Construction sites are dangerous places at the best of times due to the comings and goings of construction workers, contractors and their vehicles, and of course people using all sorts of machines and power tools throughout the area.
It can be a tough job to make sure people are working in relative safety, and constantly risk assessing the working environment to make sure no-one is likely to come into harm during their day of work.
The major downside of construction sites
But if you manage construction sites for a living, one of the downsides of the job is having to deal with break-ins, theft and even arson attacks from the rogue elements of our society. Sadly, these problems are on the increase.
It has been reported that theft costs the construction industry around £1.6 billion each year, and thieves tend to steal valuable plant equipment, copper from old buildings and any other valuable items that are inside construction sites.
Arson attacks on construction sites tend to occur for one or two reasons; thieves that steal valuable items set fire to construction sites in order to lessen the risk of their getting caught, or it might be just due to bored delinquent youngsters with nothing better to do with their time than to create a pyrotechnic display in order to impress their mates.
Common ways to protect construction sites
A lot of the time, construction sites will employ a number of techniques to secure the area and stop any unauthorised people from entering and either stealing or causing criminal damage. Such methods employed by construction site bosses include:
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Deploying security guards – these security personnel tend to either be based at the construction site, or they may make frequent visits throughout evenings and weekends, reporting any suspicious behaviour that they come across near or within the construction sites themselves;
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Disabling heavy plant machinery – a common method of disabling any heavy plant machinery is by taking any keys off-site, and removing part of the electrical system that powers the heavy plant machinery. This makes it difficult and unattractive to even the most determined of thieves;
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Storing power tools in a secure location – this involves keeping valuables in a secure storage location, such as a portacabin or chest somewhere.
Although these are good ways of helping to prevent theft and criminal damage, there is one other thing that all construction site managers can employ, and that is CCTV.
How wireless CCTV systems can help
Because construction sites tend to have workspaces that change shape and size on a regular basis, having fixed CCTV systems can be quite an expensive strategy and one that can prove to be a headache for construction site managers.
Wireless CCTV, however, means that you can easily install cameras in any locations, and as the name might suggest they can be remotely managed from any location with Internet access.
Wireless construction site security like this helps to provide a visual deterrent to any would-be opportunist thieves and people looking to cause criminal damage, and is a very cost-effective solution to make a construction site secure.