Things have changed from the days you left the home unlocked or when you left the curtains open. Statistics reveal that the United States is subject to 160 burglaries per hour. Every day there are around 3,840 burglars.
While keeping your premises secure, large and small enterprises should be the top priority, it’s the wholesale and retail sectors which is most at stake – statistics show that the 2015 wholesale and retail sector alone was hit by a staggering 12,358 incidents out of 1,000 premises, and retailers with a workforce of more than 50 had the highest crime rates.
We have compiled a comprehensive list of tips for protecting your family and your employees from possible criminals, both at home and at your company.
1. CCTV cameras
CCTV has shown that it prevents burglaries, so installing a CCTV system will immediately lower the chance of burglaries that target you because the probability is high and the burglar is too risky to be caught on camera. CCTV should therefore be your first step to safeguard your premises.
With greater security with CCTV, your staff will be more confident about their work, knowing that they are being safely monitored for any signs of problems and will find that you can relax, trusting that your premises are safe even away from your job site.
Finally, the introduction of CCTV into your workplace can reduce your insurance costs as CCTV is an established way to reduce the risk of burglaries and make it less likely that your firm will have to make an insurance claim and require fewer premium coverages.
2. Not Locking Doors or Windows
One of the most common security flaws that people make is, to begin with, something obvious, not locking doors or windows. Burglars look for soft goals and as smooth as possible an unlocked front door or an open window.
Even locking doors or closing windows does not forget. People often leave a door free or open a window, because only a few minutes will be left. But most burglaries take less than 10 minutes from beginning to finish so that it is not easy if you leave a door or window open.
3. Be Prepared with an Emergency Plan
Not all burglaries happen out of hours, sadly, when workers, staff, and customers are safely out of the way of damage. Armed robberies are, unfortunately, a normal phenomenon, and life could be put at risk if you and your workers are not prepared for this possibility. Nobody wants to think of those awful scenarios, but planning for the worst is important. Set out an emergency plan for staff to execute if a dangerous situation were to happen, and note, instead of placing the lives of the employees at risk, it is always easier to hand over keys to precautions and resources.
To have some added protection, you can also invest in security grilles to be mounted around high-risk locations, such as safes and workers areas, and a panic button can be particularly handy, alerting the police of the dangerous situation and scaring away criminals.
4. Home Alarm System
Although an alarm doesn’t prevent theft inside your house, it will stop some people and immediately get the police home and stop a thief. Only when you still have in mind the warning will the home protection systems work.
You should be alarmed when out or at home since many of the thieves would want to get into one part of your home while you are occupied with another. Some insurers can also lower home insurance rates because of the implementation of a house alarm device. To see if you apply, please consult with an insurance agency.
5. Security Guards
If any security guards are employed to track the events in and near your premise, whatever intentions a possible criminal or vandal may have had will definitely be sampled. A person’s plain appearance is typically enough to discourage offenders, but it is very rare that they will attempt to pursue it if they know that the staff on site are already qualified to comply with safety violations.
The recruiting of security guards would also serve well for the overall welfare of your employees, who will take minutes away from your premises any unsavory or argumentative client, which makes the company more friendly.