Whether you’ve been in business for a long time or just starting out, you’ve worked incredibly hard to get your business off the ground and where it is today. Every entrepreneur knows the sacrifice that goes hand in hand with being a business owner. Difficult decisions must be made at every stage of the business, countless highs and lows, late nights, and long hours come with the territory. Looking to the future at the prospect of growing your business is an exciting sentiment, but it’s important to keep your feet firmly planted on the ground in the present. You’ve built something from the ground up, but what are you doing to protect it?
Business owners with commercial properties, retail spaces, and workplaces have an obligation to cultivate a safe environment for employees, patrons, and visitors alike. This means maintaining the day-to-day security of your facility while protecting the individuals moving about the premises. Not being vigilant and having the proper safety protocols in place may result in security breaches, theft, or vandalism. Business property protection needs to be a top priority at all times.
Issues like burglaries, property damage, or even naturally occurring events like floods or fires can cause devastating interruptions to routine business operations. Fortunately, with the appropriate safety guidelines implemented setbacks like these can be prevented.
Below, we’ll discuss essential safety measures and give tips on ways you can start protecting your business property.
Physical Safety Measures
A comprehensive security plan is essential for the safety of all businesses. External security is a vital part of the overall safety strategy. External protection can deter trespassers, vandals, and thieves.
1. Strong Entry Points
Strengthening the barrier between the outside world and the inside of your business is a vital, actionable measure to take toward protecting your property. Businesses should carve out a budget large enough to invest in quality, solid doors and windows with multi-lock systems as the standard. Steel frames and deadbolts are the best protection against forced entry. Alarms should also be at least the main if not all points of entry.
2. Secure the Perimeter
A well-guarded outer perimeter can help to deter those with sinister intentions. Security measures like high fencing, motion detectors, good lighting, and parking lot security are appropriate measures to take. Depending on the property, gated entry with CCTV cameras and security mirrors are excellent options for having 24/7 visibility and minimizing blind spots. Something as simple as installing bright lights around the entire perimeter can help prevent your business from being targeted. To get quality fences installed on your commercial property, contact Sidepost for professional fencing contractors in Brisbane.
3. Safeguard Important Equipment and Documents
All it takes is one break-in or accident to cause major damage. Storage of important company documents and essential equipment is of the utmost importance. Properly secure items like these in a fire-resistant safe with a combination lock. To maximize security, the retrieval code should be limited to a select few trusted upper-level employees and the code should be changed quarterly.
4. Security Cameras with Remote Monitoring Capabilities
Security cameras that record and connect to a remote device provide a critical layer of security. You can check on and see what’s happening on your property from anywhere in the world at any time of day, in real time. Be sure to place and angle them correctly so you can monitor who is coming in and out. A camera should be placed at crucial locations: the front entrance, back doors & emergency exits, interior spaces where confidential information is stored, and street or sidewalk view. Surveillance is a top priority, invest in HD and night vision cameras as these can sometimes provide better coverage than human security.
Safety Policies
Threats to your business or property don’t always come from outside. Creating and maintaining internal safety protocols can help to keep your business running smoothly and will alert you to discrepancies or issues as quickly as possible.
1. Strict Visitor Policy
An on-site visitor policy defines clear rules for how and when visitors are permitted as well as setting clear expectations for managing the visit. The host should be responsible for signing in visitors, providing a temporary ID badge, and knowing what areas of the business a visitor should have access to. No visitors should be permitted on the premises without a photo ID.
2. Cybersecurity
In our digital world, some of the most dangerous threats come from online. A good cybersecurity policy measures and addresses all digital threats, blocking out unauthorized users while allowing employees the access they need. Your cybersecurity plan needs to evolve as the business and technology in general do.
3. Emergency Plan
Employees should never be confused about what to do in the event of an emergency. A detailed “in case of an emergency” plan should be posted in areas of high visibility. Document a clear chain of command, and an evacuation plan, and have easily accessible first aid kits in plenty of places. This plan needs to be reevaluated and improved upon regularly.
