Warehouse Security

[AffiliateDreamer]

What kind of security have you people put in place at your warehouse?

Do those steel bars on the window/glass area actually work?

Is ADT worth it?

[Tonearm]

What about your employees?

I'm going to need to hire an employee "off the street" soon. How do I know they won't toss all my inventory into the bed of their pickup and take off?

[sja65]

Good lighting and very visible.

Magnetic sensors on doors and windows (including interior doors)

Motion sensors in hallways and big rooms (like a warehouse)

Laser sensors in large ducts.

Video everywhere.

I use an ADT competitor, and they will call me on alarm, power outage over 5 minutes, temperature under 50 degrees, temperature over 70 degrees in my server room, or fire.

[AffiliateDreamer]

Realistically speaking, if someone breaks in, will the cops arrive within 5 minutes?

OR will your system basically lock them in your warehouse?

[King_Fisher]

All of the above is good. I also put a guard dog in my warehouse, which was
located in a semi bad neighborhood. The barking and growling of a large dog is the best detriment there is.

Tone Arm is correct, employee theft more prevalent than break ins. Both from long time employees and temps.

You have to stay vigilant or poof! there goes your bottom line...KF

PS Funny thing one night I was working late and the guard dog wouldn't let me out of my office. Had to call the dog guard company to collar the dog so I could leave.

[edited by: King_Fisher at 9:28 pm (utc) on Sep. 6, 2007]

[Gibble]

Cameras. Have a few highly visible (these don't even need to be real and recording) and some that aren't so visible, or known about. They're the ones that will catch employees trying to steal from you.

Friend did that in his store, the employees saw the one camera, it was IMPOSSIBLE to miss as it was large and had a sign around it saying "smile" you're on camera. He caught people all the time who avoided that camera, but didn't think there were others. It looks really funny watching someone "avoid" the cameras when they're in full frame on another one :p

[sja65]

My warehouse is in a town of 1200 people in a very rural area (I can see corn fields from my office). The point of the security system is to minimize damage. There is a very loud audible alarm when the alarm is triggered. Most burglars won't stick around once there is noise to draw attention to them even if it will take 15 minutes for a cop to show up (or more like half an hour at our location).

I should have mentioned above - have stickers for the security company in every window and on every door.

As for employee theft, we have cameras all around the warehouse that are running all day. A determined employee could steal without being caught, but not for long.

[lorax]

I think I'd invest in a couple of guard dogs and a camera system.

[AffiliateDreamer]

What about a retail location, you can't put dogs in a strip mall now can you? hehe

sja65, how much did your hardware/setup cost you? Monthly fee?

I'm just wondering if those bars on the windows, and those accordian style gates actually prevent people from breaking in (aside from maybe putting a would-be-theif off since there might be easier targets).

[steve]

We used to be in the home entertainment business, before we could get insurance we had to have a security audit carried out, the assessor told us:

If someone wants to get in they will. Steel lined doors, grilles on windows, steel mesh in flat roofs are all designed to slow them down.

Motion detectors, magnetic contacts on doors and windows, breaking glass detectors should detect intruders as early as possible and trigger a loud bell. Hopefully this'll scare them off.

Camera's - a waste of time, heard of masks!

Dogs - can be poisoned, but generally speaking most burglars won't take them on.

Floodlights - well lit areas are a big deterant.

[sja65]

For our buildings (13000 sq ft warehouse, 7000 sq ft offices) it was between $5000 and $10000 (I wasn't involved in that purchase) for the security system and about $7000 for our camera system (I did that one). Monitoring for the security runs $40 per month and includes a cell phone backup. I would guess all would be a little cheaper in a more urban location.

[Tonearm]

As for employees, you would basically set up hidden cameras? What if they just take a bunch of stuff and don't come back to work?

[King_Fisher]

You have their pictures on tape. Call the police and sic them on to them...KF