How to Deal with a Break-in On Your Business Premises

A study of police-recorded crimes across the UK recently revealed that there are over 100,000 burglaries against commercial premises each year and the COVID-19 pandemic fuelled an increase in these types of crimes last year.

If your business becomes the unfortunate target of a break-in, it’s important to know what to do immediately after the crime and what measures to put in place to prevent this from happening again in the future. In this guide, we’ve put together some of the steps you should take following a burglary on your business premises.

Steps to Take After a Break-in On Your Business Premises

1. Call the Police

As soon as you have noticed any sign of a break-in, it is important to ring the police immediately and give them as much detailed information as possible. If the burglary is currently ongoing, call 999 and explain what is happening and do not enter the building for your own safety. 

If the crime happened a few hours ago or the previous day, phone the non-emergency line instead and wait for them to come out and gather evidence before entering the building to avoid tampering with any evidence. Once the police have arrived, they will take photographs for their investigation and will likely speak to residents nearby to check if they saw or heard anything.

When the police say it is safe to do so, you can start to do the same and begin to gather document evidence for insurance purposes. The more details you can collect, the quicker your claim can be processed. It’s absolutely essential to take photographs of everything.

2. Secure the Premises

Although you may not be able to replace broken windows or doors from where the intruders entered straight away, you should still take as many short-term precautions as possible to protect your business premises from any further damage or break-ins. Board up the windows, change the locks and make sure any CCTV cameras are working properly.

If there are no physical signs of a break-in, try to work out how the burglar could have entered the building. Perhaps they know the code for the alarm system or managed to sneak into the building before you locked up. Do a full sweep of the building and change any security codes.

3. Speak with Your Insurance Company

Once you have spoken with the police, documented any damages and taken stock, you need to get in touch with your insurance company. Most companies require you to make them aware of a break-in within 24 hours of it taking place, so don’t leave it until the last minute to do so.

Once you’ve let them know, they will talk you through the claims process and you will have to give a verbal account of the break-in, a crime number and an estimate of the damage or loss of goods. They might even arrange for a claims inspector to visit your business to assess the damage.

4. Make Your Staff Aware

Keep your staff informed and updated on the situation and how you plan to move forward. Perhaps you need to close for a day or two whilst repairs are carried out. Can your staff work from home? Will they need to reschedule any meetings if not?

Remember that a break-in can evoke different emotions from people. Some may feel worried about their safety and security, so it’s important to reassure them that you are doing everything you can to improve your business’ security to prevent this from happening again in the future.

If any of your staff were on the premises at the time of the break-in and were directly affected, it may be worth arranging a professional visit or phone call to offer guidance counselling. You may also want to check out CABA’s advice on coping with the emotional impact of a break-in.

5. Review Your Current Business Security

Once you have taken all of the short term measures, it’s a good idea to review your current security procedures and identify where there are any flaws or weak points in your existing strategy. Whilst you shouldn’t blame yourself for the break-in, you can use it as an opportunity to make improvements to your security around your premises. 

For example, you might decide to install higher quality CCTV, perimeter security and internal doors. At BID Group Ltd, we offer a range of effective and affordable security measures to help keep your business better protected. Our high speed doors are often used in warehouses and industrial settings, acting as a quick moving barrier to provide high levels of safety and security. 

Similarly, our industrial and commercial gates can help to keep your business perimeter intruder-proof, acting as a second layer of protection. We also offer regular service, maintenance and repairs to help keep your perimeter and internal security measures working as they should.

Find out more about how BID Group Ltd can keep your business premises safe and secure by getting in touch with our tram via sales@bidgroup.co.uk or give us a call on 0870 607 5050.