Crime reduction 

Internal security

Please consider the business crime prevention advice below to improve your internal security.

Your reception area should be the first line of defence against intruders during normal business hours. Never leave the reception area unattended.

• Sign every visitor to your premises in and out of the building. Issue visitors with identification and ask them to sign for it.
• Pick up all visitors from reception and escort them back to reception. Do not leave them to wander around the building alone.
• Train your receptionists in security so that they can recognise suspicious behaviour. Make receptionists aware of the techniques that intruders often use, such as 'tailgating'.
• Make sure that receptionists cannot be threatened or placed under pressure to allow unauthorised entry to the building. This applies if you use receptionists to control access from a public reception area into more secure parts of the building.
• Always have a personal attack/emergency button in the reception area.

Intruders sometimes enter a building and hide until it is closed and empty. Make sure that your premises are searched properly by security staff before it is locked up.

For more information on how to prevent unauthorised access, view our pages on access control.

Internal doors

• Do not necessarily lock internal doors - just close them. This is so that people can escape the building if there is an emergency (a fire, for example).
• Fit robust internal doors, locks and caging in high-security areas that need to be secured. High-security areas include IT offices, in-house travel agencies or banks.
• In certain circumstances, it may be better to use a safe to store valuable items or documents. Seek advice from a specialist, such as a member of the Master Locksmiths Association (opens new window).