If you’re storing products of value, or easily disposable goods, and rely on the integrity of a door to protect entry from a physical attack, then what’s in a door can be the difference between a secure premises and one that is easily accessible to burglars. So reports physical security product firm J Durrance.
Many retail stores, warehouses and offices see their back door just as a fire escape, delivery or rubbish removal door, rather than an opportunity for unwanted entry. So many rear doors are simple in construction, with minimum fire regulation requirements, and not very secure at all, leaving an easy, hidden target.
Considering about half of unauthorised entry is gained by the rear door, and the villains know how the police operate and that the police response times are such that they can remove goods and disappear long before they arrive, it demonstrates that physical security is till not high enough on the agenda of premises security. With over 2,200 high street shops, Ladbrokes, having invested heavily in technology to deliver a better customer experience, including in-shop plasma screens and gaming machines, needed to up the ante with respect to premises security and staff security.
The company introduced a ‘Robbery and Asset Protection Programme’ concerning the basic principles of premises protection; Deter … Delay … Detect … Detain; that would develop an effective method of 24 hour protection of the assets in the shop. J Durrance held a forum with the security managers from Ladbrokes to identify the physical security needs for the shops and more specifically the performance requirements of a new external security door.
Through this collaboration, a new steel encased security door was developed, fitted with an embedded multi-point function, panic device and steel lined frames that would provide high level security for the premises’ rear access.
Some of the key points and benefits to the new door included:
3-bolt multi-point locking
All locking points are steel encased for increased protection
A steel hinge protector to prevent the hinge side frame from splitting
The metal sleeve encasing door and locking area protects from a crowbar attack
A hinge security locking bar, secured to the rear with steel bolts, engages into a slot to nullify a hinge attack
An overlap strip to prevents access to any part of the locking area
The hidden steel angle prevents the lock breaking out of the frame
An angled steel brick protector prevents the removal of the frame from the opening
A wide angle heavy duty viewer gives a 180deg view.
It can be finished to specifications or corporate colouring
Not all doors are impenetrable, and indeed the cost of such a door is probably prohibitive to most retailers, warehouses and offices that really should be looking at a significant delay to the burglar. If a villain is taking too long to break in to a building, they will leave it and move on to an easier target. But make sure that easier target is not you! Not every retail store, warehouse or office will have the same specific requirements for the security rating of a door. Ladbrokes used the experience of their security managers and statistics gathered over a period of time, to identify what a security door needed to do and how it was required to perform.
The physical security product firm sums up that through working in partnership to overcome the way the existing external doors were vulnerable and address the specific concerns of the Ladbrokes security management, a new security door was developed as part of an overall package of security measures, that also included anti-bandit screens, aluminium doors and roller shutters.
