The Importance of Security Camera Monitoring Systems in the business environment.
Security Cameras are everywhere. The store, the bank, the gas station, possibly your home, and even ones that you sometimes can’t see. Let’s face it. In this day and age, most businesses whether small or large have cameras. Mainly to thwart off would-be criminals, thieves, and sometimes even catching vandals in the act! More so during economic decline than other times. The truth is, having a camera system in place also covers other issues you have or have not yet considered.
Think about the following example. You own a fairly large production warehouse and you have two hundred employees on the morning and day shift, and one hundred on the night shift and overnight. Recently there has been a few employees who have mysteriously been seen by other employees scheming and trying to switch shifts with others. Now, normally you would have an on-site supervisor or general manager who would catch this type of activity going on, but let’s say for argument’s sake he was not paying attention to that particular section where your employee works that day. You might not think it is a big deal, and it may not be, but as the boss, you have your own vision of how and who you want working certain shifts, especially if you have a production line where your employees have their own specific roles to play on a daily basis. You confront a few of the employees who you “suspect” may be switching shifts and they swear to you up and down that they stick to a strict routine, and never would come off that routine without consulting with a supervisor or you, the boss, personally. Now you’re thinking to yourself as an employer wanting to give that person the benefit of the doubt, but on the other hand you eagerly and anxiously want to know the truth. How can you do this? SIMPLE! With properly positioned and fully functioning security cameras you will be able to pinpoint if a violation is taking place.
This particular scenario may be a little over the top, but these things do happen, and more so when cameras are not in place. Employees are more likely to create situations that may not be your idea of a good decision. More importantly than just a simple violation of a shift switch. Let’s say you are not this huge production tycoon, you own a small food mart with five isles and you have a grand total of 3 employees, one stock boy, one cashier and one maintenance man. Your store front is fairly busy and on an average day your cashier is glued to the register. Your stock boy is loading and unloading merchandise and your maintenance man is swamped with an ongoing plumbing issue. Next thing you know, BOOM! A loud crash is heard from isle two where the milk, orange juice and other drinks are. Every one of your employees hear the crash and run over to investigate what has happened and they find a man in his late forties lying on the floor in a pile of juice groaning in agony and grabbing on to his back and neck. You, being the boss, call 911 immediately not knowing if this man is seriously hurt. The ambulance shows up and carts the man off to the hospital. Now two things just happened in your head. Number one, you are now liable for this man who slipped and fell in your store… MEDICAL BILLS and LAWYERS! Number two, that thought just crossed your mind as it would with everyone who fears that they might get sued, “MAYBE IT WAS All A FAKE?” Now since all three of your employees where busy doing their jobs, none of them have any actual information to give you that would help you prove that it might have been a set up. You are out of luck and there is nothing you can do except, accept whatever the outcome might be. Or you can do one of two things. You can hire a few more employees, one for each isle but no that would probably go over your budget and you would just end up having to lay them off. Or you can go with the more affordable and accurate approach to this certain situation and spend money on a security camera system. It makes so much more sense business wise. You alleviate the problem of an inaccurate account of what your employees DID see surrounding the “event”. Because cameras never lie, and let’s be honest even some of the sharpest people sometimes have a foggy memory. It gives you OVERALL protection; you don’t have to worry if the man was telling the truth or if the whole thing was a big scam. The cameras will always tell the true story. You might be thinking right now, “it could never happen to me” or “unlikely,” but do me a favor and go on one of the popular social media video sites and just type in the search box “Store slip and falls.” That’s right, MILLIONS of scams recorded by people just like you, only they are not “entertaining” the idea of security cameras. They made that decision to protect what they love, mind you, at a very minimal cost compared to what it COULD cost you.
So as a security field expert, take my advice and do yourself, your family and your most precious investment, your business, a favor and realize how important it is to cover yourself for the “just in case” moments in life. You and your employees won’t regret the decision you make to take your business to the next level safely, securely, and successfully. These are just a few examples of how and why Security cameras are essential to the growth and protection of your employees and your business. All in all, having a system of cameras in your place of business is not only affordable, it’s one of the smartest investments. For another article on how a security system can save you from a lawsuit, check out this link.
