The Importance of Physical Security Audits

Installing a robust security system in your business is necessary to keep your establishment, employees, and customers safe. However, a common mistake many companies make is installing and forgetting about the security system – allowing problems to appear and fester without receiving the necessary attention. To ensure your business remains safe, you should understand the importance of physical security audits. Here’s what you need to know.

Three components make up an effective business security solution:

• Access control
• Surveillance
• Testing

Access control prevents trespassers and unauthorized persons from accessing your facility while allowing authorized persons to enter and exit easily. Access control ensures you’re still letting in the right people at the right times, while denying access for the people who shouldn’t be in your business.

Surveillance refers to your security system’s ability to monitor your facilities and detect intrusions or abnormalities. Having eyes everywhere in your business is invaluable and helps you stay abreast of any situations and problems. Examples of this can be security camera systems (of course), along with door position sensors and panic buttons.

Testing makes up the final leg of an effective building security system. The best part is testing can routinely be done by yourself for the most part. This includes ensuring locks are functioning, alarms are responding correctly, and that you and your staff know how to respond to an emergency quickly.

Keeping these three elements in mind, the importance of physical security audits becomes a bit more focused. You want to ensure that your security systems are functional, up to date, and meeting all your needs. Even more importantly, it’s vital to ensure your customers and employees are safe in the unfortunate case of a break-in, robbery or fire.

A physical security audit is a way of ensuring you’re meeting that responsibility for your customers, employees and assets. The auditor surveys your site for several categories from hardware and door condition to auditing the software you’re using for monitoring, disaster prevention and robbery-prevention.

Among the things an auditor might look at are the condition of door closers, door hinges and locking hardware, disaster prevention procedures including fire escape routes and security features such as electronic lock down flows.

A physical security audit also helps you update and replace your security systems as necessary. Technology is always evolving, and your security system can become outdated and incompatible with newer software and devices. A security audit can detect these issues and provide corrective action before your security becomes a risk. Click the link, security risk assessments, to learn more and request a free one.

A common misconception is thinking that physical security and digital security are two entirely separate entities. Holes in your physical security may provide intruders and malicious actors an entry into your business’s most sensitive data. As you know, protecting sensitive information and your customers’ information is your legal responsibility. Avoid the fines and penalties of a data breach by investing time to routinely audit, maintain, and update your physical security systems.