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Safe this summer

by Mark Rowe

With the summer upon us, and bank holidays fast approaching, many offices across the country will be left empty and unattended for long periods of time, writes Paul Ritchie, pictured, MD at the East Midlands-based guarding company Foremost Security.

Unfortunately, this leaves criminals with a great opportunity to attempt break-ins and cause potentially thousands of pounds’ worth of damage to your business. Furthermore, with temperatures rising throughout the UK, many businesses will be leaving windows open and doors ajar. Not only does this provide burglars with a window of opportunity, it also allows curtains to billow and set alarms off.

This results in more call-outs for staff to deactivate alarms, leaving many companies having to pay out in attendance allowance. Many even have to take time off in lieu the following day, due to late night call-outs.

According the Commercial Victimisation Survey, in 2016 the most common crime types targeting businesses were fraud, theft, and assaults and threats. Can you really risk relying on a staff member to attend to a potentially life threatening situation without the correct procedures in place? The answer should be no. It is imperative that you have lone worker procedures and processes in place, or even better, hire a professional security company with a fully trained team to deal with these situations.

In the UK wholesale and retail premises sector alone, there were 117,000 burglaries throughout 2016 (including attempts). 203,000 assault and threat crimes were also reported. Unfortunately some of these crimes cannot always be prevented, but what you can ensure is that you have the appropriate measures in place to deal with these situations in the correct way.

According to Police UK, in Leicester city centre directly, there were 94 burglaries reported in August last year. However, this doesn’t mean to say that those in rural areas should be overlooked. As some of these places are accessible from several directions, they’re actually seen as an easy target.

The good news is that most sectors have experienced a drop-in crime since 2012. However, for far too long, people have been reliant on the police, who now have increasingly stretched resources. They’re still out there but they cannot possibly respond to everything. Businesses can help this by remaining extra vigilant this summer.

Visit www.foremost-security.co.uk, email [email protected].

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