Farsight is in the news today, talking to The Times newspaper about construction site security and the current surge in young people intruding on private building sites to use them as meeting grounds to perform daredevil stunts and get up to mischief. These sites are private for a reason, and often dangerous places to play around in for ‘wanna be urban explorers.’

The following article by Charlotte Wace, Northern Correspondent at the Times was published on 22/03/2021:

 

What is an urban explorer exactly?

“Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof-and-tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment.” 

Urbex has become a trend fuelled by social media sharing, generating ten of millions of views as these fearless adventurers and daredevils explore forbidden areas and document their actions with videos and photographs.

The old adage “take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints” has often been applied to urban exploration. However, the recent rise in popularity of the hobby has brought claims that this rule is no longer being followed which is greatly concerning, especially for the construction industry.

 

Is Urban Exploration dangerous?

The dangers associated with urban exploring, especially at construction sites, are numerous – not just the risk of falling from dizzy heights.  These include: hazards such as unstable structures, unsafe floors, broken glass, stray voltage, entrapment hazards, or unknown chemicals and other harmful substances (most notably asbestos). to name a few.

You don’t have to look far to find a raft of media stories of injuries and even deaths that have occurred from urban exploring.

Moment urban explorer falls through roof of abandoned building and is left dangling over huge drop, Liverpool Echo

Mother’s warning after urban explorer dies in abandoned building, The Times

Melton student fell to death from abandoned hotel used by ‘urban explorers’, Leicester Mercury

 

How to improve Construction Site Security  to deter ‘urban explorer’ trespassers?

Of course, these unauthorised intruders don’t just endanger themselves at construction sites they gain access to, their actions also can threaten the safety of site staff, authorised visitors as well as assets, equipment and project continuity. Access from unauthorised individuals can undermine the valuable work done by landowners and contractors to keep their sites safe and secure.

From a physical security perspective property owners and contractors can add safeguards to prevent access to at-risk areas. These can include displaying visitor guidelines, carrying out regular inspections and risk assessments, installing physical security solutions such as fencing, gates and doors, access control, intruder alarms,  monitored CCTV cameras and even employing security guards. Some go as far as installing anti-climbing safeguards on their equipment too.

Farsight has published a ‘comprehensive guide to construction site security’ to help site owners and managers to optimise their security measures. Deterring intruders and preventing intruder incidents from escalating can be a real challenge, but for construction sites particularly, it is crucial to cover all the bases.

> Read the ‘Free’ Farsight Comprehensive Guide to Construction Site Security – click here

 

Further reading

As a leading CCTV remote monitoring station, Farsight works extensively across the construction sector.  We regularly post articles relevant to construction site security that you may find interesting, like the article below:

Can Farsight help you to optimise your site security?

If you a looking to optimise your site security with remote CCTV monitoring or want a quote then Let’s Talk – simply fill in the contact form below or call the Farsight team on 0845 371 0101: