Protect Your Work Site From Vandals

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Vandals are a major problem in a lot of areas, and building sites can be a popular target. Whether it is graffiti or breakages, new structures seem to hold a lot of appeal for people who engage in antisocial behavior, and this can cause serious problems.

Not only can cleaning up or rebuilding things on your new build that are damaged take time and expense away from the project in hand, but also, the vandals can attack equipment that you are using and this can be an even bigger problem if it is machinery or vehicles you have hired.

Another issue a lot of people don't even consider is that in many cases, if a vandal or any other trespasser gets hurt on your site, because building sites can be dangerous places, you may be liable to compensate them!


As you can see, vandals can be a real bugbear when it comes to managing a work site, so you should take what steps you can to prevent them gaining access and to disguise any expensive equipment that might catch their eye.

 

Storing or Covering Machinery

Covering up or hiding away machines and vehicles you have on site will make the site look less interesting to vandals from the outside. You can do this in a number of ways, for example driving vehicles into garages or covered areas at the end of the working day, or using a building tent.

While a tent may not seem like it will offer much protection, it will hide things over night and will also give you the additional benefit of helping you keep your equipment clean and undamaged by more natural forces!

 

On Site Security

You should have at least some form of security on site for any project, even minor ones. While you may not have the budget for a proper security guard or a CCTV system, things like good fencing and security lights can be an affordable way to have your site look like it is defended. You can also use signs that imply there are security measures in place such as dogs, CCTV or guards, displayed prominently on your fences.

Of course, for a major project it is best to actually have these things rather than just to say they are there, but you need to assess the risk in the area where you are building and manage it in a way that suits the scale of the job and budget.

Protecting and securing your site and associated machinery rigging need not be difficult if you plan it as part of your project, rather than leaving site security as an afterthought. You can manage the security of the project and add to it as time goes on if you feel the threat of vandalism, theft or other trespass is greater than you initially anticipated, but you should do some research into the prevalence of this sort of crime where you are working ahead of time and take appropriate initial action. This can save a lot of money and stress in the long run.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons
•  License: Creative Commons 
•  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://openclipart.org/image/300px/svg_to_png/133027/exxon.png

Ellsworth Johnson, the author of this post, works for Halbert Bros. Inc., providers of machinery moving services. An avid car enthusiast, Ellsworth likes to share his opinions via blogging.