If you are a business owner it is important to consider how you protect your employees and your company's assets. Today, there is a greater need to take the necessary precautions to reduce the threat of workplace violence, employee and customer accidents, and burglary. A monitored Security and CCTV system from Sequel Technologies can help reduce and control hazards and secure the health and safety of your employees.

Outside Your Business

• Secure the perimeter of your business, making sure that all gates and walls are secure.
• Do not store materials close to the perimeter that could be used to assist entry to or exit from your premises.
• The perimeter of the business should be adequately lit with higher levels of lighting in vulnerable areas.
• Security video cameras mounted on the building exterior aid in monitoring the entryways and perimeter and act as a deterrent.
• Ensure adequate surveillance of stock with the use of convex mirrors, surveillance systems and alarmed goods to provide a valuable deterrent.
• Make sure outbuildings are locked when they are not in use.
• If you have a storefront, keep it well lit at night.
• Keep your parking lot well lit.
• Encourage employees and customers to keep their cars locked at all times.

Inside Your Business

• Consider having internal doors fitted with coded locks or key card locks for inventory loss control.
• Maintain staff policies requiring at least two people to open and close these doors.
• Put together a standard policy for any threatening situations, and communicate the policy to all personnel.
• Choose passwords that are difficult or impossible to guess for computers and networks. Alphanumeric passwords are often the hardest to guess. Give different passwords to all accounts.
• Change the lock if a once-trusted employee is discharged, or install an access control system and you no longer need to change locks, you simply delete that employee's card from the system.
• If there is sensitive information within papers in your trash, tear them up or use a shredder.
• Make bank deposits often and during business hours. Do not establish a regular pattern. Take different routes at different times during the day.
• Mark all valuable equipment with a permanent ID. This helps to identify equipment and makes it harder for the thief to sell. Keep a record of all identification numbers off the premises with other important records.
• Walls between other tenant areas should extend to the underside of the roof.
• Interior lighting left on to show signs of activity is recommended.
• Keep all company cash and checks locked in a secure container designed for that purpose.
• Keep all checkbooks, deposit tickets and credit cards locked in a secure area when not in use.
• Never leave incoming or outgoing mail on a desk, or where it is available to a sneak thief. Assign an office employee to put the outgoing mail in a post office mailbox.
• Keep infrequently used doors locked.

Building Visitors

• Never allow strangers to be alone in your office.
• Report all suspicious activity.
• Challenge unknown people.
• Always request identification from service or utility workers.

Preventing Shoplifting

• Keep unused checkout aisles closed. Schedule adequate personnel to assure coverage during peak shopping hours.
• Place expensive items away from exits.
• Keep infrequently used doors locked.
• Post anti-shoplifting signs.
• Train employees to make frequent eye contact with  customers.
• Keep tight checks and controls on washrooms and fitting rooms.
• Train employees on what to do when they spot a shoplifter.
• Be alert to every detail that could aid in identifying the shoplifter.
• Keep all company cash and checks locked in a secure container designed for that purpose.

Securing Your Business

Businesses without alarm systems are 4.5 times more likely to be burglarized than those that have an alarm system.
Source: Commercial Security: Burglary Patterns and Security Measures, Metrica, Inc.

Of all uncompleted burglaries, 74% can be credited to an audible alarm.
Source: Securing Home and Business, Hakim and Blackstone.

Protecting your business and your investments are a high priority. A fully integrated security system, providing close circuit television and access control capabilities, will be the eyes and ears of your company, protecting your employees, customers, and valuables 24 hours a day. Make security from Sequel Technologies an essential part of your company's life safety and asset protection policies and procedures.

Security Facts

• An average of 1.7 million people were victims of violent crime while working in the U.S. each year from 1993 to 1999. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics)
• For the same period, over 800 workplace homicides occurred per year.(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries)
• Workplace homicide is the fastest-growing category of murder in the U.S. Homicide is the leading cause of on-the-job death for women, and the second leading cause for men. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
• Shoplifting occurs 380 to 440 million times yearly.
• Shoplifting costs businesses $9.5 to $11 billion annually.
• More than $3.78 billion in theft was reported by 32 U.S. retail companies in 1999.
• There are 1 to 1.2 million shoplifting incidents every day.
• $30 billion in profit is lost yearly to theft and error.
• >1/3 of all inventory losses occur due to shoplifting
• Theft occurs every four seconds.
• Property loss due to fires costs about $8.6 billion annually.
• A burglary occurs in this country every eight seconds.