Protect Your HGVs, Vans, Goods and Cargo
Transport and distribution centres provide the backbone of the UK economy; delivering goods all year round. Everything from the parcels you ordered online to cars and keeping stores stocked with all the essentials
It’s no surprise that they are heavily targeted by criminals and see some of the highest crime rates and threat levels.
At Safe Security Solutions, we know that time is everything with distribution services. Many transportation companies are contractually obligated to deliver to set schedules and any form of hold up can negatively affect that timeline.
Let’s take security worries out of the equation.
The prospect of thefts, damage, vandalism will be a waste of valuable resources, time and can potentially stop you from operating your business.
We offer cost-effective security solutions for small scale, private distribution centres up to corporate transport companies across the UK.
Effective security will save you money, time and ensure you’re delivering to those important deadlines.
Photo credit: Marcus Winkler
Security Threats To The Distribution & Transport Industry
The above list may include some but certainly not all of the common security threats to farms and smallholdings that might seem impossible to deal with. But you can… And it may prove more cost-effective to do so than to ignore the problem.
Basic Security For Transport Yards & Distribution Centres
It is advisable to look at the problem areas on your farmland and put security measures in place, especially in areas where equipment, fuel, chemicals or equipment are stored.
You may already have some basic security in place:
- Standard CCTV recording
- PIR sensors
- Noisy alarms & sirens
- PIR activated lighting
- Flashing beacons
All of these systems are of some use and will help to deter threats or increase the probability of catching criminals AFTER they have stolen or damaged your property. This is too late. Prevention is better than dealing with the after effects.
Safe Security Solutions Recommends
Security in this sector can be broken down into two parts: traffic control and footfall. Perimeter detection enhances these but your primary threats will come from main entrances to and from your site or facility.
In an ideal world, an advanced transport and distribution facility would have security gates that Monitor ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) hooked up to cameras which will let employees and registered vehicles into the facility, without the reliance on security guards. This will aid the workflow and provide minimum hold-ups for checks.
Potentially, a second gatehouse for trucks, HGVs and delivery vehicles could use a similar system or be manned by security staff to ensure that vehicles (which may be coming from all over the world) are correctly checked for security purposes.
Security staff are best in a front-facing role for the control and operation of security and dealing with tasks or threats as they occur. Dividing time between roles can lead to mistakes and these can be costly.
Our fence-mounted detection systems can usually be added to your existing perimeter and linked directly via a video feed to the guard’s cabin, along with seamless integration of the security camera feed. This means that guards will only be notified when actual threats occur such as tampering with the fences or attempted intrusions.
Humans are always the weakest link in spotting security issues. A moments distraction can be too long; Any guard who is monitoring multiple security cameras can potentially miss an event so we look to alert them to important issues as and when they happen. Standard operating procedures can be put in place to ensure security is almost entirely automated. This will save time, money on wages and reduce losses and threat levels.
Technology is always more reliable and our military-grade solutions are the best technologies available for security. Your site’s existing security can still be used and integrated seamlessly with our numerous systems: from fence-mounted sensors, seismic perimeter detection, ultra-long-range cameras and Integrated Security System Software.
We’re here to identify your issues and provide safe security solutions for them.
Real-Life Application
“Transport and distribution sites are usually huge and can span several acres often across multiple sites in different geographical locations.
Many sites will only have the standard warehouse mounted CCTV cameras which will generally have been installed by a non-specialised, regional CCTV installation company with no general knowledge of security apart from the client has told them that they need a system and they need to be able to see the site.
The installer does a great job; cables are nice and pretty but that’s about it. There was never a clear definition of what is required.
Monitoring a site and site security is not the same thing.
The name ‘site’ is very different to what is required for ‘security’ of a site. Very rarely does a client understand the difference between site CCTV and security CCTV.
Site CCTV is generally where a manager and staff want to be able to view the site easily and quickly from an office. It will be for watching forklifts or trucks moving around because of targets, orders, stock etc. That is ok, and they can have a large screen on the wall or access the cameras via the on-site IP system.
But none of them will be watching for potential intruders or break-ins.
A Security system is very different, it would focus on key areas, risk area, perimeters, waters, fences, hedges easy access points and there may be a team in place to be able to deal with such an event.
There should be a separate system for the team or even placed on the office wall, but it is doing a very different job indeed. It should be protecting the asset base on-site, not monitoring if a truck has been loaded.
Along with this, there are considerations of perimeter detection and prevention of threats. Typically, we would assess each transport and distribution centre, look at the holes in it and assess how and where protection is required”