Crime prevention should be on every business owner’s to do list. Not fun to think about but it’s a reality. Be honest, that’s one of the reasons you bought commercial insurance. You know it’s costly to repair doors and windows after a burglary, replace stolen inventory or clean up the mess when things get damaged and if you’ve ever been a victim, it’s also time consuming to deal with all the aftermath.
There are things that can help prevent burglary or other crime on your commercial property. These are just a few suggestions that can help.
- Maintain your property. If your business or building is rundown it may attract criminals. Take the effort to make sure that the building, the landscaping, the sidewalks and the parking areas are all clean and well-maintained. Do not keep old equipment, furniture, displays or signs stashed around the exterior of your building.
- The best protection against burglary is visibility. Keeping the building, especially the rear, well-lit at night is important. Do not use large displays or posters that would cover the windows.
- Keep trees near the building well-trimmed and secure fire escape ladders so that they cannot be used to access the roof.
- Install an alarm system and consider putting video surveillance on all entrances. If you already have a system or are thinking of upgrading, consider adding a panic button in case of robbery and making the alarm monitored so law enforcement is contacted should the alarm be activated.
- Clearly mark public and private areas and make private areas hard to access for non-employees.
- When closing your business for the evening, empty out your cash drawer, and leave it open, so that from the outside it can be seen to be empty.
- Use deadbolts with a saw-resistant insert on all exterior doors and pin the hinges of exterior doors that swing out, so that the door cannot be lifted off the hinges.
- Make sure that exterior doors are solid core and protect glass with polycarbonate sheets, bars or roll-down covers.
- Remember to keep a complete and up-to-date inventory of your merchandise and equipment. Keep this copy in a location away from your business.
You aren’t alone trying to come up with the right solutions for your business. Contact your local law enforcement and security specialists for recommendations and solutions. Reach out to your Commercial Insurance Broker to discuss your insurance coverage and to see if their claims team have security recommendations.
The Commercial Insurance team at Long Lake Insurance is always happy to assist and should you be a the unfortunate victim of crime, we are here to help you through this difficult time.
Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash