How to Keep Your Animal Shelter Safe
It’s an unfortunate fact that no business is safe from the possibilities of robbery, theft, or property destruction, including animal shelters. When it comes to protecting the animals, property, cash receipts, donation checks, adoption records, and other valuables in your animal shelter, you may be wondering how to increase the shelter security and animal safety of your facility. For an animal shelter to succeed and continue doing its impactful work for animals and its community, there are some steps to take for increased security and safety. In this article, we’ll discuss how to keep your animal shelter safe with some top security and safety steps.
Ways to Increase Shelter Security
Workplace safety and security are consistent concerns for every industry and individual business. With the presence of Covid-19, health and safety concerns continue to rise. Small businesses with limited resources, such as animal shelters, may see an increased risk to the health and safety of employees and animals alike as they continue to work to maintain widespread safety and security. Animal shelter staff members must develop and maintain proper tactics and guidelines to ensure that the animals, volunteers, staff, and public remain safe, while also continuing to support the people and pets.
Animal shelters worldwide contend with security issues year-round. The increased incidence of violence in the workplace adds additional concern, especially for workers who work alone or with few co-workers. For shelters, there is an ongoing question of how to increase shelter security. Some of the top ways to increase security and safety are knowing your location, installing more fences, preventing inside jobs, keeping employees involved, having a strong office staff, increasing staff communication, increasing traffic directions, minding your money, using a safe, using noise control systems, and increasing the number of lights and cameras.
Know Your Location
Part of how to keep your animal shelter safe is knowing your location. Understand the security needs of your animal shelter by understanding your community. Are you suburban, rural, or urban? What are the income levels? What are the crime reports and area statistics? Knowing more about the details of your area can help you know the potential problems and security risks.
Install More Fences
Fencing not only provides additional privacy to an animal shelter but also provides increased security. However, security fences have to work on a range of levels. Fences must be strong enough to keep out potential criminals but not deter prospective animal adopters or community members. Consider adding fencing, but less in the front entryway.
Prevent Inside Jobs
Employee theft is one of the biggest problems businesses face, especially small businesses. According to some reports, an employee is up to 15 times more likely to steal than a non-employee. Consider more substantial background checks, increased employee supervision, cash receipt control, informal audits, check tracking, and inventory management.
Keep Employees Involved
Employee involvement is another effective measure to increase employee and animal safety. Build a safety-minded staff by educating new employees about security protocols and shelter policies. Volunteer policies should be just as stringent. Provide guidelines, training sessions, and outlined responsibilities. Control building access and adjust security for any disgruntled persons.
A Strong Staff
Forgetful or disgruntled volunteers and staff aren’t the only threat to shelter security. Sometimes a community member will also seek retribution for an insult or injury. Your shelter staff can benefit from seminars on communication to ensure a customer service priority. Implementing privacy partition enclosures can also decrease noise and stressors that can escalate situations.
Increase Staff Communication
In addition to customer service seminars, fostering communications between staff can help employee and animal safety. If your organization is investigating a dogfighting ring, working on a hoarding case, or you believe someone could make trouble for your shelter, brief your staff on the situation. Some education without sensitive details can provide a more united security front.
Increase Traffic Directions
Effectively directing traffic throughout your animal shelter can also aid security. Potential donors and adopters should have the ability to move through the shelter with ease without compromising your safety. Ensure clear, welcoming signage that guides traffic and designates areas. Vinyl strip doors can help direct traffic while providing access to appropriate parties.
Mind Your Money
If you take in frequent small donations or have donation jars in front areas, make sure they are in the safest possible locations and monitored heavily. Track where money is going and coming from. Keep shelter money in view of a surveillance camera or trustworthy staff members. If a donation jar is publicly-accessible, make sure to lock and securely fasten it to a solid surface.
Use a Safe
Potentially dangerous or valuable supplies should also remain in a safe location. To prevent break-ins and the theft of sensitive items, limit access to staff with the proper experience and need. Keep money and any dangerous drugs in a heavy-duty safe. Animal shelters can also benefit from acoustic screens for soundproofing to discourage and prevent criminal activity.
Noise Control Systems
Noise control is among the best security measures for a facility such as an animal shelter. Large amounts of noise and activity are daily occurrences. Ensure you can hear potential criminal activity and your security systems properly with noise control systems. Noise control systems can also provide soundproof kennels for dogs, increasing animal safety and security.
Lights and Cameras
You can catch potential criminals on cameras with an increased number of lights and cameras throughout your facility. Install cameras to view sensitive areas where you keep money, documents, animals, and entrances to increase visibility and awareness.
Keep Your Animal Shelter Safe With Singer Safety
To keep your animal shelter safe, know your area, secure borders, educate and unite your staff, direct traffic, and mind your money. Implementing a safe, security system, additional lights, cameras, and soundproofing technology all go a long way toward increasing animal shelter safety. Keep your animal shelter safe today with these tips, increased awareness, and increased area control from Singer Safety.
