The Importance of Perimeter Security for Commercial and Industrial Properties

Most commercial and industrial properties will be aware of internal security and prioritize this. However, what many will push to one side is their external security, even though this is where risks commonly present themselves to begin with.

Leaving your perimeter unsecured essentially allows for easier access to your property, which can lead to criminal, financial, reputational, and community damage.

But, why is this? We explore the importance of perimeter security; covering the consequences of neglecting this and measures you can implement yourself to improve it.

What is Classed as a Property’s Perimeter?

The property’s perimeter is classed by a boundary line or area that defines the extent of the property or land, this includes any parking lots owned by the property. 

Most properties will define this edge in some way, whether it be through fencing, walls or hedging, however, this is not always the case.

The important element of a property’s perimeter is the legal obligations related to them. They are what define one property from another, but also the responsibility of one property to another. 

If any issues, security breaches, or injuries occur on any part of your property’s perimeter, you could be held liable to this and in most cases you will be, especially if you are shown to be neglecting its security.

Why is Perimeter Security Important for Commercial and Industrial Properties?

For any property, most cases of physical security breaches will begin on the external areas of the property where they gain unauthorized access through its perimeter.

This is why it is so important that you protect it because monitoring this provides you with the best chance of capturing any security breach at their earliest stages. This reduces the risk of it escalating and your commercial or industrial property facing any criminal damage.

Due to the high-value belongings and purposes involved in commercial and industrial property, the need for heightened security is even greater as criminals are more likely to target this property type.

Also, unlike residential homes, many commercial and industrial properties will be unoccupied at night and this leaves them at increased vulnerabilities. 

Darkness entices crime, providing a sense of security to individuals that would not be present during the working day.

From offices, retail stores and factories to manufacturers, distribution centers and warehouses, all hold items that individuals would look to profit off of themselves. 

In these instances, relying solely on internal security means the crime has already been allowed to intercept your property, and you have much less time to respond to it and prevent it from happening.

Through perimeter security, you are able to prevent access into the property itself and provide yourself with more time to respond before it escalates any further.

However, do you truly know the types of crime presented to your property’s perimeter? Because by neglecting your perimeter security, you will be leaving yourself completely open to these dangers.

Common External Security Risks to Commercial and Industrial Properties

There are several security risks presented to commercial and industrial properties that’ll often take place or begin on the external areas and the perimeter of the property:

• Vandalism - Issues such as graffiti commonly take place on walls and external areas of a property. Other types of vandalism like smashed windows, vehicle damage on parking lots, and criminal damage all tend to take place externally too.
• Theft - Although, criminals will need to access your property to steal any goods, to do this, they will use your property’s perimeter initially to get onto your site and carry out the crime.
• Vehicle Theft - An extremely common issue for properties with parking lots, which is most. Criminals simply need to gain access through the perimeter and steal the vehicle, without even needing to enter the property itself.
• Assault and Threats - Unfortunately, some criminals or disgruntled individuals will wait outside the premises or on the property’s perimeter to attack potential employees or seniors within the business.

Other crimes like metal theft, cyberattacks, and violence may also utilize your property’s perimeter. 

The issue with any security breach is once they have access onto the property’s perimeter, you will never be able to gauge the extent of damage that could be caused.

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What Happens if a Property’s Perimeter is Left Unsecured?

Although most will focus on the immediate impact of any security breaches or criminal activity, there are various long-term consequences following these types of incidents that you may be unaware of.

Generally, there are four main side effects for properties with commercial and industrial purposes:

Criminal Damage

Unfortunately in most cases of a security breach, there will be some form of criminal damage caused, even if it is unintentional from those involved. 

And for some, particularly in cases of vandalism, the goal of such crime will be to create criminal damage towards your property, whether that be to external walls or to stock held inside of it. 

Depending on the damage caused, it can be both time consuming and costly to clean up, and although your insurance should support in covering this, it can still impact short and long-term operations for your business. 

Also, the more claims placed with an insurer for criminal damage, the higher your insurance premium will be when you go to renew. 

Financial Loss

Alongside any criminal damage, theft, or violent crime, there is a high likelihood your business will face financial loss in some capacity.

From covering the costs of stolen goods to paying out legal fees, most security breaches come at a cost and if you’ve been unable to prevent it or find those involved, you’ll be the ones picking up the bill.

Financial loss can also present itself in the format of operational disruption too. Any minutes, hours, or days where your operations are not working as needed within your commercial or industrial property, is losing you money. 

Just remember, time is money!

Reputational Damage

Incidents of security breaches can create a sense of doubt, distrust, and dislike to a business. 

Especially in commercial and industrial industries whereby there is a reliance from other businesses, customers, and clients that your business remains functional. 

Security breaches can portray to those utilizing your property that you lack security or care about the protection of it. Particularly for buildings like warehouses and distribution centers where they work daily with external businesses and suppliers. 

