Starting a business is hard work, so it makes sense to do everything you can to keep it protected. With crime rates remaining a big concern for many firms small and large, limiting risks is absolutely paramount. Prone to losses from shoplifting, burglary and internal theft, keeping your stock and staff safe within your business should be top priority.
According to a report from KPMG, the average value of fraud loss in businesses is more than $3 million. And these stats are on the continual rise. The good news is though, 47% of respondents in the report believe major frauds occur due to deficient internal controls with strong internal controls and risk management uncovering the culprits. Thus, adequate measures should be taken to ensure all aspects of your business are safe. Here’s a few ways you can protect your stock and staff from being attacked.
- Commercial Fencing
One of the best places to start when it comes to protecting your business is external security. Criminals often target properties that are hard to get into or with little to no security devices in place, so the right fencing can be a great way to deter them. Not only does commercial security fencing and gates offer a visual security aid to potential thieves, but they can make accessing the business property much harder for unexpected visitors.
Depending on the area of your commercial property and the type of business you run, higher levels of security can be included in the fence and gate design. It’s important to review your gate access and decide what will work best for your business needs. For example: a pin-code or scan card automated gate access can give your business premises a top level of security or a simple security fence may be sufficient.
- Hire Reliable Employees
Sadly a lot of security breaches in a business comes from someone within the company. Internal security risks are very common and it can be a difficult process finding the right staff that are reliable and trustworthy. To help in protecting your business, it’s important to run the proper background checks on potential employees before hiring them.
Use credible sources to find potential staff for your business and once new employees have been hired, it can be a good idea to monitor their habits and keep valuable information safely away. Limit the number of staff that do have access to important information – if it’s not something the whole company should know about, then keep access to a bare minimum. For small businesses, this can sometimes be a challenge but where possible it’s a good idea to rethink giving out too much information.
- Back up Data
As technology booms, the online world can be a very dangerous place – so it definitely pays to ensure your online business and information remains safe. From computers being hacked to online security breaches, all valuable business information including financial data should be regularly backed up should something happen.
It’s important to remember that natural disasters can also cause data loss to its best to keep backup offside to avoid complete loss of information. If hacking is a potential threat to your business, it can be worthwhile encrypting your company data too as this will ensure thieves cannot read the information should they be able to access it.
- Install Lighting
Lighting plays a crucial part in safety and security within your business because it makes it look like the building is occupied. The right lighting will act as a safe guard for staff coming to work and leaving too – an essential consideration if employees are leaving after dark too.
Lighting should be installed in dark corners or ‘dead spots’ to deter thieves from using them as potential hide out areas. Motion sensor lighting can be ideal to be installed near windows and doors to surprise criminals trying to enter the building, and light the way for staff to ensure their paths are safer. Depending on the type of business you run, consider what the most effective intervals would be for the timed lights to switch on too near the building or car park area.
- Provide Necessary Security Training
Risk assessment is an important part of keeping both your staff and stock safe and will usually involve some sort of training to keep everyone on the same page. Ensure you raise a level of awareness within your business and look for feedback from staff to determine what level of security employees feel most comfortable with. What makes a staff member feel safe at work can vary significantly between people so seek their ideas too.
Where possible, provide security training to staff so workers feel safe and ready should a situation occur. Training can include anything from better cash handling and protection to a simple induction on what to do in the event of a serious threat. Staff should access to emergency numbers and be trained to recognise suspicious behaviour. As a business owner, providing your employees with an environment where they feel safe and secure is in essential. Regular risk assessments and relevant training can help with this.
About the Author:
This article is written by Jayde Ferguson, who writes for Fencemakers – Perth, Western Australia’s complete range of security fencing and gates installed by commercial fencing contractors to keep your business safe. Catch Jayde on Google+.
