Summer is a time for fun and relaxation. Even so, it’s important to keep your business’ security up to standard. Summer may be the peak holiday period for you and your staff but criminals are still very much in operation.
With that in mind, here Newgate, specialists in secured access solutions, provides their insight into summer security tips to help your business breeze through the warm weather.
Carry out a security audit
It’s advisable to carry out a security audit whenever the seasons are on the point of changing. Look at what’s on the ground at the moment. Then think about how the changing season may affect it. For example, in summer, you will get really strong light around midday. Will this cast shadows that will interfere with your CCTV?
Your security audit should include the inside of your premises as well as the outside. For example, in summer, the light can make it much easier to see into a room even later in the evening. You should therefore make sure that anything valuable is kept out of sight as much as possible. If you can’t hide items then at least secure them. For example, put cable locks on laptops.
It can also be a good idea to add privacy treatments to windows (and possibly doors). Net curtains will block prying eyes and reduce glare. As a bonus, their lightness means they can often be hung in places you couldn’t hang regular curtains. For example, you can hang them from a tension rod or from hooks.
Make sure you have adequate cooling
The heat of summer can become excessive to the point that it’s uncomfortable. The traditional solution to this was to open windows and doors. While that approach is low-cost, it creates all kinds of security threats. Also, it isn’t necessarily that effective and it can bring in both pollen/debris and wildlife.
Instead, keep windows and doors closed as much as you can and use internal cooling instead. Air conditioning is your best option but it can be a bit too expensive for smaller businesses. Fans are a good alternative. You can even get solar-powered ones to help reduce their running costs.
Review your access controls
It’s important to review both your internal and external access controls. Internally, you may have staff taking on temporary responsibilities, for example, to cover for holidays. This means that they may need their internal accesses upgraded but only temporarily. These extra accesses should be revoked as soon as they are no longer needed.
You may also have seasonal staff. If so, you’ll need to think carefully about what kind of access they need and for how long. Again, you need to make sure that any accesses are revoked as soon as the staff leave.
On a similar note, any companies with which you do business are likely to be using holiday cover and/or seasonal workers themselves. These are unlikely to be familiar with your processes for handling site visitors. You should therefore double-check both that the reception point is clearly indicated and that the staff there know how to process visitors.
Check your security protocols
The chances are that a lot of your employees are going to be taking holidays in summer. If they have security duty, you’ll need to make sure there’s someone to cover for them. You’ll also need to make sure that there’s cover for your cover in case they need time off too.
Remember that unexpected absences do happen in summer too. It may not be the main cough and cold season but people do get sick. They may also need to deal with personal situations (e.g. child-care being cancelled) or unexpected events (e.g. jury duty).
