Keeping staff carparks safe and secure

Having a staff car park is a great benefit for employees. However, having somewhere for them to park their car is not enough. You need to ensure you have undertaken as many preventative and safety measures as possible to ensure that the cars and staff always remain safe, as well as your employees and visitors. If staff do not believe their car and possessions will be safe whilst at work, this will adversely affect productivity and staff happiness. Here we discuss 9 ways you can make your staff car parks as safe as possible, ensuring staff happiness.

Under the Health and Safety at work Act 1974 and subsequent legislation, car park owners and operators are fully responsible for the safety of car parks. This includes employers.

1.    Sufficient Signposting
The car parks should be clearly signed throughout. You need to highlight any areas staff cannot park, which areas are for visitors only and have a low speed limit enforced at all times. In addition to this, you should have pedestrian crossings where necessary and pedestrian access only areas.

2.    Bollards
Bollards are a great way to separate pedestrian and driving areas. Knowing the cars cannot enter certain areas will provide peace of mind to the pedestrians and help guide cars in the right direction. During winter months as well, you can use the areas marked out by the bollards to indicate to pedestrians which routes are best to work on to avoid slippery surfaces.

3.    Speed ramps
Having a slow speed restriction sometimes is not enough. Pairing this with speed ramps can really help make the car park more secure. When staff are entering and exiting the car park at the same time each day, there is a higher chance of collisions or accidents taking place. Ensuring cars are moving around the car park slowly and responsibly helps reduce this risk significantly.

4.    Space
Careful planning of the car park needs to happen. You must ensure you have enough room for all cars whilst also ensuring there is enough space for manoeuvring. In addition to this, you need to ensure that any areas that delivery vans need to access or any emergency exits are kept clear at all times.

5.    CCTV
Especially during winter months when many people come to work and leave work in the dark, CCTV equipment can really help make the car park more secure, especially from the employees’ point of view.

6.    Barriers
Using barriers to the carpark is recommended as it can help make the car park more secure and will ensure only authorized personnel can park their car. Although automatic barriers accessed by the employees is possible, another option is to hire a security guard to ensure the barriers are always working, to allow entry to authorised people only and can also greet visitors as well as acting as a deterrent. Barriers are also great to avoid people thinking they can park there for free when they are not employees. This is especially important the closer to cities and built up areas you are.

7.    Height Restrictors
If you only have a small car park which cannot accommodate large delivery vans, then a height restrictor could be something you should consider installing. This will stop larger vehicles entering the carpark and potentially blocking other cars or even causing damage if there is not sufficient room.

8.    Control Access Equipment
To create an even more secure car park, you could use Access Control Equipment at the gates and your work building itself. This double layer of security ensures only people with authorization can enter the car park and the workplace.

9.    Lighting
Always ensure the car park has sufficient lighting. This allows pedestrians to be easily visible by drivers as well as allow people to walk safely back to their cars during winter months.

Although you may not see it as directly related, studies have shown that a good, secure staff car park will lead to happier, more productive staff as they do not dread coming to work because of fear they will struggle to park. If they do struggle to park, they are more likely to arrive to work frustrated which will impact their performance.

To find out more about you can secure your staff car park, please contact us on 01522 682255 for a free, no obligation and feasibility survey to assess your perimeter security equipment.