Case study:  A Building Contractor application  

The client: 

A Scaffolding Contractor, operating from a secure yard on an isolated industrial estate.

The risk: 

The site is contained within palisade fencing and is physically secure.  The compound contains substantial amounts of stock, being scaffolding tubes and fitments, etc, left exposed and vulnerable behind locked palisade gates.

The offices have historically experienced break-ins with tools and office equipment the obvious targets.

Their Managing Director told us:
 “I always considered our site to be fairly secure, having erected 8ft high steel fencing all around it and with very substantial gates to the entrance.  The site was well lit and I had an old CCTV system installed, which I believed was a good deterrent.

I had cause to part company with one of the gangs that sub-contracted to us, under acrimonious terms.  Within a few days, we were broken into and the theft had all the hallmarks of having inside knowledge.  Then, when I sought to playback the incident on CCTV I found the image quality was so poor that the police were unable to use it as part of their investigations. ”

The solution:
There were two dimensions to the solution we proposed for this risk.

First was the obvious matter of protecting the building with an intruder alarm system.  Motion sensors were installed throughout the offices and warehouse and every perimeter door & roller shutter was fitted with a door contact.  The system was fitted with redcareGSM communications and any activation was signalled automatically to our Alarm Receiving Centre.  If a single sensor activates, this would report to us as an unconfirmed alarm.  Should two or more different sensors activate this would report as a sequentially confirmed alarm and identify precisely where, within the building, the intruders are.  Such a situation is then policed instantly. 

Secondly was the matter of the CCTV system, which was in clear need of upgrade.  The old cameras gave very poor coverage and were not suited to low light conditions.  The VCR was past its best with many hours usage having taken toll of the video heads but worst of all was the fact that the tapes in use were the original ones supplied some five years previously.  After 12 uses they should have been disposed of and replaced.

A single motorised colour/mono dome camera was installed to the front corner of the building, a vantage point which viewed the whole compound and the front and main side elevation of the building.  Key areas were fitted with external PIR sensors, which would drive the dome to alarm presets should they activate, so ensuring the dome had intelligent patrol capability.  A fixed camera continuously viewed the gate and two important internal areas were supplied with internal cameras.  All to produce excellent quality images both day & night. 

The cameras were each connected to a 4-channel DVR, networked so that PC’s around the building could also view the system when required.  The DVR was additionally connected to Broadband, with a Firewall and static IP address.

The verdict: from their Managing Director:
“The new CCTV system is superb!  The initial idea was that if the intruder alarm to the offices went off, the monitoring centre would contact me then I could call up the cameras from home on ‘aol’ and see if anything was occurring.

I soon came to realise that, better still, I could call up the system from anywhere I had my laptop and an Internet connection and look at what was happening.  Enter a time and date then hit “GoTo” and there it was on screen, almost instantly.  If the yard hands started late or finished early when I was not there I now could see.

When over in NZ for the recent Lions Tour, boy did I keep my finger on the pulse!

Their time is my money. ”         

Our Business is Protecting Yours
NSI APPROVED SYSTEMS INSTALLER & MONITORING CENTRE