Traditionally construction sites have relied on security guards to monitor and protect their site. But how do you ensure that your security guard is “on the guard” when the moment of truth comes? Also, it is not humanly possible for 1, 2 or even 3 guards to monitor every high-risk location on your site every single moment. And let’s face it – guard services are expensive.
That’s where live security cameras are a great alternative – this technology-based security solution offers 90% more security for less than 50% of the cost of 1 security guard. Sounds like a great bargain? Read on!
What are live Security Cameras?
HD video cameras are placed at strategic locations around your site to capture all high-risk points at your construction site. The equipment is easy to mount to anything you have available on-site – street lamp posts, fences, trailers, temporary construction hoarding and can be moved around as your project progresses. The footage is recorded 24/7 which you can monitor and redeem anytime.
These live security cameras monitor your site and alert professionally trained remote monitoring agents in case of any suspicious activity. Use of intelligent video analytics filter out motion caused by wildlife, weather, and other outdoor conditions so that false alarm is minimized.
Agents will view your cameras in real-time, intervene when necessary to talk down to a trespasser through a two-way siren and strobe system, even alert authorities if needed. Because the alert is verified, police will respond faster, possibly while the incidence is still in progress. This way, live video monitoring can prevent crimes while aiding police with dependable video evidence.
In addition, you will get incident reports and a weekly site security summary. All of this comes to you for an all-inclusive monthly fee. Sounds appealing so far? Read on for a few things you should keep in mind when designing your security system.
More Cameras = More coverage
The first thing to consider is the camera – how many and what type. In live video monitoring services, you see exactly what and where your cameras see. This means the more cameras you have on-site, the more of the site will be under remote video surveillance monitoring.
That is why it is important to cover all the strategic and high-risk points: entry/exit, a dark parking lot behind your site etc. Your objective here is to place cameras in as many points as is necessary to cover as much of the site as possible. For example, if a camera can only “see” up to 700 m reasonably well, you are better off having another camera 700 m away.
Of course, you may think that a higher resolution camera may be able to zoom in further and you could do away with fewer cameras altogether but fewer cameras will limit your coverage of the site. So, it is essentially about creating a good balance between quality and quantity and in the case of construction site security, the quantity will pay off in the long run.
Make sure you are not making these 5 mistakes that can make your construction site video monitoring useless.
If the camera system goes offline, so does your Security
The next factor to consider is the reliability and uptime of your equipment. Sites that have a higher number of cameras will require that you have more recorders and high-speed internet to each recorder. It’s important to ensure that cameras connect directly to a recorder, which connects directly to a dedicated high-speed internet line.
Keeping clusters of cameras hardwired to a recorder/internet and separate from further cameras will ensure that your site has a higher percentage of Uptime. This will ensure that if a recorder or some cameras go down due to power, for example, the rest of the cameras on site are not affected.
On the other hand, if your equipment is not independent and instead uses wireless antennas to transmit footage and internet connectivity between a central unit and all other units and if for some reason the central unit malfunctions, your whole site will not have coverage. So it is important to ensure you have good quality equipment which will rate higher in terms of reliability and uptime.
Excellent Support & Service to Match Great Technology
Finally, once you have your equipment ready and installed, how often would you yourself monitor it? You have footage being recorded 24/7 but obviously, you will not have time to worry about it until there is an incident. When that happens, and you want to retrieve footage, it will be time to go back and dig it up from a whole lot of recorded video.
But if your security service provider is proactive, they will already be watching your cameras diligently and taking measures as soon as a possible site breach is spotted. And if they then intervene to prevent an incident from occurring in the first place, it is a lot less hassle and economical for everyone than apprehending after a crime has taken place.
Once the crime has been prevented, you can expect to receive an incident report outlining the details of the incident and what steps were taken to mitigate it. Your security service provider should be proactively sending you incident reports and periodic security reports that can give you complete peace of mind, knowing your site is being watched persistently, always.
There you go, a summary of what factors to consider when you are designing your construction site security plan. In short, video security guard goes beyond surveillance cameras. It’s an innovative, full-service solution that combines cutting-edge technologies with remote interventions. Interested to learn more? Schedule a free design session.
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Written by : Carlo Di Leo
At the age of 24, with no experience in the security industry or any money in the bank, Carlo quit his job and started Spotter Security from his parent's basement. Founded in 2004, Spotter grew from a single man operation into a multi-million dollar security system integrator that caters to businessess and construction sites across Canada.
