Locks and Security News: your weekly locks and security industry newsletter
17th April 2024 Issue no. 701
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Digging for metal: the daily haul taken from building sites
VPS Site Security launches campaign to highlight seriousness of construction site theft
* 92% of sites experience theft on a regular basis
* 1 in 5 building sites suffer losses weekly from stolen plant and equipment
* Industry costs run at a staggering £2 million a day
Construction sites are magnets for theft and vandals, with high-value plant, equipment, fuel and materials on-site, often left unattended at nights, over weekends and seasonal holidays. Stealing vehicles and machinery is common, whilst construction sites are also a popular target for the theft of metals with over 100 acts of metal theft reported daily.
Hardly a week goes by without another news report of an ATM being broken into with the use of a digger stolen from a building site (this week is no exception, with an ATM stolen from a petrol station in County Armagh).
VPS Site Security, who are the UK's market leaders in specialist site security and property protection, today launches a campaign to draw attention to this crime, which is estimated to cost the construction sector £2 million a day, once all the costs of repair, replacement and lost working days are taken into account..
Using evidence from the Chartered Institute of Building's survey into construction site theft, VPS Site Security outline the threats, and also describe how technologies have helped reduce the cost of 24 hour security whilst improving the level of protection and deterrence.
In the end, the bottom line for construction site security isn't about asking what security measures a company can afford to implement, it's about asking what it can afford to lose. The best fit-for-purpose site security costs can be quickly repaid many times over through reduction in thefts, insurance claims and premiums, and at the same time retaining a good reputation for prioritising employees' and the public's safety.
25th November 2015