One of the easiest ways for intruders to gain entry to your commercial office is through the staff entry points. You could protect your property with all the safety features available, but if your security is lacking in your access areas, you may as well have not bothered with the rest.
For the best all-round office security, you need to be able to safely give access to employees to your office. This means being aware of who is entering and leaving, and ensuring that only those who are permitted to do so are able to gain entry.
Take a look at the 5 key steps all employers should take to ensure safe access of all members of staff to a commercial office:
- Decide how your employees will access your office
You need to be able to determine how your employees will access your office, preferably all in the same manner. It’s a good idea to offer a select few most trusted employees a key, in which case, you should shop around for automatic key machines to give you easy access to multiple copies of the same key. You should also ensure you install the most secure locks available at this time for ultimate protection.
- Give your staff some form of recognition
Not all office jobs require a uniform, and this can make identifying staff members particularly difficult when it comes to monitoring who is entering and leaving your office. It’s a good idea to give your employees a lanyard, staff card or badge that they must wear at all times when they’re at work. This will make it easier to spot any outside intruders.
- Consider CCTV cameras
Did you know that across city and town centres, public housing, public transport, and car parks, a study found that CCTV was associated with a 16% reduction in crime? CCTV provides one of the simplest and most effective means of monitoring your staff entry points, allowing you to keep track of who’s coming in and out of your office in real-time, or review past footage if an issue arises. Your staff should also feel safer accessing their workplace if they know there is adequate security at the key entrances and exits.
- Update key codes regularly
If you give your staff a key code to access your building, make sure these key codes are updated regularly. Not only will this prevent a potential theft if a key code makes its way into the wrong ears, but it will also prevent past employees from being able to gain access to your office. In terms of cyber security, always make sure your codes are a combination of numbers and letters, are fairly lengthy, and are completely unique (not, for example, your birthday).
- Determine your availability hours
If you want to be able to keep track of who’s supposed to be where, and when, you need to set your office opening and closing hours – and make everyone aware of them. It’ll be far easier to spot an intruder breaking into your building through a staff entry point if you know for certain that nobody is supposed to be around at that time of the day.
