How to Analyze Your Job Site's Security Needs BEFORE the Job Begins
by Garrett French

In an ideal world, planning for job site security happens long before the job starts. Pre-job site analysis for theft and vandalism risks helps you minimize the chance that your site will be a target. This article offers a number of suggestions to help you assess risk and prepare the defense of your next job site.

Is the job controversial?
If your job has political implications then you may consider heightened security for your project. Whether you're working on a non-union project in union territory or building on previously-protected or significant land, your project could be the target of attacks by vandalism. Talk to the folks funding the project and do some web searches on the group's name. Consider chatting with locals to get a feel for their opinion if you're suspicious. Controversy could require increased security, and budgeting for it now could save you a bundle down the road.

Is there a history of crime in the area?
Talking to neighbors and police about crime in the area gives you more insight into how many layers of security you'll need. Maybe a fence will be enough. Maybe you'll need a fence and live monitoring. Run some checks through search engines too, using terms like (crime in YOUR LOCATION) or (theft in YOUR LOCATION). Industry experts think that 85% of job site theft is an inside job. Make sure you're able to keep the other 15% out!

Visit the site at night.
A quick visit to the site one night after dark can speak volumes about potential vulnerabilities that you'd never see in the day time. Get out of your truck and walk the site and consider it from all angles. You'll start to see where you're going to need lights and where fences could be compromised easily by thieves in the shadows.

Identify site safety zones based on visibility from the road.
While on that night visit you can work to identify ;safety that are highly visible from the road. If you're careful in laying out your job site you may be able to concentrate vehicles, equipment, materials and tools in these areas so that everything remains well lit and highly visible from the road.

Is the site residential, urban or rural?
The type of area where you will work plays a large part in your security needs too. Residential areas could be more prone to vandalism by packs of roving teenagers. Be sure to have lots of DANGER KEEP OUT signs posted to keep them out and reduce your liability should they hurt themselves. Rural areas are prone to major and repeated thefts because thieves often have more time to work and it takes law enforcement longer to arrive. Urban areas have more access by road, making them more visible but also more potentially vulnerable. Each comes with its own increased dangers, so plan your security approach accordingly.

Identify locations for visible security indicators.
Visible security indicators include things like guard posts or camera and light towers used by your live remote monitoring service. If you go to your security service provider with pre-planned high-visibility locations for them to protect your site you've just made your site that much more secure.

Invite your security company to visit the site before the job starts.
You'll increase your security enormously if you offer your security service provider the opportunity to scout your site before you lay it out. Let them offer you suggestions regarding the physical defensibility of your site and optimize their service with your efforts long before you break ground on the first day at the site.

The best time to start analyzing your job site for its defensibility is before work begins. I hope that this guide offers you some useful suggestions that will help you to improve the quality of your job site security and reduce theft and vandalism on your job site.

Resources: Theft and Vandalism on Construction Sites (http://web.dcp.ufl.edu/hinze/Security-Commercial-Construction.htm)

About Jeremy White: Jeremy White is the CEO of Pro-Vigil (www.pro-vigil.com) a construction site security company that utilizes digital video and live remote monitors to chase intruders off your job site BEFORE they cost you money. Contact Pro-Vigil at 866.616.1318 today for a free security consultation.