Protecting businesses from catalytic converter theft

A recent catalytic converter theft at a food distribution firm in Lincolnshire has highlighted the importance of perimeter security for businesses.

A theft of catalytic converters of 15 Mercedes delivery vans at a food distributor in Grimsby has had a damaging effect on their business. The food distribution firm suffered an organised and highly systematic raid on their business site in which catalytic converters from 15 of its vans were stolen.

The thieves used high power tools such as a battery-powered grinder to remove the converters from the vans. The theft resulted in the family-run business being unable to distribute their goods for a week and incurring serious financial costs in the tens of thousands to repair the damage done.

Thieves are attracted to catalytic converters found on vehicles due to the high prices that can be sought for the precious metals they contain – including rhodium, palladium and platinum which can be reused in jewellery, dentistry and even electronics.

Businesses such as the one in Grimsby are often targeted by professional gangs in the night due to their relative isolation in industrial estates – especially at night time. However, these types of crimes are far from unorganised and gangs will often scope out their targets in advance, so businesses which have strong perimeter security tools in place are less likely to fall prey to them.

Whether your business operates from commercial, industrial or retail premises, Gateway Automation provides a variety of security solutions and can provide you with a free, no obligation quotation and feasibility survey to assess your security requirements.

Gateway Automation provide a range of perimeter security systems to help businesses and individuals to secure their sites and also provides nationwide servicing and repairs to gates, barriers and other perimeter security equipment. To find out more, please contact us on 01522 68255 or take a look at our brochure which can be viewed here: http://www.gatewayautomation.co.uk/brochure/.

How access control equipment could help schools to be outstanding

Ofsted visits are as stressful as it gets for school teachers and meeting their ever-changing criteria is a common source of headaches. While security equipment is by no means a fool-proof method of guaranteeing a positive outcome with Ofsted inspectors, there is evidence it could impress them.

Ofsted’s job is outlined as ‘inspecting and regulating to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people’. While Ofsted does not outline specific standards in their guidebooks regarding security, they do require that schools protect “their pupils, staff and property”.

The Ofsted inspector’s recommendation document helps schools and teachers to understand what aspects they find impressive at other schools around the UK. It highlights examples of security, in particular managing the follow of children and visitors using access control equipment.

Besides impressing Ofsted inspectors, access control equipment can provide some very practical benefits to schools. They can ensure that students stay safely inside the school buildings during the day, they can track staff entry and exit times, prevent truancy and prevent access to unwanted visitors. Access control equipment can include intercoms, keypads, cards, fobs or even turnstiles all of which can improve safety levels on-site.

For many schools, access control equipment is high on their agenda, but cost can often be a barrier due to shrinking budgets. Here at Gateway Automation we can help you find the most cost-effective option for your school while maintaining high standards of safety and control.

Are you interested in finding out more? Gateway Automation provide a range of perimeter security systems to help educational sites to secure their premises and also provides nationwide servicing and repairs to gates, barriers and other perimeter security equipment. To find out more, please contact us on 01522 68255 or take a look at our brochure which can be viewed here: http://www.gatewayautomation.co.uk/brochure/.

Smart perimeter security solutions for busy business owners

With rising crime rates and cuts to police budgets, many business owners are rightly concerned as to the effectiveness of relying solely on public services to protect their businesses from criminals.

Criminals are quite aware of the state of play and are becoming increasingly brazen in their attempts to target businesses in a wide range of industries.

However, when it comes to putting in place uncompromising security solutions, many business owners either don’t know where to start or simply don’t have the time to think about it. While this is true, securing your business is of utmost importance in 2019 and doesn’t necessarily need to be a drain on time and resources.

The first step to take is to ask a professional and experienced company to undertake a full risk assessment. Here at Gateway, rather than relying on guesswork, we use our knowledge and expertise built up over 40 years to determine the best products and services to shield you from crime.

Taking in the needs, processes and operational style of your business, a risk assessment helps create a security solution that works for your business. We look at your organisation and how it operates, what threats you face and the constraints of your location, buildings or other factors to help you and your employees to feel safe and secure in the face of criminal activity.

