Warehouse Security Best Practices & Guidelines
Warehouse Security Best Practices to Prevent Loss
When goods are stolen from a warehouse, this hurts a business in many devastating ways. The first is the most obvious, as stolen goods hurt a company’s bottom line. If assets are stolen, they must be replaced, and this can be costly. However, there are several other issues as well.
Supply chains are often built on goods arriving at very specific times. If something is stolen, this can greatly affect the supply chain in several ways. This not only hurts the business that was the initial victim, but it also hurts several other businesses along the line and potentially the entire industry.
In addition, a company can get a bad reputation if there’s a belief that it is not taking proper warehouse security measures. This can have very serious consequences for the company.
However, by following the complete guide to warehouse security, you can keep your site, your assets, and your reputation safe. Here are some tips that will help.
Protect the Perimeter
Keeping criminals out of your property is one of the key warehouse security most practicing. After all, if they can’t get in, they can’t cause any damage or steal any assets. Therefore, it’s crucial to have a system in place that protects the perimeter of your site.
Installing security cameras can help you capture what’s happening outside your property, but if they are not monitored, all they do is capture evidence of crimes as they happen. They don’t deter criminals from striking. That’s because most criminals work fast. If they know that someone will need to respond to an alarm (for instance) before they react, they know they have time to get in and out without being caught.
However, if cameras are monitored live by a trained security team, they can interject and react to suspicious situations before they turn into crimes. This protects your perimeter and keeps your warehouse safe.
Hire the Right People
Always do a background check and verify references before you hire anyone to work at your company. Often, criminals will try to get jobs at warehouses and then steal items while on the job. These crimes are often difficult to detect.
In addition, a live monitoring setup makes it possible for agents to watch the entire property. They can spot potential employee theft and report it immediately.
Have Strong Inventory Controls
One way that criminals get away with crimes is by committing them in a way that no one notices. If they can steal items and the crime isn’t spotted for a while, it becomes quite difficult to determine what happened, figure out who is responsible, and take steps to prevent crime in the future.
This situation can be remedied with strong, real-time inventory management. For instance, live agents can use the monitoring cameras installed at a warehouse to track the location of goods that arrive and follow them as they move through the property. This information can be filed into a detailed report that is updated regularly. This helps you know where everything is at your site and draw attention to anything that is missing or misplaced.
Understanding your inventory and tracking it properly is one of the warehouse security best practices that doesn’t just stop crime, but also helps your business run more efficiently.
Use the Right Access Control Tools
As mentioned, keeping criminals out of your site is one of the most important element in your warehouse security checklist. Many properties use key fobs or cards for access control. While these are quite easy to use, they also come with significant security risks. For instance, cards or fobs can be lost, stolen, or copied. If this happens, a criminal could use the tool to access your property for some time before the security breach is noticed.
Using live monitoring agents at your gates is much more secure. Agents can verify identification cards, ensure that the person’s face matches their ID, and only allow authorized people into the property.
Be Proactive
As mentioned, taking proactive steps to prevent crime is significantly more useful than reacting to crimes after they’ve occurred.
Live remote monitoring services provide strong, proactive, 24/7 protection at warehouses and other properties. We understand the importance of keeping criminals out, not just alerting you after a crime has already happened. Our team will always protect your site inside and out, efficiently and professionally.
Capabilities 
24/7/365 Surveillance - Full Yard | Perimeter | Gates 
Access Control - Gate & Doors operations (Check - ID, Validate Authorization) Operational information Capture - Truck & Trailer # | Inventory # | Seal # | BOLs Incident notifications - Trespassing | Suspicious Behaviour | Damage | Miscounduct | Policy Violations Policy Enforcement - PPE | Speeding | Parking | Security Protrocol | Pre & Post - Trip Inspection Real Time Reporting - Dispatch & Arrival | Parking Assignment | Security & Safety Incidents Benefits Operational Budget Savings - Lower monthly cost than onsite Security Guards No Capital Costs - Equipment cost (install, service, repairs, upgrades) amortized over life of contract Eliminate “Hidden” Costs - Agents trained to prevent incidents and eliminate negative outcomes Operational Improvements - Accelerate gate transactions, reduce errors, improve yard efficiency Real-time intelligence - Integration with yard Management System delivers real-time data visibility
For more information, or to learn more about live monitoring services and how they help achieve warehouse security best practices, please contact us today.