How to Keep Your Physical Premises Secure

There is, rightly, a lot of talk about digital security these days. With so much sensitive data lying around, it’s important that businesses are taking steps to ensure that no-one can perform a data breach. However, it’s also important that companies don’t forget about their physical premises, too — just because the recent buzz has been around online security, it’s your physical space that can cause the most damage, since this is where all your expensive AND your important files are kept. So let’s make sure that no-one with nefarious intentions can get in. Below, we take a look at a few tried and tested tips for keeping things secure.

Looking Secure

Would-be criminals aren’t, by and large, stupid. They don’t target places that look like will give them trouble. As such, one of the best ways to keep unwanted people out of your building is to beef up the appearance of security. Things like CCTV cameras and large fences can be all it takes to change the mind of someone who was intending to do your company harm. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that there are additional security measures located on the inside of your building, but this will be the starting point.  

As Needed Access 

If you can account for everyone who has access to your building, then things will be a lot easier to control. It’s when unverified people can enter premises that the trouble can begin. So it’s worth taking a look at your access control, and investigating whether it’s as secure as it could be. The best access controls are biometric — things like fingerprint or pupil scanning. If you have this at your worksite, then it’ll be much more difficult for unauthorized personnel to gain entry. As well as limiting the number of people who can access your premises, it’ll also let you see who was there and at what time. If something suspicious happens, you’ll have some information to work with. 

Extra Layer of Protection

Try as you might, it won’t always be possible to keep unauthorized personnel out of your business premises. If someone really wants to gain access to your building, and they haven’t been deterred by what they’ve seen outside, then they’ll find a way in. But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to succeed in ripping off your company, not if you have the right pieces in place to prevent that from happening. Let’s begin with your sensitive documents. These should be kept in a document control cart enclosure, which comes with a two-point lock and is thus difficult to access. After that, it’s about keeping your tech hardware out of a criminal’s reach — keep them locked up, out of sight. While you hope that your computers aren’t stolen, you can minimize the damage by keeping your important documents in cloud storage and having comprehensive business insurance, which will cost the costs of replacement machines should it be needed. 

Who’s on the Staff?

You’d like to think that everyone on your staff is going to help your business move forward, but this, sadly, isn’t the case. A large percentage of crimes against businesses happens internally, either through direct stealing or by helping outsiders to gain access. While you can never be one hundred percent sure that who you’re bringing on to your team is trustworthy, there are things you can do to increase your chances. During the application process, make sure that you’re following up with their employee references, and performing a more thorough background check (especially if it’s for a job with access to sensitive information). If you’ve followed these steps, then it’ll be unlikely that anything does wrong, but it’s still recommended that you pay attention to any signs that someone is doing your business harm. 

Review and Update

It’s kind of a cat and mouse game with criminals. Security forces become better, but then so do the criminals. As such, it’s important that you’re not just sitting back and admiring the robustness of your security — it’s something that needs to be continually managed, reviewed, and updated. If you don’t know what you’re looking for when it comes to your business worksite security, then look at working with an outside company — they’ll have the expertise to tell you your vulnerabilities, and where your security can be tightened up. 

It’s not worth taking any chances when it comes to the security of your business. Up the security, and you can focus on taking care of the core duties of your company with peace of mind.