KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and other parts of South Africa are being cleaned up by community members following the devastation left behind by the recent riots and looting. Individuals from all walks of life have banded together in an attempt to recover from the destruction and violence. While signs of restoration and change are positive to note, nothing can take away from the fact that thousands of businesses were destroyed during the events. Small business owners across the affected provinces have returned to work to find their companies in ruins and/or states of disrepair. Now more than ever, protecting your business premises is critical, and business owners need to consider new preventative strategies to avoid falling victim to unprecedented security risks.
The need for tighter business premises security has always been prevalent, however, expert warnings in the wake of the recent riot and looting activity say many small and medium-sized businesses affected are likely to close their doors permanently. In response to the potential future security risks for local companies, Secura has put together the following list of recommendations for protecting your business premises against South African crime statistics.
Supply Your Workforce with Armed Response
Your employees and staff are your most critical business asset, and their safety is of extreme importance. Not only are safe and secure employees more comfortable and productive during their day-to-day jobs, but they are also capable of protecting your business premises provided that they are equipped with quick-response security tools. Secura offers a state-of-the-art armed response app and a panic button that your business is capable of providing employees at a fraction of the cost in comparison to other similar offerings on the market. Secura for Business provides business owners with comprehensive security solutions, from API integration to White Labelling, to give you and your employees an advantage over the volatile South African crime statistics. With each employee harnessing the immediate response of a network of reliable armed security teams at the push of a button, your business premises will be quickly secured in the event of an unpredicted safety risk.
Secure Access Points and Perimeters
While some damage to business property and/or security breaches are orchestrated by intelligent criminals, the majority of business property attacks are opportunistic, like those that occurred following the primary planned attacks during the recent South African riots and looting. To ensure that your business property is protected should something similar ever occur, or in the event of a security threat, you should secure all access points and perimeters. In most cases, business owners should consider the installation of reinforced doors, anti-theft window locks, and anti-climb security gates. If your business is situated on a street without access to enough room for perimeter security, then double down on your access point security strategies. You may want to consider keycard-based entry at access points for added security.
Install Smart Cameras, Lighting and Alarm Systems
If criminals manage to break in and enter your business premises, you must ensure that you have smart lighting and alarm systems that respond to activity around key access points. Smart cameras, lighting, and alarm systems can be connected to your mobile phone and accessed whether you are on the property or not. With these security investments, business owners are capable of scanning their perimeters, triggering lights in vulnerable spots, and responding to alarm alert notifications on the fly. We have outlined a few primary security systems for protecting your businesses premises below:
- Wireless sensors
- Fire alarm sensors
- Access control
- Wired alarm systems
- Remote alarm systems
- CCTV surveillance
You can select one or several of these systems depending on your personal business protection preferences and budget allocation.
Protecting Your Business Assets and Equipment
Your equipment and physical assets are also at risk during breaches of your business premises. Laptops, televisions, sound systems, and other electronic equipment are popular theft targets during looting and other security risks on a businesses property. For this reason, you must consider safety strategies to minimise the potential theft of these products. Asset tags and record details of serial numbers are essential should anything be stolen, and securing devices to desks using anti-theft and security cables is of imminent importance.
While the recent riots and looting in South Africa have put community members and business owners on high alert, the need for proper security in the workplace has always been of tremendous importance. These devastating incidents further solidify the need for protecting your business premises with new and innovative safety tools such as Secura for Business, access point and perimeter security, smart alarm systems, and anti-theft equipment cables. These are a few of the key ways that you can #SecureYourBusinessWithSecura.