Ring Fence: 5 Ways To Prevent Theft On A Construction Site

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article
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Construction is booming at the moment as more people realize that manual labor is a suitable career. Of course, you have known that for a long time but are only now reaping the benefits. However, it isn’t all picnics and bouquets of flowers. When you run a site, you have to put up theft. Whether it’s your employees or burglars, it happens on a daily basis, and it costs the firm a lot of money. So, it needs to stop, and it needs to stop as soon as possible.

For those of you that won’t put up with it any longer, you have come to the right place. Below are five tips that will help you prevent of types of theft in the workplace.

1: Install Cameras

The obvious thing to do is to invest in construction cameras and create a high-tech security system. Now, if you think that cameras are reactive, that isn’t the case. Yes, they great tools for looking at incidents and figuring out what went wrong. But, they are also useful in the moment. For one thing, the majority of thieves don’t bother targeting a site which has CCTV. Because they are opportunists, there is too much risk even if the rewards are high. Plus, advanced systems allow you to monitor any incidents and take control in real time. A real time alert, for example, warns you of any suspicious behavior so that you can call the police or inform your people on site.

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2: Light It Up

Let’s stay on the topic of prevention for a moment. Cameras prevent theft because they add an element of risk, and lights do the same thing. Powerful lights take away a thief’s most treasured tool: darkness. Burglars use it all of the time to creep around in the shadows unnoticed, which gives them more time and a better chance of success. With spotlights, there aren’t many places a person can hide in the grounds. As long as the lights are bright enough, it should illuminate the entire site. And, if they sweep the area randomly, it only makes everything safer. If there is an incident, the light also helps identify the culprits the next day on CCTV.

3: Lock It Up

Construction sites are prime targets because they house lots of valuable materials. It isn’t uncommon to work with everything from copper to steel, and these have a high resale value. So, a common criminal won’t think twice about shifting as many raw materials as possible. Obviously, you need to make this as hard as possible, which is why lockers are essential. All you have to do is place anything of value in the lockers and keep it there until the morning. As long as the lock is strong enough, it should deter any person with light fingers. A safe is also a good idea if you can find one that is affordable. Regarding machines, there aren’t many ways to keep them under lock and key. Instead, stack materials around them to block off the path. Also, fit an immobilizer that cuts the ignition.

Don’t forget to lock up your personal items, such as your jobsite radio. To learn more about these radios, read this review of the The 10 Best Jobsite Radios.

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4: Background Checks

The biggest assumption bosses make is that they can trust their workers. That isn’t always true because employees are opportunists, too, especially if they think it’s a sure thing. As a result, the credentials of the people on your site must come into question. No one is saying that you need to grill them like a suspect under questioning, but you should look into their past. By talking to previous employers, it is possible to learn more about their personality and analyze whether they are a perfect fit. Also, a criminal background check should alert you to any major incidents in the past. No one likes to tar a person with a brush, yet you have to be careful. After all, it is your livelihood.

5: Security Team

Technology plays a massive part, but so do the people that walk around and stay on guard all night. The problem with a site is the size. It is too big to install cameras all around the perimeter, which leaves you vulnerable. Thankfully, boots on the ground can cover the places that technology misses. It is tempting to think that tech is infallible, particularly with recent advancements. The truth is that it is far from perfect, and that makes retro features like a security guard even more important.

The site is much safer when you put the new age and old school methods together.

Is Your Business Heading For The Cliff Edge?

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What exactly is a disaster scenario in business? A disaster scenario occurs when you are no longer able to sell your products or make a profit with your company. At that money, the engines for your business have faltered, and you’re falling fast. In cases like this, the best option would be to start completing damage control procedures. But, if we’re looking at the optimum outcome, you should not be controlling the damage at all. Instead, you should do everything you can to make sure it never happens in the first place.

You need to avert a disaster scenario in your business, and there are a number of ways that you can do this.

Keep Spending Under Control


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One of the most common disaster scenarios is caused by a simple case of overspending. By spending more than you make from your business, you will reach the point where you’re no longer making a profit. Once you get to that stage, you only really have two options. You must be ready to cut back. Of course, if you keep your budget under control from day one, you’ll never reach that point. So, you’ll have to think about how to manage your budget.

Outsourcing is a great way to cut the costs while still delivering a quality service to your customers. You can outsource almost any part of a business these days from logistics to HR. When you do outsource, you have to remember that you are essentially giving the control of that part of your business to another company. They’ll still work for you, but they will be responsible for maintaining quality levels. As such, you should choose a company very carefully.

Backup Everything


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Another piece of advice would be to make sure that you are backing up important data and files in your business. To do this, you can use a colocation service for your company. Colocation services provide data protection, handling and backup for companies and colocation pricing can be very reasonable indeed. For just a few hundred out of your budget, you can make sure that if your systems do break down you have a backup ready to go. This can allow you to avoid your business entering a period of disaster recovery that can take weeks or even months.

Hire A Legal Advisor


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Of course, one of the main issues that might cause a disaster scenario for your business would be a legal issue. That’s why you might want to think about hiring a legal advisor for your company. You can check in with your legal advisor every so often and ensure that you’re not crossing any lines that you shouldn’t be.

Legal issues can arise in any area of your company, but you should pay particularly close attention to employee management. It’s quite possible for an injury or complaint from an employee to send your business towards a legal case that could cost hundreds of thousands. An SME won’t survive this type of expense and neither will your business.

If you take this advice, you can steer your business away from the cliff edge before you get anywhere near it.

