The Dangers of Unsecured Building Sites

What are the dangers of an unsecured construction site?

Unsecured construction sites are exposed to trespassers and 'urban explorers' who are ill-prepared for the many hazards present on most sites.

Construction sites are one of the most dangerous working environments, with even highly experienced and trained professionals suffering accidents and injuries at a rate of over 160 every day per figures released by the HSE.

However, a new threat has emerged in the form of trespassers and urban explorers who treat unsecured construction sites as a playground despite being entirely unprepared for the risks they face. 

Children are particularly at risk when a construction site is left unsecured, with multiple accidents involving children occurring on sites across the UK every year. 

WCCTV, the UK's leading provider of construction site security systems, below outlines the steps every site should take to protect themselves and the public. 

What are the Risks?

As a construction business owner, you are legally obliged to conduct your projects without putting members of the public at risk. 

These risks include the above-referenced trespassers and explorers, so companies must manage site access and prevent unauthorised people from accessing your site. 

The HSE reports that two or three children die on construction sites each year after gaining access to play or explore, while many more are injured or seriously hurt.

Consideration must be given to preventing access to your sites, and using a blended approach to security solutions is the key to controlling this.

What Preventative Measures Can Be Taken?

Defining and securing the site's boundaries is one of the most effective ways of preventing site intrusions. These need, wherever possible, to be physical boundaries such as fencing. 

Once the fencing is in place, you must continue to monitor and maintain the integrity of this temporary barrier and periodically review its placement to allow for changes to the site layout. 

If your site is in a highly residential area, it is more likely to attract children. You should seek to install high-walled temporary hoarding rather than fencing in these locations.

This will prevent people from seeing what is on your site (and therefore be less likely to attract the curious) and prevent people from gaining access.

How Managed CCTV Systems Prevent Trespass

In addition to the physical barrier of fencing or hoarding, deploying a monitored CCTV system is one of the most effective ways of preventing unauthorised site access.

WCCTV provides a  complete range of Rapid Deployment CCTV Towers designed to boost security at remote and temporary sites.

At 7m tall and painted bright yellow, WCCTV's towers are a highly impactful visual deterrent to anyone considering trespassing on your site. 

Beyond their physical presence, the Towers have multiple motion sensors that can immediately detect out-of-hours activity on your sites. 

Once triggered, this will initiate a remote response from our monitoring station, who will verify if trespass is occurring and issue a live audio challenge to intruders.

This is a highly effective process that, in almost every case, will scare away the trespassers, as with the group of children shown below: 

Ready to find out how Rapid Deployment CCTV can work for you? Get in touch today at 0800 470 4630 or request a call back