We provide a range of products to help businesses and individuals to secure their sites and also provide nationwide servicing and repairs to gates, barriers and other perimeter security equipment. Our customers include businesses operating in the following sectors:

• Hotel & Leisure
• Construction & Property Management
• Banking & Finance
• Commercial & Retail Centres
• Transport, Ports & Distribution
• Logistics
• Government & Defence
• Criminal Justice (Law Courts etc)
• Universities, Colleges & Schools

Whether your business runs from small retail premises or a large industrial site, we can provide you with a free, no-obligation risk assessment, feasibility survey and quotation to assess your perimeter security requirements. For more information or for further advice on how to protect your business premises from criminals, please contact us here.

Perimeter security planning for the pharmaceutical industry

From corporate espionage and tampering to organised crime and terrorism – the pharmaceutical industry faces a great many threats in the modern world. In such a competitive market any disruption to your business can mean lost contracts and serious damage to your reputation. Protection against these threats must come in the form of a wholly rounded approach to security, but it begins with good perimeter security planning.

Perimeter security tips

After using a risk assessment to discover the potential threats against a company (warehouse, research facilities or HQ) and revealing blind-spots and weakness, a plan must be developed to restrict access to only approved visitors.

Each building will of course be unique and have its own set of challenges, however many of the fundamentals will remain the same. Controlling access requires an understanding of how the building operates, the threats it faces and how to overcome them. This can be developed through a thorough risk assessment and series of discussions.

Access control plays a key part in developing security for a site. Starting outside the building, heavy duty gates can be used to control or prevent pedestrian and vehicular access and send a strong visual signal to anyone seeking to infiltrate the building. Heavy duty gates act as a deterrent around the clock, but during daylight hours you can also use turnstiles to control exit and entry and monitor who is coming and going.

Vehicular access can also be slowed and restricted through the use of tools like security posts, speed ramps, flow control plates and automatic rising kerbs.

Many facilities in the pharmaceutical industry will have hundreds of visitors every day. They may equally have hundreds of employees travelling around the building. Such a high volume of people can pose security risks and it can be quite easy without the proper checks in place for them to gain access to controlled areas. You can give appropriate access through the use of biometric access control equipment like fingerprint identification, smart cards and other tools.

Get in touch

Arranging effective perimeter security is not something that you should go at alone. No matter the size or nature of your businesses, we can provide you with a free, no-obligation quotation and feasibility survey to assess the security requirements of your organisation. For more information on any of the security options above, or for further advice on how to protect your business premises from criminals, please contact us here or call us on 01522 682 255.

Protect high-value goods with access control equipment

Every delivery of cargo to your warehouse represents value, but some more than others. The loss of expensive equipment, electronics, pharmaceuticals or other items could seriously undermine your business, disrupt relations with suppliers and customers and gravely harm your bottom line. This is why it is incredibly important that your business acts to ensure that your warehouse has rigorous security protocols in place to prevent such a disaster from happening.

Best practices for warehouse security and the role of access control equipment

Security at warehouses is paramount. Your systems need to be complex and detailed in order to offer protection to your goods, both during operations and afterwards. From basic practices like ensuring your employees are properly vetted, uniformed and badged and signed in to the building, to locking off access to high-value goods with access control equipment – your plan needs to be comprehensive.

It is important to properly vet your staff. It can be tempting to relax these types of practices at busy times of the year, such as seasonal spikes, but this is a short-sighted approach that can cost you dearly. Access control equipment can not only protect goods from unauthorised hands, it can also help to monitor which staff are in the building at any given time – helpful in identifying a culprit should stock disappear.

By using cages with a keypad or fingerprint biometric access control system you can secure high-value goods and restrict access to only approved persons. Without this kind of protection in place then anyone could gain access and potentially exploit those materials.

Mirrors and cameras should be installed around the building making it difficult for employees, tradespeople or other visitors to conceal stolen goods. Proper and effective monitoring is a key way to stop opportunistic theft. However, CCTV should not be relied on solely as It only records a crime happening, it does not always prevent it.

Physical keys should be replaced in lieu of electronic methods of access. Physical keys can be easily copied or can find their way into criminal hands which could put your entire business operation at risk, with thieves easily gaining access to goods, documents and other assets undisturbed. A building, room or cage that is only accessible by biometric finger print (entirely unique to the individual) or a keypad with a code that can be changed is a much more reliable form of security.

