Construction Site Security in Winter

Job site security is a year-round challenge, however the winter months tend to complicate matters: shorter days, harsher environment, quieter build schedule—all adds up to a construction site that remains vacant more often than other times of the year.  While you may not be on site as much, there are additional steps you can take to improve job site security.

Is It Secret? Is It Safe?

It should go without saying, but if you want to keep it, keep it out of sight.  This means storing extra material, large tools, and any locked toolboxes where they aren’t visible from the road.  If you have a standing structure, lock them inside.  Most construction site thefts occur out of convenience, not premeditation.

Light Up The Site

We’ve covered construction site lighting in previous posts, so we don’t need to dive into the merits here, the point here is that the days are shorter, so if your lights are on a timer, be sure to adjust the on/off time settings accordingly—by 7pm the sun’s been down for nearly 3 hours already in the dead of winter.

Job Site Security Cameras

We’ve also mentioned cameras in previous posts, however here’s a new twist: cellular cameras.  One common complaint is that wi-fi is not likely available at most job sites, rendering your standard internet cameras useless, and a big, hard-drive-based CCTV system is costly and a pain to set up.  There’s a new option for security-conscious contractors by way of cellular cameras.  Walk into any national cellular communication company store and you’ll likely see a section dedicated to wireless security systems and cameras.  Of course, you’ll have to add data to your existing plan, but many cameras allow you to dial back the amount of data used, and only trigger data use when motion is detected allowing cameras to sip data rather than gulp.

Of course, we can’t talk construction site security without mentioning fences (it’s what we do).  Depending on construction type: commercial/residential, and location, you may be able to install 6′ or 8′ chain link fences with windscreen and even barbed wire across the top in higher-crime areas.  We would be happy to provide a free install quote for your project, either by filling out the online quote request form or calling our office at (630) 543-7990.

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