Construction Law

Preventing Theft in Construction Part 3

In the first and second sections of this six-part article, an Orlando construction lawyer covered the common mistakes that lead to theft on construction sites. In this section, we will offer advice to construction managers on how to prevent theft at your jobsite.    

Assess Your Site

It’s important that contractors understand that the theft of construction equipment and materials is a common problem that affects jobsites. In order to prevent a theft from occurring at your workplace, you must first consider what motives the thief would have to steal from you. For example, what is your most valuable equipment? Where is your workplace most vulnerable? Would it be easy for a thief to access this equipment and evade capture? After you consider the answer to these questions, you can better prep your site to prevent theft.

Industry Communication

Although construction is a competitive industry, all construction firms share a common interest in protecting their businesses from theft. It’s critical that construction professionals communicate with one another about recent theft trends. When there is a unified awareness of specific equipment and materials being targeted in an area, contractors can develop security measures to protect their jobsites.  

Assessing Your Team

Many contractors would be surprised to learn that their own employees are stealing from right under their noses. Many theft crimes occur because a worker had easy access to steal and acted upon that. It’s important that employers run background checks and contact the applicant’s previous employers before hiring them. Similarly, although you don’t want to micromanage your team, it’s best to provide your employees with constant feedback related to their work. This is a proactive way of showing your employers that you care about their work tasks while also showing them that you are monitoring their daily activities.

Along with screening and monitoring your applicants, it’s critical that employers train their employees on many of the aspects of security in the workplace. Here are some things to consider when implementing a theft prevention policy:

• End of Day Tasks: Workers should be trained on how to log and store equipment at the end of their shift.
• Reporting: Whether it’s reporting suspicious behavior or theft, workers should understand who they should turn to if they witness an incident of stealing
• Zero-Tolerance: It’s important that all workers understand that stealing will not be tolerated and incidents of theft will result in their immediate termination.

For more information on theft in the construction industry, please read sections four, five, and six.

If you would like to speak with one of our Orlando construction lawyers, please contact us today.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for general educational information only. This information does not constitute legal advice, is not intended to constitute legal advice, nor should it be relied upon as legal advice for your specific factual pattern or situation.