EDF Energy Powers Up Using Tensor

EDF Energy is a major generator of electricity within the UK using both traditional power stations and wind generation. The two power stations at Cottam and West Burton are both 2,000MW coal-fired power stations with a combined production capacity of up to 10% of the UK market. The total area of the sites extends over 800 acres, on the west bank of the River Trent. They are manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The then Business Services Manager, Bob Kilford, wanted to install an automatic employee and contractor emergency roll call reporting system. He also wanted the same system to perform employee time recording for the 1,000 plus staff. Bob reviewed systems and equipment from three different companies and chose Tensor because of the flexibility and ease of use of Tensor's smart cards and software.

"The quick set-up allowed an easy and fast way to account for all members of permanent staff, contractors and visitors," he said.

Tensor installed an Ethernet Smart Card based WinTA Enterprise Time & Attendance and Integrated Security System in Cottam power station more than a decade ago. This comprised WinBadge, WinTA Pass, WinTA Access and WinTA Enterprise Software, including automatic Door Monitoring and Fire Roll Call monitoring. Further physical Access Control comprising two turnstiles, a sliding gate and 5 traffic barriers were also added immediately.

The Integrated Security System now covers the entire site and comprises hundreds of pieces of hardware and the latest security software. At West Burton, Tensor installed the original Ethernet Smart Card based WinTA Enterprise Time & Attendance and Integrated Security System, which had a similar set up to Cottam. This site is now incorporated within the same Integrated Security System that covers the Cottam and West Burton sites.

There were no major problems with the installation of either the software or the hardware. Six staff were originally trained at Tensor's Hail Weston training centre in the use of the various elements of the Integrated Security System.

"Training was excellent covering installation and all aspects of the WinTA software," explained Keith Cuckson, of Business Services.

"We use Tensor to its full capability linking cardholders personnel records from the Tensor Personnel system so that those wanting to gain access to the site have relevant Health & Safety and Training courses recorded and subsequently checked to ensure they are still in date," Keith told the Tensor reporter, as he described their security and health and safety operation.

What Keith likes most about the Tensor system is the ease of use to set up new employee profiles, working patterns and configuring the system to his site structure. "Tensor is easy for employees to use; our environment is quite dirty and the Tensor Smart Cards have proven reliable and robust," explained Keith.

EDF Energy also uses Tensor's Personnel software. "The good thing about the system is the report generator as it allows us to generate our own customized reports," they said.

"Very good, staff are knowledgeable and have resolved the issues quickly" was how EDF Energy described the Tensor Helpdesk and "very professional" was their description of Tensor's Operations and Maintenance department.

EDF said they would continue to expand the Tensor system with additional clocks and Smart Card readers controlling access to areas around their sites.

"The benefit of Tensor is the ease of seeing who is on-site and where they are" was what Keith liked most about his Integrated Security System and he said he "would readily recommend Tensor to other companies."

Summing up, Keith said "the Tensor system has been working well here for 5 years, the hardware and software stand up really well. Tensor offers good quality with a reliable service. We have very few problems with the system."

Customer Information

EDF Energy 40 Grosvenor Place Victoria London SW1X 7EN Website: edfenergy.com Phone: 02072 429050 Email: info@edfenergy.com