6 Tips to Improve Distribution Center Safety

Distribution centers play a unique and central role in the supply chain for many businesses, acting as a hub for receiving, storing, and shipping goods. 

Often one of the last in the supply chain, distribution centers are prone to being targeted for crime due to the housing of such large numbers of goods in one location.

This makes ensuring all aspects of your security are equipped to manage these challenges crucial in protecting your property and any goods held there. 

But, to establish this, the first step is to understand the current challenges faced by distribution centers, including yours:

What are the Dangers to Distribution Centers?

Put yourself in the shoes of a criminal or OCG leader’s mind; they find your distribution center filled with product, expensive machinery, and a large parking lot with vehicles in.

For them, this is the perfect target, especially those in remote locations where there is a greater assumption of a lack of or poor security in place. 

Many have already faced increased crime levels earlier this year, with tariff changes leading to distribution centers being overwhelmed with product. 

Below briefly outlines the key challenges to keep watch for:

• Insider and External Theft
• Arson and Fire Hazards
• Cybersecurity Attacks
• Supply Chain Interception and Cargo Theft
• Workplace Injuries
• Vandalism
• Property and Vehicle Theft

Due to the varying security challenges faced by distribution centers, selecting the right security supplier should be a main priority for your business because without this, there’s a greater risk to financial loss and other costly consequences.

Learn More About the Security Risks to Distribution Centers

How to Improve Security at your Distribution Center

Before any product reaches its final destination, whether it be a retail store, end-consumer or wholesaler, it will spend its time at your distribution center. 

In one distribution center alone, there is likely to be thousands of products housed within your center adding up to millions of dollars’ worth of goods.

The number of products constantly moving in and out of distribution centers makes protecting them from would-be criminals extremely difficult.

However, by following best practices with your security, you can help reduce the risks presented to your distribution center and prevent them from happening in the first place.

Secure Entry and Exit Points

Many challenges faced by distribution centers, like yourselves, will be external threats, so the first step any facility should take is to secure all entrance and exit points. 

You can do this by improving access control for any employees or visitors. This may include requiring ID upon entry, authorization cards, PINpad codes for entrances and exits, and basing security guards at both points. 

Where possible, entrance and exit points should be kept to a bare minimum as this will help reduce the number of access points available for criminals to take advantage of. 

Additionally, having open access through the perimeter of the property or via the parking lot is also dangerous. To ensure your entrance and exit point are the only access areas, consider implementing perimeter fencing around your property and its parking lot.

For enhanced protection, you may wish to use mobile surveillance cameras to monitor these entering and leaving your distribution center. 

Some options like the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailer can simply slot into your parking lot, providing convenient, cost-effective live monitoring capabilities. You can find all this by Accessing Our Complete Guide on Parking Lot Security.

Improve Lighting

Poorly lit areas make it easier for crimes to go undetected, therefore, if your distribution center isn’t well lit, installing better lighting is a small security implementation that will help improve the property’s overall safety against crime. 

This also boosts employees’ safety when entering and leaving your site, lighting the way to their vehicle in your parking lot or as they enter your site at the beginning of the day.

In particular, you should ensure any blind or hiding spots are well-lit as these will often be hotspots for criminals to utilize when gaining access to your distribution center. 

Discover Our Top 10 Tips For Keeping Parking Lots Safe For Employees

Implement Surveillance Cameras Externally

The simple presence of a surveillance camera can deter criminals from committing any illegal activity on your distribution center’s site. 

Often backed by recording capabilities, if an incident does occur, you’ll have evidential footage of the event that has taken place to assist in any prosecution processes.

However, as much as external surveillance cameras offer as a visible criminal deterrent, older style security systems don’t have the same impact as they once had. 

Therefore, to remain ahead of the security threats presented to your distribution center, you should look into utilizing a surveillance system with increased visibility. 

We recognized the importance of visual and audio criminal deterrents, and with this knowledge, created the LotGuard Surveillance Trailer, an all-in-one parking lot security solution.

Standing up to 20 feet tall, they have a strong security presence that is unmistakable to any wanna-be intruders. 

To enhance this further, audio deterrent features including sirens and live voice-down audio challenges can be utilized if criminals ignore the Trailer’s appearance. 

Most importantly, we back our Surveillance Trailers with remote connectivity which allows you to access live and recorded footage 24/7. Providing you with a complete overview of your distribution center and parking lot.

These remote monitoring services also mean a center of trained security professionals will keep watch of your live footage, and if a trigger is alerted, they will assess the threat and respond appropriately to this.

This provides a proactive approach to security, preventing crime before it even takes place.

Track Inventory

Theft is one of the most common threats presented to distribution centers due to the high volume of product housed there. This threat can be internal and external to the business.

Having an inventory management process in place helps to identify if there is any product missing and how much by. 

These inventory checks should occur on a regular basis such as, monthly to ensure these issues are identified as soon as possible.

The earlier they are identified, the sooner you can react to them and proceed with any criminal proceedings. 

Background Checks

As mentioned, insider theft and criminal activity is a risk at distribution centers and it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your security and the employees you have working for you.

No one wants to think that their employees would steal from them, but it’s more common than you think.

The best way to avoid this issue is to run background checks on all potential employees – especially if they will be handling high-valued items.

These checks will inform you of any previous criminal records you need to be aware of and from there you can decide what is best for your business. 

Employ Security Guards

Security guards can be utilized during the day and night to monitor entrance and exit points, patrol the property perimeter, or to assist employees and visitors to their vehicles. 

Their role is to protect your distribution center from external threats by ensuring the safety of any employees and monitor the perimeter for you.

They also act as a visual deterrent as if wanna-be criminals were to find security guards present at your site, they will be less likely to enter. This is because most will look for easy opportunities and this can create complexity for them.

The role they play will be based on your requirements as a business, so whether it be they support only at night or ensure access control is maintained, they can be effective in preventing crime. 

However, with security guards, there is still a risk for human error or mistakes and they still require breaks, holidays, and sick days. 

This can leave your distribution centers vulnerable to security risks when this is the sole protection measure in place at your site, and for example, the security guard is off sick or they missed a security breach due to poor visibility in the dark.

That’s why we’d always recommend them as a supplementary service alongside mobile surveillance solutions like Surveillance Trailers and other smaller measures as this will boost security in those gaps that may be left with manned guarding.

Protect Your Distribution Centers with LotGuard

Safe and secure distribution centers keep businesses running and customers happy; however, they bring unique challenges from a security perspective.

With over 20-years of experience in surveillance solutions, our all-in-one parking lot Surveillance Trailers are specifically designed to protect against the threats presented to your distribution center.

It’s time for you to prioritize security for the sake of your business and implementing high-quality, external surveillance is the first step towards this. 

Providing 24/7 security to your parking lots and properties, our Trailers require no mounting poles, onsite power, or an internet connection. 

Their complete power autonomy allows for full flexibility on your site, slotting into one parking space to provide maximized security for your property and people.

Discover how our Surveillance Trailers can support you?

Speak with one of our LotGuard experts today!