Brendan Musgrove, Managing Director at Cordant Security, explains how an agile approach is key to warehouse and logistics security.
There is an estimated 5% shrinkage rate in warehouses and depots caused by staff thefts which can put a big dent in company profits, especially in the current economic climate where margins are tight.
The challenge for companies is that inevitably all their staff tend to have first-hand knowledge of how the manned patrols operate, where the technology such as CCTV is located, and where the valuable stock is located. Also many seasonal staff tend to work across several warehouses in a region and are able to identify the least secure. Those with criminal intentions will exchange information and tactics.
Although vetting procedures such as checking employment history are employed when recruiting staff to try and avoid taking on risky individuals, such measures will not prevent all theft. And while designs of warehouses have evolved to feature increased technology and multi-level access control including turnstiles, cages and locked-off areas for high value items, such precautions can only go so far.
In response to this our security solutions have had to evolve. We now operate ‘high impact’ teams that have been trained to the highest standards in search techniques and understand how to profile offenders. Rather than undertaking scheduled searches these teams turn up onsite unannounced to check areas such as property and lockers, in addition to staff and contractors. They are often acting on ‘intelligence’ and tip offs and use the latest technology, such as body cameras, to record evidence that is vital for building cases.
This is also a solution that will work for smaller sized businesses that often struggle with the costs of a traditional security solution. They can buy as many high impact searches as they need without any long term commitment, at a fixed price, and can easily ramp this up or down in line with any changes in their business.
At Cordant Security we always work in partnership with our clients to try to keep one step ahead of the criminals. Our decades of experience in the warehouse sector give us the ability to offer intelligent solutions to the challenge of reducing and even eliminating shrinkage.
