Question
I was wondering what most people do to keep the tools in the shop when no one is working? I have an alarm service that calls me and the police when it is tripped. Also, how many of you have been broken into? When my father owned the shop we came to work one morning and all the small tools and both big air compressors were gone, they even took the wrenches off the walls. These guys even ate my shop candy and left me the empty bag.
Forum Responses
(Business and Management Forum)
From contributor T:
If someone wants in, they will get in. Keep records, pictures and serial numbers. Insurance is obvious, but had to say it. Maybe motion lights, or signs that say "door blocked" will keep some out, or at least direct them to the neighbor. Video surveillance is cheap these days.
1. Insurance. First, make an appointment to walk through the shop with your provider. Find out exactly what they need from you. Documentation is great but in my experience they also require considerable evidence to support your purchase price. This was a nasty problem for things that came to me from several generations of family.
2. Access control. This means control not over entry from the outside but a well thought out scheme of internal access controls. One example is - where do you keep your security system? After looking at options, we keep ours in a completely separate location and use a fiber optic link as a tie. Fiber is dirt cheap now.
3. Passive security. Simply lay out where and when you need access to valuable items. Build in layers of protection consistent with that scheme. If you slow bad guys down, they normally move on. They don't burgle banks anymore because it takes too long.
4. Active security. Mobile guards are really, really cheap. If there is an active account anywhere near your location, you will be surprised how cheap it is to add them to your system. I have an ambulance company near me. I could dog-pile on their account for less than 3% of my insurance bills.
5. Don't pull any cowboy stuff. Your building could burn down at a total loss and not cost you anything near what a "spring gun" or "man trap" law suit will cost. You don't even have to hurt someone to get a multimillion dollar judgment against you for cowboy tactics. I have seen the results of a "man trap" suit myself when a buddy built a clever "man trap." Trust me, the guy who built the trap will never satisfy the judgment against him. He is ruined for life.
6. Do exactly what you are doing. Talk to people. Talk to your attorney. Especially, talk to your insurance carriers.
All the small and expensive hand tools are kept in a small cement block tool locker room that has a serious door on it. The tool locker serves a more important purpose that when the day is over I can look in the locker and immediately see if there is anything missing. You are a lot more likely to have employees steal than a burglar. There is no theft insurance in the Philippines.
