How to make my business safer?
This is a question we
often get from clients and there is no one simple answer. There are several
ways we can make our businesses safer and it can’t be covered in one post. Over
the next several weeks we are going to do a blog series covering many different
aspects of how business owners can make their business safer. We understand that small businesses often
times do not have an excess of amount of money to put into security. The things
that we discuss will have a range of prices so even the smallest budgets can
still improve the safety of where they work.
Security is formed in layers. A good security plan should
have several layers of protection before a threat can get to you, your
employees/customers or your products. Often times these layers will not be
noticed by the untrained eye but still provide an excellent deterrent to a
would be criminal.
The first topic we will cover on “How to make my business safer” is exterior lighting.
Using
ample, well placed exterior motion lighting is a great, inexpensive way to make
your business safer. Criminals in large,
are people of convenience. If they are committing crimes at night, they want to
be able to use the cover of darkness. If a dark venue is not available, they
may move on to a different, easier location. Motion lights are a great way to prevent this
without using energy when they are not needed. We still recommend using lights
that stay on all night at main entrances and other commonly used areas. Motion
lighting is best used on the back sides of buildings and other potential blind spots.
Where you install your lighting is very important. It should
be installed high enough a burglar can not tamper, vandalize or remove the
bulb. If a high location is not available, consider using a cage or other
protective device. Other lights are sold as “vandal resistant
lighting.” They offer other protection solutions to prevent someone from taking
out your lighting in the course of committing a crime.
Lighting can also keep your employees safe by preventing
falls or other accidents from objects that may not have ben seen in a dark environment.
Next question we get asked about lighting is what brand to
buy. While we do not endorse any certain brand, generally you get what you pay
for. Look for features that allow you to
adjust the range of detection, length of time the lights stay on and angle you
can project the light. A very important feature to look for is a battery back
up. If a criminal is serious and knows what they are doing, they may cut the
power to your building. If so, a battery back is a great way to still detour
them.
This is just the basics of lighting. We do a threat
analysis, free of charge to clients that hire our security guards that goes
much deeper into this topic.
Check back often as we will be adding more posts often that can truly help you make your business safer.
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