How to Protect Your Business From Potential Break-ins and Theft

by Startacus Admin

The effects of crime can leave your business reeling for a long time afterward, whether it’s a break-in at your premises, a data breach, or damage to your property. Crime can leave you out of pocket if essential equipment or inventory is stolen or damaged, make your employees feel unsafe when coming into work, and could even harm your reputation with your clients and customers if their data is compromised. 

On a monthly basis, crime can leave your business facing more expenses when insurance premiums rise. Criminals are continually looking for more ways to rob hard-working, honest business owners and the best way to make sure that you don’t fall foul is to implement a number of preventative measures throughout your company. So, how can you minimize your risk?

Carry Out a Risk Assessment:

First of all, you’ll need to start with a risk assessment where you can identify the most vulnerable areas of your business. If your business has been the victim of crime in the past, then you might already be aware of how it has happened - but bear in mind that you might not know the entire story. A thorough assessment is crucial to figure out where security needs tightening, or which policies need changing in order to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

Secure Your Premises:

A high percentage of crimes against businesses are in the form of break-ins. If you have business premises where you store equipment, inventory, or even cash then this will be a very attractive target to thieves. If you need to, secure your premises even further by strengthening doors, fitting security locks to windows, and installing security lighting. Upgrade your alarm system and consider whether or not you need to hire security guards to patrol the premises. Companies such as Veritech Systems offer a range of security measures for businesses, including qualified, trained SIA security guards who will watch your premises, aiming to ensure that it’s kept secure when you’re not there.

Provide Security Training:

Make sure that you provide any necessary security training to your employees, and that everybody is aware of what needs to be done in the event of a serious threat. In the event of an armed robbery, for example, it’s always better to just give up the cash or goods and deal with it later, rather than get physically hurt or worse trying to defend it. Employees should be trained to recognize any suspicious behavior and where to go if they need to report a crime or suspected wrongdoing. Keep as little cash on-site as possible and keep valuable equipment locked up securely when not in use.

Prevent Employee Theft:

Sadly, while we’d all like to think that we hire people who are honest and reputable, it isn’t always the case. A lot of crime against businesses is actually carried out by the company’s own employees, so it’s important that you always spend some time verifying previous employment history and checking references, even when taking on part-time or casual employees. Make sure that you provide your employees with clear policies regarding theft and that everybody is informed about what is and isn’t allowed. Be cautious with the employees that you grant key access or security codes to and keep a close eye on till money and petty cash which tend to be particularly vulnerable to employee theft. If you catch an employee stealing from your business, it should be met with decisive action; demonstrate that you are serious about the rules.

These are just a few of the things that you can do to protect your business from crime, particularly theft. Don’t wait for a break-in to happen; put preventative measures in place as soon as you can.

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Published on: 30th May 2020