It's a changing, sometimes dangerous world. Every other week it seems news of an active shooter somewhere in the country surfaces, and statistics show 2017 was a record year, both in incidents and fatalities. When you own your own business, making sure your place of business is secure and your employees are safe from harm is of the utmost importance. Here are three ways to ensure your workplace is protected from the danger.
Changes Your Locks
A commercial locksmith can remove your old-fashioned button locks—which are easy to kick in or pick—and install new, more secure locks instead. Every exterior exit should be fitted with a deadbolt. When properly installed, a door with a deadbolt will be virtually impossible to breach by kicking in the door. For commercial purposes, the deadbolt must meet certain standards. The industry performs repetitive testing on commercial deadbolts to ensure the door cannot be kicked in, nor can the lock be picked or drilled. Depending on the security needs of your business, you may want to opt for a double deadbolt. This is a lock that, in order to lock or unlock it from the inside, a key must be used in addition to simply twisting the bolt into place to secure it. While most businesses don't require this level of security, businesses that work with a lot of cash or things like precious metals or jewels should consider the extra level of protection.
Stop Using Keys
Most likely, some of your employees have been entrusted with keys to the building. They probably also know where the weak points in your system are. Unfortunately, criminal workplace incidents are often perpetrated at the hands of former disgruntled employees. Sometimes, they won't give the keys back or they just stop showing up. Even the most trustworthy employee can fall prey to losing their keys or having them stolen. Calling the locksmith to change all the locks every time someone loses a key, quits, or gets fired can quickly get really expensive.
If you are still handing out keys to your employees, you need to change your dinosaur-age tactics. Instead, have your locksmith install keypad locks. These can be incorporated with a single deadbolt system. Rather than using keys to gain entry, employees enter a code into the keypad instead. You can change the code as needed, and you won't have to worry about lost keys anymore.
Ask for an Audit
Commercial locksmiths can also perform a door and window security audit to ensure every possible entrance is protected. This may involve the installation of new, heavy-duty doors, window locks, locking door hinges, and protective measures on interior doors to make sure your employees are protected in the event someone does gain access or an attack occurs from within.