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Typically, building and construction operations all across the country tend to slow down over the winter holidays. Many jobs will take a pause for a minimum of several weeks, if not for the entire holiday season lasting from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. The cold weather, low sunlight conditions and holiday festivities all call for it, and dedicated construction workers have certainly earned the time off. No matter how long your company is taking off for the holidays, you are most likely in need of tips for securing your construction sites during this well deserved break.
First, we recommend you implement remote monitoring of the site with one or more mobile, trailer mounted, solar powered jobsite cameras around the property. Next, here are some additional measures you can take to secure your sites and keep them protected from the thieves, vandals and trespassers who tend to target construction sites during this vulnerable time of year.
Lock Up Assets
The first tip for securing your construction site during the holidays is a common sense one, but it is sometimes surprisingly overlooked. By locking up the assets that thieves are likely to want, you can dramatically reduce the risk of your site being targeted while you’re away. Here are the assets you should prioritize for lockup before leaving for the holidays.
Tools and Materials
Be sure to securely lock up all of your tools, from the most valuable power tool to the simplest screwdriver. Construction site thieves tend to target power tools first, as they are the easiest assets to get off the site quickly and the easiest to sell on the black market (whether it’s selling on a social media platform, swap meet or other method).
The good news is, they are also the easiest assets for you to securely lock up in a storage area.
Copper and Lumber
You should also lock up all raw building materials, particularly the expensive copper and lumber that are at the highest risk of being stolen (especially in an economy where the cost of raw materials is high or unstable). There are multiple reasons for locking up lumber, because arson and wildfires are very real risks all year long. Arson is not a crime that is limited to the summer months, and a fire can be started without arson being a factor. For example, the Texas A&M Forest Service reports that the current hunting season is a high fire risk time period. Furthermore, they say 65 percent of wildfires that occur during hunting season are caused by debris burning and equipment use. Anything can happen, so keep your lumber safely locked away when not onsite.
Equipment and Vehicles
You should also lock up all of your heavy equipment while you’ll be away. If there is no locked garage or storage area onsite, consider storing large equipment and company vehicles offsite in an area that is securely locked. By outfitting your entire site with solar powered, mobile and trailer mounted jobsite cameras, you can be alerted if anyone attempts to breach your locked storage areas over the holidays. The cameras will trigger an immediate mobile alert to you, as well as sending a signal to the central station.
Light the Area
When it comes to securing your construction site over the holiday season, the importance of illuminating the property cannot be emphasized enough. It’s a universal truth that thieves are more likely to thrive under the cover of darkness. The more illuminated your site is, the more you can prevent them from succeeding with their sinister plans.
Motion-Sensored Security Lights
Motion sensored lights can do wonders to scare thieves off the moment they cross your construction site’s threshold. Just as many homeowners have motion triggered lights mounted on their homes to frighten trespassers away from their residential properties, construction companies can make use of them as well. Solar powered motion detection lights can be an excellent, low tech way to illuminate a construction site and reduce the risk of criminal activity over the holidays.
Jobsite Cameras with Strobe Lights
Motion detection lights can accomplish a lot, but trailer mounted jobsite cameras with motion activated strobe lights can accomplish even more to secure your construction site over the holidays. The strobe light mounted at the top of the trailer will flash in red and blue, mimicking a law enforcement siren light. Meanwhile, the four jobsite cameras on the trailer (each with a visibility of 330 feet) will record the trespasser in real time while alerting a central station agent who performs live monitoring.
Leverage Remote Monitoring
The strobe lights and cameras are only part of the live crime intervention provided by jobsite cameras. In real time, when the trespasser is on the property, the agent at the central station will be monitoring your security video. In seconds, the agent will be able to determine the event is a crime in progress. At that point, they will speak down to the site and issue an immediate warning to the intruder over the powerful loudspeaker.
This intervention is designed to frighten away the intruder before anything can be stolen or damaged. This is a proactive approach that has proven to work time after time, on construction sites in all types of areas, from urban developments to remote locations.
Line Up with Regulations
In addition to these security measures, you should be sure to follow all OSHA and state licensing regulations that are relevant to construction operations. Check on all construction site closure rules wherever you are in the Quad State area, whether it’s Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas or north Texas. The city your construction site is in may also have its own ordinances for closing a site for an extended period of time, so check with the municipality or other authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) to be sure you are in compliance.
Other Ways to Secure the Site
In addition to all these measures, you can help to secure your construction site for the holiday season by doing the following:
- Notifying all stakeholders, vendors, subcontractors and clients when the site will be closed.
- Placing warning signs, including signs alerting trespassers to the presence of jobsite cameras with live monitoring.
- Locking all gates, buildings and other barriers that may exist around the property.
These measures can be done during any extended period of closure, no matter the time of year.
Request a Jobsite Cameras Demo
In a typical year, the holiday season is normally the longest period of closure for construction sites. To keep your site safe from trespassers, vandals, thieves and arsonists – while defending your profits and the investments of your clients – follow these tips, in addition to utilizing jobsite cameras for surveillance.
To discuss powerful jobsite cameras that perform video surveillance, live monitoring and proactive intervention for construction sites like yours, call Security Trailers this holiday season. We look forward to showing you what’s possible.
About Security Trailers.com
SecurityTrailers.com specializes in theft and vandalism prevention and intervention for commercial and residential construction, with zero tolerance for loss. Our regional service area comprises Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and North Texas. Contact us today to request a free demo on our video surveillance trailer products and interactive monitoring service.
