You spend a major portion of your time at the workplace. It is the only place other than your home where you spend at least eight hours a day. When you are dedicating so much of your time to a place, it goes without saying that office safety must be ensured for you and your colleagues.
An office, or any other workplace for that matter, is bustling with people all day long throughout the week. In case of an emergency, the safety of all these people becomes the responsibility of the workplace administration. The administration must make sure that the office has everything it needs to deal with an emergency, be it a terror attack or a natural calamity. If you still haven’t figured out what you would need to ensure security in the workplace, here are six security tips that will help.
Security cameras – This safety measure is followed almost everywhere today. Big and small businesses, shopping malls, and even private residences are installing security cameras as a safety measure. The importance of having your office under CCTV surveillance cannot be stressed enough. Installing CCTV cameras not only helps detect crime, but it can also help prevent crime from happening. Knowing that your office is under CCTV surveillance goes a long way in workplace crime prevention, for fear of being caught. Install CCTV cameras in all floors of your office building, particularly in crucial places like the entrance to the building, the staircases, and other places that are not usually filled with people. But make sure that private areas such as washrooms or changing rooms are excluded. It is also important to notify people that the building is under CCTV surveillance by putting up signs on the walls wherever relevant.
Key card entry – Key card or biometric entry system is another important security product for offices that most places use these days. As far as possible, do not allow unauthorized entry into your office building. Set up a biometric or card reading system for locking your main entrance. Employees can be given key cards or register their fingerprints to open the gate for entering the building. Any visitors must be made to register their details at the security post and given visitors’ key cards on proper verification. This way, it will be much easier to control who enters and leaves the building. This is a little difficult, though, if yours is a public office which is open to all. In such a case, better security check must be executed.
Fire safety system – One of the biggest threats in commercial building and industries is posed by fire. Fire safety has been stressed upon by everyone everywhere. All commercial and office spaces must have a fire safety system in place. This includes everything from smoke detectors, fire alarms to fire extinguishers. It is also important to have an emergency fire exit in your office. Also, just having fire extinguishers and fire safety equipment in the office is not enough. Employees must be trained to use these properly by professionals. Regular fire safety drills must be conducted for this purpose. For prevention of fires, inflammable must not be allowed inside the building, and smoking must be prohibited as well.
Safe rooms – A safe room is an absolute necessity in any office building or workplace today. With a rise in the frequency of terror attacks and open shooting at public places over the years, there is always a threat. Every office should have at least one designated safe room where people can take shelter in case of a similar emergency. This safe room must be fortified and secure, once closed. The safe room must also be equipped with every essential commodity that you may need in case of an emergency. This includes everything from food supplies to first aid. These essentials must be stored somewhere inside the safe room at all times and restocked as and when required. A safe room can help save a lot of lives in case of an emergency.
Panic alarms – Panic alarms can prove to be very useful in case of emergencies. Communicating with others when facing a hazardous situation is not always possible. Yet, it is important to let everyone know when an emergency occurs, be it a fire, a natural calamity, or an attack. Placing panic buttons at strategic places in your office can help employees alert others in such situations. A panic button may sound an alarm or may send silent alerts to people. These may also be programmed to send emergency alerts to a central control room or the nearest police station.
Announcement system – An announcement system, though generally used for other purposes, can be very useful for office safety improvement as well. The announcement system can be used to alert all employees in case of a serious natural calamity approaching or a break-in by intruders. Particularly if your office has many people sitting on different floors, there is no other faster way of alerting everyone at once. That is when the announcement system can come in handy.
Using these office safety tips, you can ensure the safety and security of everyone in the workplace, including yourself.
Protect your workplace further, think about The Importance of Having Safe Zones in Homes & Offices.
