Alexis Potter is managing director of CCTV provider BauWatch UK
As stories about shoplifting hit the front pages and supermarkets come together to crack down on the issue, my thoughts turn to the problem of construction theft and what can be done to stop it.
“On large projects, with many temporary workers, it can be difficult to enforce a strict site access policy”
It’s no secret that our industry is battling its own costly crime epidemic. In fact, it is estimated that approximately £800 million is lost to theft each year, the equivalent of around £23,000. JCB excavators. And while energy farms, housing estates and other types of ongoing construction sites are vulnerable to the odd opportunist looking for a spare can of fuel, the real perpetrators are organized gangs and criminals, who are much harder to track down, stop and take
Construction sites are goldmines for materials and equipment, so they’re ripe for looting, especially with the resale value of commodities like copper skyrocketing in the past two years (between 3 .50 and 6.50 pounds per kg). Not only that, but the high turnover rates of staff and the comings and goings of subcontractors, the mobility of the workforce and the temporary nature of project work make construction sites an easy target for crime.
The recent copper theft at metals supplier Aurubis, the largest ever, may have involved insiders, with data from the Chartered Institute of Building indicating that construction-related theft incidents tend to involve outsourced staff . But on large projects with many temporary workers, it can be difficult to enforce a strict site access policy, so many companies don’t know how to fix the problem.
All these ingredients are a recipe for disaster. And with a weak UK economy tightening the purse strings, rising metals price inflation and darker nights, the situation is getting worse.
New legislation
This does not mean that steps are not being taken to mitigate the problem. Major legislation designed to reduce the theft of equipment on construction sites is currently making its way through parliament. The Theft of Equipment (Prevention) Act will create regulations restricting the sale of certain equipment and tools used by tradesmen, agricultural businesses and other industries. This should help prevent equipment being stolen and resold on the black market.
Elsewhere, the Construction Equipment Association (CEA) has a strong and long-standing commitment to supporting the UK police force in the fight against machinery theft. The Officer CESAR scheme, launched by CEA in 2007, has had a major impact on crime in agriculture and construction, significantly reducing theft for machinery brands that have adopted it. In September, it launched a police unit specializing in agricultural and construction equipment to be managed and operated in Opal, which is the national intelligence unit focused on serious organized crime across the UK.
Police and the Security Industry Association (SIA) are also working to crack down on rogue security guards. Human guards are still used on many construction sites, despite the risk of being co-opted by criminals. Anyone not registered with the SIA now faces possible jail and a £5,000 fine, while all security guards must wear blue SIA badges. In the Merseyside area, Operation Seahog carried out security guard checks on site to send a clear message to the industry and security companies that guards must be registered with the SIA.
Sit down and act
The question is: is it enough? As someone who checks for intruders on a daily basis, I can tell you that it is not. With supermarkets about to roll out facial recognition technology on the high street to curb theft, it makes me wonder why big business isn’t coming together in the same way to draw more attention to this issue.
In the meantime, however, they need to cover their backs by doing their own due diligence. This means establishing some sort of safeguarding strategy and tools at the start of each project. This should be an agile strategy that improves when the site is more vulnerable, for example when there are a larger number of site adaptation tools or high value items like boilers around, creating additional risk .
At scale, these vulnerability patterns, if properly detected and reported, have the potential to greatly improve site security and tactics. It’s time for everyone in our industry to sit up, pay attention and take action against theft, or it will continue to be a huge loss of productivity.
