Over the last couple weeks, we’ve taken a look at some tips for securing specific types of businesses. Last week, we created a Guide to Apartment Complex Security. This industry poses unique security concerns due to its combination of residential and commercial security. Therefore, we take a multi-pronged approach to secure these properties. This week, we shift our focus to another unique type of business that carries its own unique security challenges. Today, we’ll share some tips to help you with securing your storage facility.
Since storage facilities often have such a large footprint, we’ll start by focusing on the importance of setting a secure perimeter. From there, we’ll share some tips to help you install an effective surveillance system. Storage facilities have many “blind spots,” and they have valuables stored in them at all times. For these reasons, we always prioritize creating the ability to capture footage from all parts of your property. Then, we’ll take a look at how you can control and track access to the most important areas of your business. These may include offices and trailers that store records and other valuable information, and maybe even cash. Finally, we’ll share some industry-specific lock harware tips to help you lock up your property. Now, let’s get started with our discussion on perimeter security!
Create an Imposing Perimeter
As we mentioned above, storage facilities cover quite a bit of space. Obviously, criminals lurking at the far edges of these properties can find it quite tempting to see what they can find. For these reasons, we encourage storage facility owners to create high, difficult-to-scale fencing to border their property. While 6-8 foot chain link fencing might create a property border and keep animals away, it will do little to deter thieves. Extremely tall wrought-iron fencing will provide a much more secure perimeter for your property. People will find this much more difficult to climb, and therefore it will encourage them to find another target.
Lighting and surveillance work hand-in-hand to help you secure the exterior of your storage facility.
In addition to making your property hard to enter, making all corners of your facility visible also goes a long way towards achieving perimeter security. A combination of permanent and motion-activated lighting will make thieves feel “watched.” Bright permanent lighting can help eliminate your facility’s blind spots. Furthermore, motion-activated lighting can help catch the attention of those passing by a property, and therefore provide an additional deterrent. Moreover, good lighting also helps with the performance of any cameras you install. Let’s now take a closer look at creating effective surveillance as a tool towards securing your storage facility.
Install a Dependable Surveillance Presence
Installing commerical surveillance cameras has long remained one of our top security recommendations. Cameras provide an important opportunity for you to monitor your property both in real time or by reviewing footage of past events. Additionally, they also create a visible deterrent to thieves who notice your cameras while staking out the property. For these reasons, creating and maintaining an effective camera system goes a long way towards securing your storage facility. Of course, doing so requires following some important best practices.
For starters, make sure that you install cameras that provide the picture quality your property requires. Take overall definition into account, as well as nighttime viewing capabilities. If you do find that your cameras don’t meet your needs at night, we can install additional banks of infrared lights to help your cameras “see” further and more clearly at night. Additionally, installing more permanent lighting on your property can also help with this important factor.
Access control readers, such as this one made by AMAG, help storage facility owners control and track access to their property’s most important doors.
Furthermore, we also recommend installing cameras with protection againt vandalism. Thieves finding cameras will often attempt to destroy the cameras before committing a crime. Our vandal-resistant cameras provide an important level of security against these attempts. This rings especially true when we install them in hard-to-reach locations. Make sure to consult a professional security provider (such as ourselves!) when designig your surveillance. Next, let’s see how you can add security by controlling access to your property’s most important areas.
Control Access to Administrative Offices
In addition to securing customers’ possessions, storage facility workers must also focus on securing their offices. These areas often contain sensitive information, as well as money and company credit cards. Moreover, we often install your security panels and equipment in these areas as well. Therefore, locking these areas down helps you keep your security equipment itself safe and secure. We recommend taking a couple steps to make this happen.
First and foremost, you should install monitored burglar alarms in your property’s most important buildings. Doing so will make sure that any burglar is met with a blaring siren response and a visit from the local police department. Additionally, we recommend installing access control systems in these areas. Doors connected to access control systems require a credential to gain entry, rather than a key. As additional security, you can program these credentials to only work during certain times of day. Therefore, an employee attempting to enter the office after hours would get turned away. Additionally, you would also receive a notification that this event occurred so that you can take proper action. Now, let’s look at one last tip for securing your storage facility that business owners often fail to fully address.
Choose the Highest-Quality Locking Devices on the Market
Door security represents one of the most important things that our company provides. Of course, doors present the quickest and easiest means of entry for a burglar. Therefore, this area of security deserves addressing in any commercial security plan. Storage facilities, in particular, require taking extra care when selecting locking hardware. After all, these properties contain plenty of doors, many of which are out of sight of the general public. Installing high-quality locks is one of the very most effective means of keeping the wrong people out of your storage facility’s buildings.
Medeco deadbolts provide top-of-the-line security against the picking and drilling attacks that thwart most commercial deadbolts.
Locks that guard against picking and drilling, such as our preferred locks by Medeco, can provide tremendous security to thwart the most common attacks on a building’s doors. These locks come in many different styles for many applications. This allows you to install multiple layers of lock security in your facility. For example, installing padlocks on your property’s perimeter can make it difficult to enter your property in the first place. From there, high-quality deabdolts on your storage areas’ exterior doors adds yet another layer of security. Finally, consider securing some of your most important interior doors with these locks as well. The more time and effort burglars need to spend in order to overcome your security while on site, the less havoc they can wreak. For this reason, we always prioritize locking your storage facility up with high-quality lock hardware.
Securing Your Storage Facility as Effectively and Efficiently as Possible
We hope that you find this post useful as you create a plan for securing your storage facility. Additionally, we encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have about the material presented here. We’ve helped secure many storage facilities in our 33 years of business. We can certainly answer any security-related questions you may have and point you in the right direction to create a solution to your security concerns.
Moreover, we enourage you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We offer free consultations for both new and existing customers alike. During our visist, we can address any security issues that have come to your attention. Furthermore, we can make our own recommendations based on what we see while on site. Since no two applications are the same, this visit always proves extremely important in designing the best security measures for your property. Together, we can create a complete plan to keep your property and your customers’ possessions as safe and secure as possible!