You may have seen the headlines last January or saw the post on social media, but this time last year Nanaimo RCMP and a heavy construction equipment contractor were dealing with the theft of a mini excavator stolen from a City of Nanaimo job site. Work had to stop on the sewer and water mains project while the theft was being investigated.
“Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said the theft would have had to have been organized between a couple of people with a truck capable of hauling the machine. “It would need a truck and trailer to take it off the property,” O’Brien said. “We’re looking for video surveillance … It’s fairly organized. They probably had their eye on it.”
So let’s look at what would have happened if the equipment contractor or the City had Sonitrol monitored CCTV on-site. For one thing, the RCMP wouldn’t be ‘looking’ for video surveillance the next day to try and catch the culprits. When the thieves arrived on-site, their activity would have been picked up by Sonitrol Security experts in our Central Control station. We would have notified the RCMP immediately of a crime in progress, and given a 3-4 minute response rate typically afforded to Sonitrol call-ins, it is most likely that the police would have arrived while the criminals were loading the excavator onto their trailer or truck.
That means, the criminals are caught red-handed, and the excavator is ready for work the next day with no down-time on the project. Win, Win.
Sonitrol has decades of experience creating commercial security systems for construction companies and projects of all sizes. Don’t think that our monitored alarms are only for big mega-construction sites. We offer large scale integrated security for big projects but also smaller projects and fenced construction compounds.
While a verified video or audio intrusion alarm is at the center of a robust modern security system, there are some other things you should consider when protecting your construction equipment and tools.
Here are 6 ways you can help protect your construction site.
- Establish A Security Plan
Before you start your project, you should implement a security plan. It’s also important to communicate that plan with your workers so that everyone understands the rules.
Have the plan accessible to everyone and have specific procedures in place that you can enforce.
- Inventory On-site Assets
Identify valuable assets that might be a target for thieves and take regular inventory. This will help you identify vulnerable areas, but also quickly notice if there are assets missing or damaged.
You may also want to put your logo on tools and equipment to help make them more identifiable if they are stolen.
- Track Your Equipment
You should always identify each piece of equipment that you currently have on-site. Keep this information up-to-date and secure. Take photos of expensive tools and equipment and record serial numbers.
If a piece of equipment is taken from your main compound to another site, be sure to make proper records of when it was released and when it was returned.
- Assign Security Responsibilities
Encourage security awareness among all workers and assign team members to be responsible for specific aspects of construction site security. You can also contact local police and fire departments before starting a new job to establish a relationship.
- Managed Access Control
Managed access is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to increase the security on your site. Managed access will restrict unauthorized persons from entering secured areas such as employee entrance doors, office trailers and tool and material storage. It will also help you control employee access. This limits the risk of internal theft and external threats.
- Verified Security Systems
Setting up fences is a must from a health and safety point, to protect the public. But they don’t actually do much to prevent determined criminals from breaking in. On-site security guards are sometimes used in the industry … but they can be costly and ineffective due to inattentiveness.
Basic off the shelf security systems will not be effective either as they often produce false alarms, which means the authorities may not respond as quickly. And they can’t properly secure construction sites that are large and complex.
The most effective solution is to use verified systems that are continuously monitored and use a combination of CCTV cameras and motion & audio alarms.
What Makes SonaVision The Perfect Solution For Construction Companies?
SonaVision is a hard-wired or wireless, integrated security solution that uses advanced video and motion detection equipment to create an electronic perimeter around the construction site perimeter.
We use audio and infrared, so Sonitrol Western Canada’s operators can listen and see in the dark. When the system is armed it will sense any heat and movement that happens around the construction compound.
SonaVision is vastly superior to conventional, digital recorder-based video, and static CCTV cameras that simply record video, and that’s because SonaVision detection is immediate and verified. Police will most likely arrive before the vandal can damage the property or the thief steals an excavator or copper wire, and they are then apprehended on-site.
In fact, police dispatch to Sonitrol verified alarms on average in just 3-4 minutes, while many conventional alarms they don’t even dispatch for due to their high false alarm rate.
Your time and resources are valuable, and that’s critical to a construction project’s schedule and budget, so it’s important to implement effective construction security.
Contact us today to find out how we can help secure your construction equipment and tools.
