As a business owner, one of the most important aspects is protecting your assets. This includes your property, equipment, inventory, as well as your employees. Whether you have a warehouse or a storefront filled with products, your business is at risk for vandalism and theft. The first step you should take to protect your business is to improve physical security. There are several ways to do this, and in this article we will share few practical and simple options.
Assess your risks
Businesses, especially small ones, often have limited budgets and limited time. Before you spend money on improving security, as a business owner, you should conduct a business risk assessment before deciding the most pressing issues. This will help a business owner to zero in on the type of protection you require the most. Determine how vulnerable your business is and the threats that are specific to your business. Not all, but some businesses have threats that are in-built which are impossible to eliminate. However, by lowering your vulnerability, you lower your risk of loss. After you have identified your biggest risk, you can go ahead and implement security measures that are most effective.
Lighting, windows and locks
You can start by changing the locks on the doors of your business to upgrade your security. Depending on your tenant rights, check to see what is legal for you to change to avoid litigations from your landlord. If your business is situated in a building with heavy foot traffic, you may want to invest in top quality door locks. Service or replace your locks regularly to ensure that your security is always at the optimum.
If you need to distribute keys among your employees, make sure that you give out as minimal keys as you can to avoid them ending up in the wrong hands. Have up-to-date records as to who has the keys and when they were issued. You should also invest in window bars, especially if you store valuable inventory in your business premise. Most burglaries happen at night when there is little street light. Make sure that you install adequate lighting to deter vandalism and theft. It helps to also install motion-sensor outdoor lights. To fully ensure your business’ security after work hours, you can hire services related to maintaining building security in Montreal from a reputable security company.
Surveillance cameras and alarm systems
To add another layer of protection to your business, you should invest in a security system. These systems can include keyless entry for employees, panic alarms, video verification cameras and glass break detectors. Get security systems with automation features. Install a surveillance camera to discourage potential criminals. Invest in both overt and covert cameras to document the incidents committed inside and outside your business premise. Don’t just get any surveillance cameras. Ensure that you get high quality security cameras that have the capability to capture facial features, licence plate information and other details.
Employee training
The most serious threat to a business is employee theft. Research shows that typical businesses loose an average of 6% of revenues from employee theft. Small businesses are especially affected because of the limited resources they have. The risk to your business can range from malicious intent to unintentional employee neglect which can harm your business by losing proprietary information, business documents, or losing merchandise.
A simple way to address this problem is by providing security training. By training your employees on security, you instil in them the importance of using the installed security measures. Train your employees to be discreet with information they share so as not to put the business at risk. Make it clear that there will be zero tolerance for employee theft and that there will be dire consequences for anyone caught in the act.
Improving physical security for your business can be costly, time-consuming and complicated. So, you need to consider making incremental changes. Even though the cost of security may seem too much, the cost to your business being associated with insecurity can be so much more. By addressing the risks your business faces and taking the appropriate measure to protect yourself will increase the chances of your business succeeding.
