Don’t leave property unprotected this Easter

The Easter weekend is fast approaching and many of us will have planned to close our homes and businesses and make the most of the holiday with a quick get-away. If you’ve managed to book an overseas break, or have decided to have a UK staycation, I hope you have a great time. I also thought this would be an opportune moment to share some top security tips so your houses, business premises and schools are protected while they’re empty.

5 ways to secure your home over Easter

There are some really simple and cost-effective measures you can take to secure your home while you’re away. Here are my top 5:

1. Don’t post on social media. It’s surprising the number of people who still post that they’re going away. It’s far safer to wait until you return from your break to share photos and stories about your holiday than allowing your local friendly criminal to plan their burglary in accordance with your dates.
2. Use lighting timers for your house. Most timers on the market are now smart and use advanced technology to protect your home. A lighting timer is completely self-contained; all you have to do is plug it in and it will turn the lights in your house on and off using a random schedule to simulate people entering and exiting rooms.
3. Invest in the best locks. Locks on your oil tanks, garages, sheds are a good deterrent, however, not all locks are made equal. There are many that look strong and robust but break quite easily under attack. If you’re going to invest in a lock make sure it complies to the British standard and it is Kitemarked.
4. Check your system. If you have a domestic security system, always ensure you test it prior to leaving for holiday. If you have a camera system make sure that it’s online and recording and if you have the facility to check its status from your phone, make sure that’s working as well. It will only take minutes and is well worth doing.
5. Tell your neighbours. By letting your close neighbours know you’re going away, there’s less likelihood that your alarm will be ignored if it’s triggered, you can also ask them to collect your post so there’s no tell-tale build up.

6 tips for protecting your business premises

Most businesses will have an integrated, smart security system, but it never hurts to have additional measures; here are my top 6:

1. Store goods carefully. If you have a site that stores a lot of product, or you’ve decided to bulk-buy extra materials due to price rises, make sure they’re locked up. Even if you normally store goods outside, move them in for the Easter weekend. It seems obvious to point out, but if people can’t see the goods they don’t know they’re there, if there are visible they will attract attention.
2. Inform your remote monitoring service there will be no-one on site. This is particularly relevant at Easter, because normally any activations on a Friday or a Monday would probably be ignored. By advising that on Good Friday and Easter Monday the site will be closed any activations will be treated as a genuine intruder.
3. Protect your vehicles. If you’re going to have lorries or vans parked on site over the long weekend, check the keys are removed and the rear doors and side curtains on trailers are left open.
4. Allocate roles. Make sure someone is allocated as key holder so if there is an incident someone is able to attend. This is often overlooked and a tricky one to overcome if the person with the key is away on holiday.
5. Check your perimeter. It doesn’t take long to conduct a fence-line walk to check the integrity of the fencing and ensure the gates are secure. At the same time you can confirm there’s no equipment near the fence or any pallets or packaging in the area that can act as a step for would-be criminals.
6. Test your system. As with homes you should always test that your security system and your cameras are working as they should.

And not forgetting schools

Many of the measures taken to secure your business can be applied to schools with some common-sense checks of the premises and a test of the system will help secure the site over Easter. But you could also make sure that there’s no-one in the building before locking up; we very often focus on keeping people out, but it’s also good to check that no-one has been locked in!

I hope these tips have been helpful. If you have any concerns about your security or are interested in upgrading your system, get in touch with a member of our team and they’ll be happy to offer advice.

Have a great Easter weekend.

Dave Salisbury, Managing Director, Zicam Integrated Security Limited.

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