How to secure your Business Premises with Onguard

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared that it is important that industry does not come to a standstill during the Covid-19 lock down.

Some businesses are expected to see a surge in demand within certain industries; together with a decline of certain business resulting in those companies facing economic distress.

In all cases, now is the time for South African businesses to minimise their risk; either by preventing the added cost of doing business during an emergency or the likelihood of the impact of crime on those facilities unable to operate and which currently stand empty at this time.

During emergency lockdown, private security services are essential for the protection of property and to ensure food security and supply networks are secured on the ground by managed security personnel and high-tech health and digital security backup measures.

High risk areas requiring immediate and expanded security measures include:

Energy supply security and security for suppliers of energy services within greater communities.

Commercial business, residential, industrial sites and warehousing facilities where excess stock and emergency supplies are stored.

Grocery stores, supermarkets, and spaza shops for crowd control and theft prevention security systems, especially those located in high crime locations.

Key maintenance systems for facilities such as banks, and critical working areas to avoid disruption to mainstay assets such as factories or machinery.

Transport hubs and logistics networks to ensure essential services can continue to operate.

Emergency health supplies and hospital medical services for Covid-19 patients.

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What Business Owners Should be Doing**

According to Onguard CEO Richard Frost, security measures include ensuring that all security monitoring alarm systems, motion sensors, breaking glass detectors, window and door alarms are working efficiently.

“The retail and logistics sector will need to look to expanding external lighting and manned security patrols on warehouses, loading dock and parking facilities. Fenced storage areas must be secured with security cameras, video recording system or be monitored by an on-site security guard, trained on each point of building access and on areas where theft may be most likely occur, such as the sales floor and the loading docks.

“Locks and key control may seem like an obvious way to increase security, but you’d surprised to know that many business owners don’t take full advantage of this type of security measure. Further to that, the management of keys and secured access protocols need a secure mapped system of responsibility, management and daily access control according to business protocol.

“With most businesses and their employees working from home; we must also consider your home’s security systems which might be cause for an increase in theft of documents and property and which leave your business assets exposed and vulnerable.”

4 Tips for managing internal security measures during an Emergency:

• Get your external and internal Security plan organised. Establish a staff task force composed of a few key employees who can work directly with your private security company to ensure the core business premises are secured. Discuss an integrated plan as part of a work-from-home employee group and get all employees in support of and communicating your business’s asset security plan.
• Assume the worst. How can you prevent the further lost or total destruction of all your business assets? Identify those assets which are most important to the business and which require the highest levels of protection. This may include machinery and business records and service manuals. Check you are insured for these items. Manage which staff have access to them and if they are supported with correct security protocols as part of their responsibility and liability performance measures.
• Try to prevent loss. Consider which assets are replaceable and which are not and pursue a secondary disaster plan such as keeping duplicate records at a different site. Keep backup equipment necessary to continue basic operations at a location other than the work site and ensure client information is placed at a secure digital location.
• Sweat the small stuff.

Specify under what circumstances and how your business will be operated during a shutdown of your core facility. Who makes the decisions, how the decision is communicated, and whether the employees are compensated? Ensure management with key responsibilities keep copies of the secondary emergency plan at their homes. Consider advice from your current private security company to help you plan for extended disaster emergency planning. Continue to train your employees in disaster emergency protocols.

We secure your business premises when you can’t be there. Ask about our Onguard security services for your business.