Gateway Automation can provide free, no obligation quotes and feasibility surveys for your premises. To get us to assess your security requirements, please contact us here.

Security solutions for underground car park access

Modern apartment blocks have become an increasingly common sight in cities across the UK over the last 10-20 years. With space in big cities coming at a premium, many developments are choosing to build up, offering a more European style of living to home-owners and renters. Many of these are keen to avoid long commutes to work from the suburbs and so are choosing to opt for inner city living and the practical benefits that it offers them as opposed to traditional houses and bungalows.

As competition rises in this market, developers are feeling the pressure to provide a greater number of amenities to would-be tenants and buyers. Smart home appliances, CCTV and hi-speed fibre optic broadband are among some of the most sought-after features. However, also high on their list of most-wanted amenities is adequate car parking facilities, which has led to many apartments now being built with underground car parks.

Managing access to underground car parks

It is important in order to protect the vehicles of residents that access to car parks is effectively restricted to residents and staff, as well as allowing some form of access to delivery drivers and emergency services when needed.

While many developers’ first instinct will be to turn to CCTV as a way of dealing with these types of security issues, it’s by no means a fool-proof form of protection. Even the best security cameras can be beaten by a well-disguised criminal, or a criminal who has been able to calculate ‘blind spots’ where cameras can’t pick them up easily.

By employing stronger perimeter security measures such as gates fitted with access control equipment and also other measures like bollards you can properly safeguard both vehicles and the contents of those vehicles from theft and burglary. It also provides a chance to restrict access to approved visitors, therefore reducing the chances of other crimes like vandalism and even arson.

Not only do access controls and perimeter security methods provide help with protecting against crime but they can also act as a selling point for prospective residents, particularly those with high-value vehicles who are looking for strong and formidable security to protect their purchases.

Here at Gateway Automation we provide free feasibility surveys to assess your requirements and also provide non-obligation quotes. Click here to arrange a callback or click here to download our free brochure and take a look at our impressive range of access control equipment.

Lock down your offices with biometric security

Some types of businesses are naturally more attractive to criminals than others, and so for those companies, security options are always at the forefront of what they do. Of course, this varies from business to business, and a bank or a shopping centre will typically have very different protocols in place to a restaurant or an office-based business. Unfortunately, far too many business owners wrongly assume that their businesses are safe from crime right up until the time they are targeted. Here we will look at how office-based businesses in particular can safeguard their people, information and assets in the face of ever-rising crime rates.

One of the biggest threats to office-based businesses is that of theft. In a recent survey as many as two-thirds of employees admitted to stealing low-cost items like stationary from their employers and a high number went even further than that, admitting to stealing electronic items and expensive materials. An obvious but largely underused way to combat this type of employee theft is to lock down specific areas such as stock cupboards or equipment storage areas with access control equipment. This means only trusted parties can access those materials.

While a degree of theft can come from your own employees acting poorly, theft can also come from outside your own building. Opportunistic thefts or planned attacks can take place should your building appear to be an easy target or the goods inside of high enough value to take a risk. Access control equipment like biometric entry controls, turnstiles and gates can effectively lock down your offices against these types of risks.

Another threat that businesses face in the modern world is that of data security. Physical hard-copy materials that contain sensitive information such as financial data or personal details can prove very valuable to criminals. In fact, this type of crime costs the UK as much as £3.3 billion year on year.

Businesses that fail to take strong steps to protect the information of their clients and customers can face damaging consequences. Should data be wrongly procured they can face fines of up to £500,000 from the Information Commissioners Office. As well as having strong data security protocols in place, businesses should ensure that confidential materials are securely stored, and once again only trusted parties should be given access.

Are you interested in finding out more? Gateway Automation provide a range of perimeter security systems to help businesses and individuals to secure their sites and also provides nationwide servicing and repairs to gates, barriers and other perimeter security equipment. To find out more, please contact us on 01522 68255 or take a look at our brochure which can be viewed here: http://www.gatewayautomation.co.uk/brochure/.