change them.