When Business Bites Back

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Sometimes, it can feel like your business is fighting back against you. It’s like struggling to tame a wild beast that keeps pulling on the reins. If you’re not careful, you will lose control completely, and your business will become a disaster zone. To avoid this, we need to think about the issues you could encounter in your company, how to deal with them and what they could mean.

You might think that tech has solved a lot of the dangers in business. But as you’re about to discover it’s really only made matters worse.

Tech Terrors

If you are running a business, you should be storing sensitive and important data files on the computer or the cloud server. This is a smart decision as experts generally agree it’s the securest form of storage on the market. Certainly, it’s a lot better than having hard files that anyone could swipe from your company. Or, that could be lost in an event like a fire.

But tech is not completely foolproof, and it can cause issues of its own. For instance, you might find that the tech in your company breaks down. At that point, you could lose all the important files and data you need to keep your company running. Not to mention any sensitive customer data that could impact your clients.

Luckily, there is an answer to this, and that’s to use a backup server. With a proper IT support and consulting service, you can make sure that you have a complete backup of your computer systems. That means if one system crashes you will be able to rely on the other. This is also useful if your business suffers a hack.

Legal Lows

You may find that the issue in your company is a legal one. It’s possible that your business is hit by a lawsuit and this can be a nasty shock for company owners who weren’t prepared. Lawsuits can come from anywhere but are more often than not a result of action by an employee. Personal injury lawsuits are some of the most common claims. Protecting your business from this is about making sure that you have the right legal info. It’s best to invest in the services of a legal advisor who can tell you everything you need to know.

As well as this, you need to make sure you have the right insurance coverage in place. This will help you deal with the financial issues of a lawsuit against your company.

Killer Clients

Finally, you might have issues with clients and customers. Believe it or not, your customers hold the key to killing your business stone dead. You might have noticed that business owners these days are particularly cautious of complaints on social media. You might think they’re being over cautious, but they’re not. They know that well over eighty percent of customers rely on online reviews when deciding to make a purchase. On top of this, they understand how fast bad word of mouth can spread. That’s why you must always work to keep customers happy and feeling appreciated. If they do have an issue, handle it immediately or risk the wrath they could bring on your business.

Is Your Office On The Brink Of Disaster?

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You may not realise this but your business office could be on the edge of a disaster for a variety of reasons. If it is, it’s not too late to complete a course correction. The problem here is that most employers have no idea what disaster they are going to face until it hits. Let’s look at a few and see if we can work to tackle them head on.

Legal Lows

It is possible that your business could be heading for a lawsuit. This will certainly be true if you are not keeping health and safety levels in your office high. You would be amazed by the type of issue that could cause a serious injury in your office. For instance, there might be loose wires over the floor. This could mean someone trips, falls and breaks their neck. It can happen and if it does your business could lose hundreds of thousands.

Tech Failure

Or, maybe your tech is about to fail. You hope this isn’t the case but you can’t be sure. Tech can falter or fail for a variety of reasons including a glitch in the software that you are using. You can’t prevent it but you can prepare for it. To do this, think about hiring an IT support team. They’ll monitor your tech and ensure that there are no serious issues.

Loss Of Faith

Or, perhaps your employees are losing faith in your business. When this happens it can be a disaster because they may stop working or bothering to come in at all. High employee absences are a clear sign that something is going wrong in your business model. You can learn more about managing this issue in the infographic below.


Managing Employee Attendance created by brighthr

Extra Steps Your Business Should Take When Risks Are Involved

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Running a company is risky business. There is no risk-free way of doing it. So, you should try to learn how to handle risks better. Your business will face all kinds of different risks. Getting your approach to each of them right could turn out to be the difference between success and failure. It really is that important. So, here are some of the extra steps you’ll need to take to keep your business safe when risks are involved.

Get Your Location Right

To start with, your location needs to be right. There are multiple ways in which the location of your business can be impacted by risks. For a start, you will want to be somewhere that gives you the best chance of reaching customers. If you pick a poor location, you risk a poor start that could have a hugely negative impact on the business’s chances of finding success. Then there are environmental risks that should be taken into account. Do you really want to start a business in a location that has a history of flooding or other weather risks?

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Have a Plan for When Tech Disaster Strikes

Tech disasters are very common in the world of business. We rely so much on computers and various other forms of technology. Of course, this has huge benefits. But it’s also a risky way to go about things. Tech can break down or stop working at any time. There could be power cuts or data loss. All of these things need to be planned for properly. There are companies that offer disaster recovery as a service, so look into this if you want an extra layer of protection in place. You should also train your employees on what to do if a tech disaster happens on their watch.

Find the Right Insurance Coverage

Insurance is one of those things that business owners either ignore or view as a necessary evil. Maybe both of those approaches are wrong, though. Insurance can do so many positive things for your business. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to think things through and get the best possible level of coverage for the best price. Unless you put some time into seeking out the best insurance deals, you won’t be able to do that. It’s something you could live to regret when something goes wrong, though.

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Track Your Cash Flow Better

How closely and carefully do you track your cash flow? If you just go with the flow and let it do its own thing, it might work for a while. But before long, things will get messy and chaotic. That is almost always what happens when you don’t track your cash flow properly. Unfortunately, it’s a mistake that is very common as well. Spending money is always a risk in business. If you do too much of it and not enough is coming back into your business, you’ll have a problem. So, keep a close eye on it and make sure everything balances out. It’s a risk that should be simple to manage.