7 Easy Ways to Secure Your Construction Site
Construction sites are an obvious mark for thieves. These sites are accessible, contain valuable equipment and are abandoned at night. For all of these reasons and more, reports of heavy equipment thefts are on the rise. As thieves take equipment with a plan in place to re-sell quickly or strip it for parts, the chance of recovery is low.
Luckily, it’s easy to improve construction site security. You only need to follow seven simple steps to help keep your equipment protected and construction site secure.
1. Control Who Has Access
Thieves pray upon access, so one of the best ways to maintain construction site security is controlling who has access to your site. You can do this in several different ways.
Limiting site access to a controlled gate makes it easy to identify and screen anyone who is entering your construction site. It keeps unauthorized visitors on the outside, especially at night or at times when there’s no one to keep an eye on the entrance. Also, by limiting access to only a controlled gate, you limit the amount of area you need to surveil.
You can take your access security to the next level by instituting an ID badge policy. Adding in smart card technology (such as scannable barcodes and RFID chips) also provides an automated solution to gate security. Smart card badges are an efficient security system that allows you to put your physical security presence where it’s best needed and not matching names on the badges to names on a clipboard.
2. Clean Up Every Night
It’s a lesson we were all taught as a kid but sometimes forget to practice as an adult: you should put away your things. When it comes to a construction site, that means bringing home equipment when you can and locking it away and out of sight when you can’t. Job site storage like gang boxes can store large equipment and tools, and you can secure them with a heavy-duty lock.
For the unboxable, like bulldozers, cranes, or crawler loaders, you may be able to secure them in a large, locked shipping container. If you’re unable to rent one, you can try to create some cover with draped tarps. In that case, you can always remove the keys and either take them home with you. Or, if you prefer not to make several trips in the morning after realizing you forgot the keys to the backhoe loader, you can lock the keys in a gang box or locker at night.
3. Install a Surveillance System
The best way to always keep an eye on your construction site is a surveillance security system. You can install cameras practically anywhere and monitor every crook and cranny of the construction site. Should an attempt of thievery occur, your security camera will be able to capture essential information about the wrongdoer, aid law enforcement in his or her capture, and boost the odds of recovering equipment.
Modern surveillance systems include motion sensing and tracking notifications, so you or your security team is always made aware when something unexpected is making its way through your job site. With a quick notification, you can give a head start to the proper authorities when it comes to apprehending a potential trespasser.
While there is always a trend to make cameras smaller and difficult to spot, there is some incentive to making sure everyone can see your security system. Thieves want the easy score, and an over-the-top and in-your-face surveillance installation can make them second guess their plans. Check out our Intelligent Video Monitoring for more information.
4. Keep the Area Well Lit
Most construction site equipment thefts occur under cover of night when the crew has long since abandoned the site. Instead of giving potential thieves an environment in which they can hide, shine a bright light on your work area. By keeping the site well lit, a thief will have to work all that much harder to avoid detection by a person or a surveillance system.
Another benefit of this approach is that lights fit into almost any security budget. You can buy inexpensive industrial lights through security retailers that will light a small site or area within the site, but you can also purchase pricier lights to keep a larger site as bright as daylight.
Timers can help ensure the lights go on every night at the right time without having to worry about it before heading out for the day. If you’re looking to only shine a light as necessary, motion sensors are an ideal option to pair with security lights.
5. Put Up Fencing and Post Signs
Protecting your work site’s perimeter is an essential part of keeping it secure. The simplest way to keep it locked down is with fencing. Even a temporary fence adds another barrier between a trespasser. Security experts recommend a fence of at least eight feet to make climbing difficult.
As you post fences around the site, make sure to put up signs that indicate no trespassing is allowed and that a security company is watching the premises. Making intruders aware that their activity is being watched is usually enough to deter them from probing further.
To take it a step further, add signage that includes the 9-1-1 phone number and instructions for people to call the authorities should they see anything suspicious. Again, this broadcasting of monitoring can help drive the point home to stay out.
6. Schedule and Coordinate All Deliveries
Deliveries are a common weak point in any security system. They involve people who you may not know or have never seen before gaining access to your construction site. Each delivery also allows thieves scouting the area to see how to gain entry to your site and observe security procedures. Unscheduled or unplanned construction site deliveries can also lead to expensive equipment sitting out in the open for anyone to see.
By coordinating deliveries, you can ensure your team anticipates every delivery and accounts for all inventory shipments. You’ll be able to load and unload equipment and resources and put them in their correct spot right away. Not only will this make your site safer, but it’ll also aid in keeping track of inventory.
7. Conduct a Security Risk Assessment
If you’re not sure you’ve caught all your potential blind spots or are unsure you’ve done what’s needed to protect your job site, you should conduct a security risk assessment with a professional security company. A security professional will personally come to your site and explore the area to find vulnerabilities and potential points of access. They’ll report ways to maintain your construction site’s security and offer ways to improve your property’s safety.
This reporting and feedback are especially useful for long-term projects with many phases. As the construction site changes and re-forms to the task at hand, your security professional will be able to adjust the security system as needed.
Call Per Mar Security Services
Whether it’s 24/7 monitoring, access control, or video surveillance, you’ll find the security system you need at Per Mar Security Services. With over 70 years of local ownership and operation, we know deeply what construction sites need to keep their equipment and employees safe.
Call us today by calling 952-881-5625. Our experienced, expert team members and technicians are standing ready to help keep your business secured.
Image Credit: Shutterstock / pixinoo
