Almost as common as job sites are job-site thieves – criminals who strike all across America. They raid job sites even in such remote places as Bainbridge Island, a narrow strip of land across Puget Sound from Seattle, Wash., as the following police report demonstrates: "A portable air compressor and two table saws were stolen. The suspects cut the chains securing the items to the framing of the house.^"1

All Job Sites Vulnerable

Job-site thievery is a nationwide problem, with incidents reported in nearly every corner of all 50 states. Any place that has tools and construction equipment is a temptation for those who want something for nothing.

A recent study² by the DeWalt Industrial Tool Company estimated that job-site thieves strike 95 percent of contractors at least once annually. According to the study, "Tool theft, material theft, and truck/van theft are the top three types of job-site losses." General Electric Security, a subsidiary of General Electric Company, reported in 2006 that although it's difficult to put a precise dollar amount on the costs of tools and equipment stolen from job sites, "we know the problem is measured in billions of dollars each year.^"3

Construction workers across the U.S. can't help but wonder what they'll find when they arrive at their job sites. Will storage doors be pried open? Tool trailers heisted? Building materials missing? Backhoes, tractors and other heavy equipment gone except for tracks in the dirt?

Targets Large and Small

Sometimes the thievery is subtle; a toolbox a worker forgot to put away vanishes without a trace. Other times the signs are obvious; crowbar marks on the door of a trailer and the contents long gone.

Easy-to-carry items such as cordless power tools, hammer drills and rotary saws are lifted regularly, but so are large machines from skid steers to scissor lifts. A LoJack Corporation report⁴ details the problem and indicates thieves are selective about the heavy equipment they steal.

"Not surprisingly," the report states, "newer models are more often stolen than older equipment, as the resale value of new equipment is greatest. In 2006, 68 percent of the equipment stolen was 5 years old or less." LoJack markets anti-theft equipment that employs Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to help customers recover stolen property.

Although experts say that some of the greatest risk of theft occurs on job sites near college campuses or other high pedestrian traffic areas – indicating spur-of-the-moment thievery – the LoJack study points to a rise in organized criminal activity: "Professional thieves appear to have discovered a lucrative market in construction equipment. Thieves appear to be reselling the equipment to unsuspecting contractors or, in a few cases, disassembling the equipment into pieces for resale as parts."

What Can Be Done?

In its publication, Loss Prevention And Security Techniques For Equipment Owners⁵, the National Equipment Register (NER) offers many recommendations for preventing job-site theft and recovering stolen equipment, including:

• If possible, have only one entrance/exit at the site.
• Locking hardware should consist of a case-hardened chain and a high-security padlock.
• Arrange/store equipment that’s not in use in such a way that a missing unit would be obvious, such as a single-file row.
• Position larger pieces of equipment in a circular, wagon-train pattern, with generators, compressors and other smaller items inside the ring.
• Consider using lifting devices to secure smaller, more easily portable items.
• Consider hiring a guard service to monitor your work site and/or installing video surveillance systems.
• Register your equipment on a national database that works with law enforcement.
• Conduct unannounced and random job site visits to ensure nothing unusual is happening while work is not in progress.
• Work with local law enforcement before a theft occurs. This will allow officers to be aware of expected activity at your job site in off hours and know about any projects you consider to be high risk.
• Make your theft prevention policy part of your business plan and link it to incentives for employees.

Mobilelock

DeWalt also recently introduced Mobilelock a GPS-based, wireless alarm system designed to help the construction industry battle work-site crime.

Mobilelock protects assets ranging from gear stored in tool cribs to equipment used for material handling such as forklifts, carts and trucks. The Mobilelock device – which is about the size of a deck of cards – is mounted in a hidden area on the tool, vehicle, or equipment.

As a first line of defense, sensors in Mobilelock activate a siren when vibration or other signs of tampering are detected. If the equipment is stolen anyway, owners can log onto the Mobilelock Web site, enter a pass code, and access street maps and satellite imagery that show the approximate location of the item.

The system has helped contractors and authorities recover thousands of dollars worth of stolen property. The following from the DeWalt Web site⁶ is a case in point:

"In February, 2007, the Will County Sheriff’s Department of Illinois along with the Tri-County Auto Theft Task Force…implemented three Mobilelock units to identify areas of frequent job-site theft, capture the thieves, and recover the stolen assets. Within two months of using the Mobilelock units, the task force caught nine thieves and recovered approximately $237,500 in stolen heavy construction equipment."

Investing in Prevention

You can reduce the odds that your business will be victimized by: implementing the measures recommended by anti-crime organizations such as the NER; purchasing a security system and other equipment designed to deter thieves; and reminding employees to secure all property on a daily basis and be constantly on the lookout for suspicious activity.

Job-site security not only has impacts on the bottom line due to equipment replacement costs, increased insurance premiums and lost productivity, it also takes a psychological toll on its victims. It hurts to be ripped off.

Sources
1. Bainbridge Island, Wa., Police Department logs, February 2005
2. Protecting Your Jobsite From Theft, Maureen Silber, Product Manager, Security Business Group,
    DeWalt Power Tools
3. Preventing Job Site Theft, General Electric Security
4. 2006 Construction Equipment Theft Study LoJack Corporation.
5. http://www.nerusa.com/includes/WebLossPrevention.pdf
6. http://www.DeWalt.com/us/articles/article.asp?Site=product&ID=1539

Related Link
www.grainger.com/security

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