A Guide to Construction Site Security

Construction sites in the UK are a lucrative target for theft by criminals and organised gangs seeking out machinery and valuable materials like metal. It’s thought that more than £800 million is lost every year through site theft pertaining to equipment, tools and materials, with over 7,000 metal thefts reported each month from construction sites alone.

With this in mind, it is imperative that your construction site is secure both during the working day and overnight.

Here are some ideas on how to keep a construction site secure with regards to staff, policies and procedures:

• Create a detailed job site security plan
• Determine a written security policy for your site
• Promote security alertness among all workers
• Allocate managerial security responsibilities
• Establish communication with management or residents of adjoining properties or businesses and urge them to report suspicious behaviours on your site
• Report all losses to the police immediately – do not delay in reporting losses or even suspicious behaviour
• Keep complete records of all security breach occurrences
• Develop relationships with associations or local groups working to stop construction site vandalism and theft

Good Measures to Have in Place On-Site for Construction Site Security

1. Make sure you keep the site lit at night

You should have good quality commercial lights. Opportunists will be less likely to take a chance when the site is illuminated. This is because they will not want to be seen which will hopefully discourage them from trying to enter the site. Moreover, lights that are on often indicate that builders and staff are present, so people are less likely risk entering the site.

1. Make sure you have measures in place such as mobile security patrols in place and CCTV

Once you have initiated measures in place, it will help you to keep your site safe and secure, reducing the risk of loss significantly. Police strongly recommend mobile patrols, CCTV and alarms by security providers in highly visible vehicles that are liveried as criminals are less likely to try and break into a site that is being monitored.

1. Security guards

We recommend round-the-clock security for your site or random mobile patrols carried out by mobile patrol officers at regular intervals throughout the night, weekends and bank holidays - especially for sites located in areas at higher risk. You may decide to use a security guard around the clock, but it really is about looking at your assets onsite and how best you feel you can minimise risk to property and assets.

1. Shipping and/or storage containers

You can hide away valuables left onsite in shipping or storage containers which offers a secure way of keeping them overnight. This way they will be secured and locked up once staff have finished and left for the day.

Investing in Construction Site Security

Theft of your valuables might be reason enough to improve security, but there are many advantages to investing in further construction site security such as what we offer at Diamond Protection Limited, including:

• When done correctly, sufficient security measures will save thousands of pounds and avoid disputes
• Meet construction site compliance guidelines protecting assets and personnel

For more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of our team today for a free quote or to request a call back.