As a business owner, you want to do everything in your power to ensure that your company premises are as well protected and secure as possible. A secure office is vital for your employees to encourage feelings of safety at work, and protected premises means somebody can’t steal your equipment. Just a lock and a key aren’t enough for effective office security, as burglars are advanced beyond those basic measures.
Here are four easy steps you can take toward better office security.
Don’t leave premises unattended
One of the most straightforward steps you can take toward better office security is making sure that your premises are never left unattended. Burglars are opportunists who aren’t often interested in confrontation, so if your office space always seems to be occupied, then you’re a much less attractive target.
During the working day, this could be as simple as making sure you always have a receptionist on duty. Anybody seated at the front of the business who could recognise people outside of the premises will deter flighty thieves.
During the evening, a mobile patrol is an excellent way to keep your business premises secure.
A marked vehicle surrounding and surveying your space while it is unoccupied is an unwanted presence for an intruder. Patrolling patterns can be switched up daily or weekly to keep your office routine a mystery from burglars.
Install a CCTV system
Cameras can catch what the human eye doesn’t. Even business premises that are occupied continuously have entry points that aren’t monitored every hour of every day. An effective CCTV system spots security breaches before they can escalate, allowing concierge security to alert the police in times of suspicion, and images can be sent directly to emergency services in closed hours.
CCTV systems that are visible from outside the premises also act as a deterrent to potential thieves. Any possibility that their appearance could be caught if they tried to commit a crime means that the premises are less attractive to target. Deterring criminals before they’ve even planned to target your office space is the most effective approach to security you can take.
Introduce ID badges
ID badges to enter your business premises are much safer than keys. Keys can be lost or stolen and don’t have to belong to anybody specifically, whereas photographic ID badges can only be used by the individual pictured. Front of house employees can quickly double-check that all entrants to the premises have their picture ID, and reason to be in the building. While they’re slightly higher maintenance and more costly to introduce than a lock and key system, with an ID system you’ll have an instant record of who is in your building.
Employee accountability is also much easier to manage with an ID badge system, as you’ll be able to track which employee has been in which department. In the worst-case scenario, where an employee is consistently leaving doors unlocked and premises unsecured, they’re much easier to identify than they would’ve been with an untraceable key. You’re then able to have a conversation with your worker to better train them.
Maintain secrecy
If you’re storing and handling data of extreme privacy, keep that information as secure as possible with a minimal team of employees involved, and a rotation of lengthy passwords. The fewer team members that can access that information the better, as there is less room for mistakes. It takes one employee mentioning sensitive information to the wrong person for your business to become a target, so be selective with the team you trust.
Also, don’t make it immediately apparent where sensitive information is stored with a sign, as that room instantly becomes a target if a thief manages to assess the inside of your property. Any indication on the outside of your office building suggesting that valuable information or expensive equipment is stored inside will catch the attention of burglars, so try as best as possible to maintain secrecy.
Continually assessing your office space for weakness, and considering what further steps could be taken to increase security will benefit your business in the long run. Avoid costly break-ins and thefts with our list of 4 easy steps to increase office security.
