During this difficult time we are all managing as best we can to adjust to a different way of life and to get through this current lockdown as painlessly as possible. With many businesses forced into temporary shutdown, this has put greater stress on everyone, particularly business owners who now have the added worry of their property being vulnerable day after day, during this lockdown.
Unfortunately, as detailed by the news reports across the UK there are those who are still flouting the rules and of course, opportunists who are taking advantage of empty properties. The risk is now greater for businesses, large and small, not only from reduced income for the year but also from theft and an inevitable rise in insurance claims.
Everything has a knock-on effect and most business owners will have suitable insurance coverage but should anything happen and you are forced to claim, this will undoubtedly impact the premiums, not to mention the stress and hassle of claiming during an incredibly busy time for many call service centres and businesses working on reduced staff numbers already. It’s something we can all agree on, that with enough to worry about, it would be easier if we could have peace of mind and a way of avoiding these problems in the first place.
Security for your Business
Extreme times call for extreme measures and this lockdown is certainly an extreme circumstance. As specialists in CCTV installations and burglar alarms, we have worked with many companies who have specific requirements in order to shore up their defenses from day to day operation but this would generally in most cases mean security overnight, with most businesses, offices or factories operating during the day. Nighttime is the key risk period for most companies but during the lockdown, this has now become a 24 hour need as many buildings will lay empty for weeks and even months.
With the current restrictions in place, even we cannot operate as normal and provide one to one security installations and so, without call-out operations available, there is a need to get creative in order to protect your business, through smoke and mirrors and possible trickery.
So what can you do to help reduce the risk of break-in, theft or damage?
1. Hide Valuables
This one may be obvious and most notably because it’s the one thing we are told in order to protect against car theft but the same rule applies for your business. Keep valuables out of view and out of reach. This can include bags, personal belongings and particularly mobile phones and laptops. Anything which can be snatched easily and lifted quickly will be the first things to be stolen following a break-in. Particularly with opportunist burglars. It can be difficult to keep monitors and desktop computers out of view in some properties but in most cases, every effort should be made to keep valuable equipment out of sight or hidden, if the property will be empty.
2. For Once, Don’t Advertise!
Continue to advertise your business, by all means but don’t advertise publicly that you are closing down temporarily, particularly on social media. Some businesses may be tempted to publicly announce that services remain unaffected (if that service can be offered remotely or online) despite having to close the shop or main building location where they are situated. This is a bad idea. By telling everyone your service will continue on one hand, with the other you would effectively be telling everyone that it is open season on your empty building, which is now going to be un-manned for a prolonged period. As with the advice about posting on social media when you are going away, or publishing photos whilst you are away on holiday, don’t advertise that your property is going to be empty.
3. Signs of Life
It’s worth making sure that when leaving your property during this lockdown or for any period of time, that things are not tidied to the extreme. It’s a place of business and should no doubt be kept clean and tidy but it should still look like a working location. Noone wants to return to a mess but whilst the building is empty of workers, it is a good idea to keep an image of a busy workplace, so as to give the impression of operational normalcy. Any desks that are near windows or visible from the street or public access roads, should be relatively tidy but contain things from everyday use; glasses of water, empty tea cups, boxes of tissues, notepads left open etc. By leaving these types of items on the desk and in the office it will show signs that it’s business as usual, particularly in the evening if anyone is snooping. It might be advisable to leave a few computer monitors on, left in screensaver mode if possible. However, given the cost implications and potential power restrictions in place this may not be an option for some.
4. Blocking
Blocking the windows with equipment is one option which could help protect your business. Depending on your layout, by placing equipment or filing cabinets strategically near to or in front of windows would certainly give the impression of a busy working office but it would also dissuade would-be burglars. It would just be too much effort, especially when they can’t see clearly what’s inside.
Alternatively, blinds are also a good option for blocking the view into the office as they are naturally relevant to office space and wouldn’t look out of place either. By half closing or three-quarter closing blinds, this could put any potential break-in attempt on the backburner.
5. Check-in Staff
It’s not unusual for businesses to hire cleaners at the weekend and during national holidays and although there will be restrictions on travel and non-essential behaviour, a weekly drop in could be useful. You could ask staff to rotate every week so there is a daily or every other day visit to the property, with you the owner also dropping in, this could show activity on a regular basis. We’re certainly not encouraging anyone to take unnecessary journeys and so this one would have to be based on common-sense and locality to the business (do people live nearby and could they incorporate it into their daily walk etc.).