Also, in situations of assault and violent crimes, this could lead to employees leaving the business due to concerns of safety. 

Reputational damage is easy to gain and extremely difficult to shake once attached to your business.

Loss of Business

Security breaches can be off putting to customers and clients who use your business for many reasons:

• Risk to public safety
• Product safety concerns
• Lack of care for customers or clients
• Concerns on operational disruptions or work stoppages

These concerns will all contribute to creating potential doubt in a business and its operations.

Customers and clients appreciate consistency and reliability, so if you cannot provide this, you could lose that business from them. 

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How to Secure Your Commercial or Industrial Property’s Perimeter

With a saturated security market, it can be difficult to understand what options are best for securing your perimeter. 

Throughout our time at LotGuard, we have established the needs of customers across various industries and businesses, gaining knowledge in the types of security threats presented to property perimeters and parking lots. 

Using this knowledge in external security solutions, we explore the top 4 security solutions for protecting the perimeter of your commercial or industrial property:

Implement Perimeter Fencing

Suggested in the name, perimeter fencing is placed around the boundary of the property grounds to restrict unauthorised entry and deter crime. 

For commercial and industrial properties with open grounds, this method can be extremely beneficial in blocking access to any land, parking lots, and the property itself to members of the public. 

It also limits the view provided to any individuals outside of the property’s perimeter. This helps to protect any vehicles held in your parking lot and of the external areas of the property as it makes it more difficult to scope out the premises.

However, there will still need to be an entry point required for any employees and visitors to access which does create a weak spot in this type of system.  

Also, the other main issue is that with most perimeter fencing, individuals will still be able to scale them if they do wish to gain access to the premises. And with no backup to alert the Local Authorities, these individuals could still cause damage.

Install Mobile Surveillance

Often considered the best security solution for both internal and external usage across various industries, these solutions can also be used to protect your property’s perimeter too. 

However, simply selecting the cheapest option is unlikely to provide you with the security you require. 

Fixed systems can be trickier to set up on the external areas of your property or its perimeter, therefore, using a mobile surveillance solution like our LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailers could be the answer for you. 

Placed in your parking lot, they utilize only one parking space and provide clear coverage over vast spaces, which is well-suited to commercial and industrial properties. 

Some key features our Surveillance Trailers include:

• IR PTZ Cameras, offering full day-to-night coverage
• Integrated blue lights, sirens, and audio voice down for maximum visual deterrence 
• Compact and easy to transport
• Quick and easy to install - 20 minute / 1 person 
• Integrated 4G/5G LTE connectivity
• Remote access to cameras at any time via any device
• Free and unlicensed viewing software
• 20-foot tower - rotates nearly 360 degrees
• Year-round autonomy

Most commercial and industrial properties will have parking lots, however, most will be unaware that they can use them to boost their security, whether it be monitoring your property’s perimeter or keeping watch of employees’ vehicles. 

Providing complete flexibility, you can move them into different locations around your property grounds if you wish, this allows you to focus on a particular area or simply adjust the view. 

Utilize Security Guards

Security guards are a popular solution to support perimeter security, providing 24/7 surveillance, even overnight when there may not be any employees present. 

There are many ways you can deploy security guards on-site, from placing them at entry and exit points to having them patrol the perimeter at regular intervals. 

You can customize them to your security needs and property layout in order to optimize the service you receive. 

However, there are some risks to using security guards as your sole form of defense.

Commercial and industrial properties often span over large spaces and this makes their perimeter difficult to manage due to how much coverage they require. 

Security guards are unable to cover all points at all times and this leaves those areas left unmonitored vulnerable to unauthorised access.

There is also risk of human error through tiredness and a lack of concentration which could increase the chances of false alarms, missed threats, and slow reactions to live security breaches.

Access Control 

Although there will be numerous employees and visitors that will need access to your commercial or industrial property, access control measures could still support in preventing security breaches. 

Placing a security guard at the entry point in a booth, PIN pads, and ID cards are all methods that can be used to ensure access remains restricted to those who have approval. 

In instances where an unauthorized individual may be looking to gain entry, access control can help to highlight this and ensure the correct reporting procedure is followed to prevent this. 

The only difficulty may come with the number of visitors as with commercial and industrial properties, there will be numerous new visitors that the business will not be aware of.

Put Your Perimeter First With LotGuard’s Parking Lot Security Solutions

Does your commercial or industrial property have a parking lot you could utilize for perimeter security? If so, it’s time to prioritize your perimeter security and protect your property today.

At LotGuard, we pride ourselves in offering enhanced, high-quality parking lot solutions that provide expanded coverage for those with large property grounds and perimeters. 

It only takes one weak spot in your perimeter for an individual to take advantage of for your business to fall victim.

Don’t let this happen to you and get in touch with a LotGuard security specialist today!

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