There is no doubt that investing in security alarm system keeps your business premises and clients safe, but it is also a safety net for the security of your employees.
It is one thing to have a well-functioning alarm system install and another thing when it comes to the know-how and how to respond to it. Once you have an alarm installed, you need to train all employees either new or old working in the company on how they need to respond to the security alarm. They need to know the protocols in place in case the alarm is triggered and know how to react to the alarm to ensure everyone stays safe.
In this blog, I reveal tips on how to help your employees respond to a security alarm system to ensure that everyone remains safe.
All alarm systems from time to time trip raise a false alarm either mechanical or human error. Whatever the situation maybe you need to inform everyone under your duty of care to never be in a hurry to turn them off. They first need to verify the cause of the alarm before they respond accordingly. Before the alarm can be verified, all employees need to remain calm in their stations. If you notice any suspicious activity, you need to immediately notify security or call on law enforcement agencies.
Alert the police
Most security alarm systems have been designed to send a direct alert to the police or law enforcement agencies in case of emergencies. As discussed in an earlier blog post, not all alarms have sirens and some are silently triggered to send a signal to the police. Once the police or security company get the alert, they usually give a grace period of time which ranges to a couple of seconds to minutes before they can call into their teams in the field to check-in. Some security companies will often require you to give a passcode as an extra security measure. If you are not present, the burglars will not know the correct passcode, and in case of a hold-up, you will have the opportunity to give an incorrect passcode to signal an emergency. They usually give this time to allow one to disarm the system in case it is a false alarm. If you are sure that the alarm is not false and the security company has not called you, you need to call them immediately from the monitoring station.
Get a safe place to hide
Once
the alarm has been verified to be a genuine alert, all staff should be
instructed to remain in safe places. In case of a burglary, employees away from
the exact scene of the crime should quickly find safe rooms where they can lock
themselves until help arrives. If there are any clients around during the
incident, the staff should direct them where to go for safety. For those
employees who come in direct contact with the burglars, they should remain calm
and be cooperative as they wait for security to arrive. You should advise your
employees to never engage with the burglars directly.
Perform effective after-incident response processes
A security services provider or police ensure that they respond to alarms as fast as they can in case of a security breach. Together with the police, they try their best to neutralize any situation to ensure safety for all. Once peace and order have been restored, you need to call for a roll call to ensure that every employee is accounted for and is safe. Check for any injuries or casualties. If there are casualties, ensure that you call for an ambulance immediately. Depending on the severity of the situation, you can let your employees have the rest of the day off to give the security firm enough space to conduct their investigation on the incident.
If you are looking to buy and integrate a security alarm system into your security infrastructure contact the security service provider to assist you to find the right one that will best meet your needs.