TIP Blog

Internal theft is a serious issue in manufacturing facilities. Born from misplaced trust, poor hiring processes and lackadaisical supervision, employee theft can take many forms from pilfering valuable scrap metal to fabricating timesheets.

To prevent incidents, business owners and managers must take proactive steps to keep a watchful eye on the property.

Here, we outline 3 facility vulnerabilities, as well as the subsequent actions business owners, can take to enhance security and prevent internal theft:

3 Facility Vulnerabilities:

1.Clock-In Location

Clocking in for the day is the first action an employee will take upon arrival to work. This process was created in effort to keep track of the hours an employee worked, as well as keep tabs on habitually tardy employees.

This is the first touch point of potential theft. Here, employees have the ability to clock in for a coworker, effectively fabricating the timesheet. This is most common with analog or handwritten timesheet processes, which allow the most room for fabrication.

2. Dumpster Areas

Valuable scrap metal is another prime aspect of manufacturing businesses that can prompt employee theft. Often times, these thefts occur around dumpster areas of the facility. Employee’s charged with discarding scrap metal may “pocket” parts of the load—Or employees will know what times of the week valuable metal is left outside, then come back later to take it.

3. Hallways

Whether it’s gaining access to personnel records through unsecure management doors, or causing harm to unprotected servers in an IT closet, open hallways can provide disgruntled or mischievous employees with an easy opportunity for wreaking internal havoc.

How to Protect Your Facility:

Luckily, there are two simple ways that employers can fight back against internal security vulnerabilities:

1. Utilization of Access Control Technologies:

Access control technologies regulate who can gain entry to specific areas within a facility. Each employee is given a unique key fob or access code which they will use to gain entry to authorized areas.

Access control technologies make it difficult for an employee to clock in or clock out another.

What’s more, access logs hold useful data that can be beneficial for operational purposes. You’ll be able to determine when each approved employee—whether it be a floor technician, manager or maintenance person—enters and exits each area of the facility. It also tracks attempted entry: For example, if an employee tries to gain access to the management office even though he/she does is not granted permission.

2. Video Surveillance:

If your facility is still using analog timesheets, video surveillance solutions can be the added security you need. Not only will video surveillance catch employees who attempt to fabricate timesheets, it will also help prevent such events. Psychologically speaking, employees change their behavior when they know they’re being watched.

Furthermore, video solutions vastly increase the chances for an employer to take legal action against identified culprits from surveillance footage.