Protecting Your Business Planning for the worst while hoping for the best will help protect your business if disaster strikes.
By Joseph Pfefer
Small businesses cannot afford to experience losses and survive, whether the losses are due to burglary, shoplifting and internal theft, fire, employee lawsuit or information technology problems.
Burglary The first thing to consider in protecting your business is “what is the risk” and “what would happen if...” The appropriate level of risk management varies by business. Although a simple perimeter intrusion alarm system with basic interior movement/motion detection devices would work for an ice cream shop, this type of system would be woefully inadequate for a diamond shop. In the evaluation of the business, note the following: 1. Points of entry (i.e., windows, doors, walls/roof) 2. How can an intruder be delayed (i.e., deadbolt locks, interior barriers to prevent rapid theft of goods, lamination of the glass with a product such as armorcoat) 3. Lighting is not an issue, as good lighting has proved to give intruders better light to see by A qualified security consultant can evaluate your premises and provide options for making your establishment more secure. Electronic and Mechanical Security • A proper perimeter system to cover the doors and window areas per Underwriters Laboratories (UL) specifications. • A proper interior motion system based on the evaluation of the risk by a qualified security consultant. • Exterior local alarm with flashing strobe light brings attention to the crime in progress. • Due to the high frequency of phone line cutting, radio backup is a good idea. • Request the security alarm provider to provide double backup batteries. This will extend your system’s operation during prolonged power outages. • Proper locks—MEDECO anti-pick and non-duplicatable locks will prevent someone from getting a copy of your building’s keys. • Electronic Access Control—individual cards or fobs (small access control devices that fit on a key ring). Access can be based upon time of day, day of week, holiday and are individually set up.
Internal/Employee Theft With the recent advent of high-performance closed circuit television systems with digital video recorders (DVR), the security industry is now providing ”photos” of shoplifters with quality that far exceeds previous videotape performance. Additionally, the marriage of the DVR with broadband allows for the remote viewing of the location from either a central monitoring station or even the business owner/manager’s home.
Internal and shoplifting theft has been known to put companies out of business because the companies are unable to charge enough to make up for the internal losses. A well-known fast food restaurant had its demise due to this internal problem. Additionally, the camera systems can assist with “slip and fall” claims, as well as remote management of the premise for other operational issues, such as bussing of the tables in a proper manner or leaving the cooler/freezer doors open too long during re-stock, resulting in refrigeration compressor burnout.
Open and Closing Supervision Service What this supervision service does for the business owner is to allow the tracking of when the alarm system is armed or disarmed. Additionally, this service makes sure the system is actually armed by a certain time, or can alert if the system is armed at the normal time and then disarmed a few minutes later. This could be an indication of the person responsible closing the business and then being forced to re-open at gunpoint. Another function of the open and closing service is to notify management if non-authorized personnel are disarming the system after normal business hours. Some monitoring companies will also generate open and closing reports, and either mail or fax them to the to the business owner wherever they designate. (Employees have been known to destroy the reports sent to the business address in an attempt to prevent management from seeing the non-authorized activity). On many occasions, the open and closing supervision service actually can be more valuable to management than the intrusion alarm service.
Fire Most businesses that experience a fire do not recover. Just look at the statistics. If your facility does not have a fire alarm system, consider installing one. Be sure the installation company follows National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) requirements (i.e., the “code”) and can issue a UL certificate of compliance (indicating the system was installed per code, which may result in lower insurance premiums). Just throwing in a smoke detector or two will not comply and could actually leave you open to legal action in the event of a problem.
Employee Lawsuit Do you have a written employment policy? Can’t afford it? Can you afford $200 to $300 per hour to defend your business against an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit? Check around for a qualified human resource attorney. They are worth it and can keep your business healthy. Also, check with your insurance agent about an employment practices policy.
Plan Ahead Business is hard and complicated, and becomes even more so when disaster strikes. Although the above may look overwhelming, start in small, affordable chunks and develop and implement a plan to protect your business. In the end, you may sleep better at night. Joseph (Joe) Pfefer is president of Jade Alarm Co. He can be reached at (816) 333-5233 or
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