Burglary prevention is something we all hope we never need, but this guide will outline what you should do to minimize the chance of it.
We’d all like to believe that our offices are our safe places, where we can work in environment of security and protection.
Unfortunately, though, that is not always the case. Circumstances, whether in or out of your control, can easily arise that lead you to feel in danger as a staff member, or with reason to believe you are at risk of being the target of a burglary.
Protecting your business and the employees that work for you with burglary prevention measures should be a high priority for you as a business owner. After all, anyone who sets foot into your business’s property or who trusts your business with their data and sensitive information deserves to feel safe and protected from crime.
What’s more, having burglary prevention measures in place can also protect your business (and you) from being sued by a customer, employee or vendor. Read on for some tips on how to protect your business from crime.
Burglary prevention steps to take right now
Secure your data offsite (and back it up)
Most, if not all businesses will collect customer and client data. But the most important thing for a business is to ensure that the data you do collect from them is saved and held somewhere secure so that it does not get into the hands of the wrong people.
You can do this by hiring a great team of IT professionals who can hold any sensitive data in a cloud infrastructure. Plus, they can create digital burglary prevention security measures such as passwords and invites so that only certain trusted individuals can gain access to the data in question.
If you are unsure as to the benefits of keeping your data offsite but also the importance of backing up your data, read this article on 5 Reasons Why You Need Offsite Data Backup. Backing up your data can help protect your data from viruses, bots, ransomware, and spam.
Secure your physical premises
There is a large emphasis on protecting your online identity and data, but many businesses can sadly forget to protect their employees physically as part of the burglary prevention strategies.
Make sure that your business’s premises are well-secured and hazard-free so that they can work confidently and not have to worry about being caught in an accident or injured at work. You can make your physical premises more secure by:
- Keeping the parking lot well-lit
- Removing hazards from the office
- Ensuring only employees have keys and access to the office
- Providing training on what to do in the event of a fire, etc.
- Introducing a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment in the office
Appoint an attorney
You may hope that you never have to hire the services of a lawyer, but having one on standby and who can provide you with legal advice in confidence can be a great way to secure the integrity of your business.
There may be a time when you need access to legal advice fast, so having a lawyer that is trained to ensure that your business does not encounter too many legal issues can be a smart move. To find the right attorney, be sure to interview a few that offer the right services.
You may also wish to discuss payment plans, especially if you are a small business. Here are a few tips on how you can find the right attorney for your business.
There are numerous ways you can protect your business from home, so be sure to cover a few of them so that your customers and employees can feel safe. Of course, accidents do happen, so having a lawyer on standby can be greatly beneficial.
Besides from the suggestions above, you can also protect your business by investing in business insurance and enlisting the services of an accountant.
Alert the police
If you have received a genuine threat to your property, it is advisable – wise, even – to alert the police of your concerns. The police can look into these threats, and, if necessary, monitor particular areas in your neighbourhood, as well as advise on crime prevention and help you to ensure that your property is safe.
Do not be afraid of being a time waster: it is the job of a police officer to prevent crime, and you may be helping to put an end to a much wider-scale operation.
Purchase an up-to-date security alarm
There are plenty of ways you can improve your security to put off a potential burglar from entering your property. One of the simplest ways is to install a security alarm.
These have come a long way since the temperamental alarms of the early 2000s- the latest smart alarms are wireless, remotely operated, and can even be switched on and off using an app on your phone. If you want to ward a burglar off, or catch them in the act, a security alarm cannot go amiss.
Fit CCTV
If you really do feel at risk of being burgled, it’s worth considering purchasing a CCTV camera to monitor your front or back entrances. Not only can a CCTV deter burglars from targeting your office, it can also provide vital evidence should a burglary take place, which can be used by the police to identify the criminals.
Consider a move
It may sound slightly drastic, but if the threat of being burgled is taking a toll on your mental health, it’s time to move out of the area and start afresh.
While alerting the police and ensuring you’re up to date with your security may be more than enough for some people, if you still don’t feel safe, just move away. Your work is supposed to be a place of security, and if yours currently doesn’t meet your needs, find one that does.
