If you are a general contractor or in charge of a construction site, there are a lot of risks to your project that could be incredibly damaging to your company. Many of them, unfortunately, are the result of people with impure motives.
The state of the construction industry makes it incredibly vulnerable to crimes like theft, vandalism, and even arson.
Construction materials cost a lot more, making potential losses even more devastating. For this reason, it is crucial to secure the construction site to prevent these incidents.
Nationally, it is estimated that the cost of construction site crime is between $300 million and $1 billion. Making matters worse, less than 25% of stolen construction tools and equipment are recovered.
If your construction site is lacking in security measures, you could become a part of these statistics while losing out on precious resources.
Table of Contents
6 Tips to help prevent construction site crime and avoid massive losses.
Increase Lighting
After sunset, most thefts take place. Because it is hard to see, it encourages those with bad motives to take advantage and get into the site to either steal, vandalize, or even start a fire.
If you have substantial lighting throughout the site, you can discourage these individuals from even thinking about committing a crime.
If they are much easier to spot by a security guard or someone else because of the amount of lighting, they will think that the risk of getting caught is too high.
Some lighting systems are solar-powered so they can reduce the power usage required to run them. While this adds to your project costs, the prevention of crimes can far outweigh those expenses.
Create a Strong Perimeter
Many construction site crimes happen because people had easy access to tools or equipment for breaking and entering. The lack of a strong perimeter is usually the reason for that.
Putting up temporary fences or other barriers to secure the perimeter should be a priority for your project, especially if it is large in scale or will go on for a long time.
A fence can also make your construction site safer for workers since they won’t have to worry as much about people entering the site and being put in danger.
Install Cameras
Construction sites are often targets for theft due to a lack of surveillance.
You could deter them by implementing certain measures including security cameras. Surveillance cameras that are set up around the construction site can function primarily as preventative measures, discouraging would-be thieves because they see that they might be recorded.
However, if they do still commit a crime, this footage could aid the authorities in tracking down the individual and recovering stolen equipment. Use several cameras to capture the largest percentage of the site with their fields of view for better results. Cover the blind spots with angled cameras also.
Hire Security Guards
Another measure you can take to protect the construction site, both during working hours and after sunset, is to hire construction security personnel. These individuals are trained to monitor and protect the site, as well as take action to prevent potential crimes.
They can also help your workers feel more secure while doing their jobs, knowing that someone is there whose sole responsibility is to secure the site.
Construction projects often see various parties coming into the site, such as vendors or other contractors, so a security guard could help keep an eye on these activities to ensure no one is entering the area that should not be.
Improve Check-In Systems
Tracking everyone who is on the project site can be very helpful in preventing construction crimes.
Therefore, implementing badges, security tags, keypads, or even biometric readers, and better check-in systems will ensure everyone who enters the site belongs there. Plus, with the assistance of a security guard, these measures can be twice as effective while allowing you to focus on the project itself since security is being handled by another party.
Different Projects Require Different Levels of Security
Not all construction projects are created equal. The scope of the project can often determine the type of security measures needed to keep everyone safe and prevent construction site crimes.
Not every project will need a security guard, perimeter fences, and surveillance cameras to secure the area. You will need to be diligent with creating a security plan for every project that fits with the work being done.
No matter what measures you take to beef up security, the cost of not doing anything and dealing with theft, vandalism, or arson is often much greater than the cost of these measures, so weigh the benefits as you come up with a security plan.
