Of course, security is for life – not just for Christmas. But statistics from our remote monitoring station in December 2014 showed that, on average, almost one in four (24 per cent) of the sites we monitor experienced an incident over the festive month.
That’s a significant number of sites facing a potential security breach that could put their site at serious risk. No business owner or facilities manager wants to return from the Christmas break to find their site has been damaged or the victim of criminal activity.
So, this year, we’re issuing our festive security advice to business owners. Shutting up shop over the festive season could make businesses a target for intruders if they fail to introduce the correct measures.
Malcolm O’Shea Barnes, our senior operations manager, says, “We monitor the intruder alarm and CCTV systems for many different sites across the UK. These statistics show that in the December there is a real risk that sites could experience a security breach – whether that’s disruption to CCTV cameras, an intruder witnessed or evidence of a break-in.
“It’s common knowledge that many businesses close for the period from Christmas to New Year. Empty premises are the perfect target for opportune intruders, especially businesses with expensive equipment or machinery.”
Security advice for businesses at Christmas:
- Take weather into consideration: check that your security lighting is working and provides a clear image via CCTV cameras. Also consider if the weather could cause environmental damage, which may obstruct security cameras or damage fences, gates and railings.
- Keep perimeters secure: don’t leave skips, boxes or vehicles near your perimeter, as these can help intruders jump down into your site.
- Have a process in place for locking up: don’t leave one person to lock up for the holidays. At this time of year it’s vital that you lock up every possible entry point. Check windows, doors, fire escapes and outbuildings such as warehouses, garages and secure car parks.
- Let us know your Christmas working hours: inform your security services of changes to working hours at your premises over December and January: if you’re closing completely; only working occasional hours; expecting just a couple of personnel to be on site or even if you’re expecting deliveries. If your remote monitoring station knows these details they can act decisively if they identify an individual on your site.
- Update key holders: inform the relevant parties if any of your key holders are away for the holidays. Replace these keyholders with someone else who will be nearby and available to attend the site in an emergency.
- Check your security system’s clock: check your security system to see if your lighting is timed separately from your cameras. If so make sure they are in sync and have both been updated to account for the longer nights and for the clocks going back. Also check the time on your CCTV cameras as an incorrect time could make footage unusable as evidence.
As always, by introducing remote CCTV monitoring you’ll be making your security systems cost-effective and efficient. Instead of simply using footage in retrospect, as evidence of a break in, expert operators at the Farsight Observatory will receive an alarm and monitor your cameras live – helping to put a stop to any intrusions then and there.
Find out more about our remote monitoring services
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Featured image: Creative Commons “Snowy Camera” by SNappa2006 licensed under CC BY 2.0
