Think about the little things now.

Millions of dollars are lost each year through business security breaches, and yes, we all do it. Whether your business is large or small, little things should be taken into account as they can seriously undo your company’s security. Here are just a few examples:

• Staff taking cigarette breaks may leave an entry point to your building open. Smokers are usually desperate for a cigarette and they often have little or no regard for security. I have even seen staff who are friendly with the security guard, ask and get certain external secure/fire doors disarmed so they can go outside for a smoke.
• Privileged access – How many people have access to keys, codes, information and banking details who do not need to? Probably more than you are aware. Over trust and over familiarity can breed security breaches.
• Challenging of Strangers. If a member of your staff or an approved contractor notices someone on site who they do not know and who has no ID tag, or when asked will not state who they are seeing or what their reason is for being there, then this needs to be reported to your manager or security representative immediately.
• All staff should know who they work with. You may have a larger company where this is not always possible. However, staff who work on the same level/store outlet or nearby locations should be able to immediately recognise their colleagues. Ideally, ID badges should be relied upon, and signed in and signed out. Staff must challenge anyone they do not recognise, especially if they are wandering around.
• Bringing friends and relatives onto site. This applies most businesses. And this is a definite NO. There is absolutely no reason why a relative or friend or any unapproved associate, should be on site past the permitted public area. Once this rule is relaxed or allowed it just opens up the flood gates for other staff members to do the same, and especially in a larger business, you may never know the background or interest of all of these people who are being brought onto site.
• Signing in and out. Access is another main cause of security lapse. Every staff member needs to be arriving and leaving site from ONE and ONLY ONE specific entry point. In large businesses Photo ID tags should be used with a code specific to your business. These need to be signed for when arriving and signed back in when leaving. This is also for health and safety purposes. Using a control such as this is the cornerstone of your security. Why? Because you will then know who is on site and when, and that they can only enter and leave from one point thereby ensuring all other possible leaks are plugged bar one, which is then a control point.

There are many more ways to tighten your security and save money & liability by doing so. Seek advice now before it’s too late.

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