Commercial Vandalism Loss Management - Coursework Example

 Commercial Vandalism Loss Management There are a lot of responsibilities related to every individual and his job designation regarding loss management. Firstly, all the personnel must be educated about the safety issues related to their jobs. Secondly, they must strictly adhere to safety practices and directives. Third, each of the employees must communicate and discuss with other supervisors about the changes in conditions or problems that are occurring in the business unit due to vandalism. Vandalism is the result of human behaviour. There are some theories like that of Oscar Newman called “defensible space” and some views that oppose this theory, like that presented by Canter. Some of them say that vandalism can be stopped when loss management is done in the form physical ways, like protecting the building and its property but some say that they are sometimes likely to backfire. Even there is one view that if frequently objects are replaced on a repeat basis then the vandals are likely to stop eventually, because sooner or later they would give up. Jenny Morton (2012) explains that there are certain remedies in the form of loss management strategies that can be conducted for the safety of the business unit, staff members and the whole business in a wider context. The strategies that can come into play here are discussed below: Loss Management for the Business Unit Three-tier surveillance can be conducted: natural, mechanical, organizational. Natural surveillance means cutting off the threes which might give an impression that the individuals who are to bring harm to the business unit are not being seen. Use of plenty of windows should be there so that it must give an impression to the individuals that they are being watched. Also, there should be clear views from the exterior of the building so that each assigned employee, who would be responsible for keeping an eye on the individuals responsible for vandalism while staying undercover, should be able to see them properly. Mechanical surveillance includes a proper lighting system for the retail unit so that it can avoid any vandalism at night when the business unit is in dark and the vandalism individuals think that might be the high time. For this purpose, high pressure sodium lights or metal halide can be useful. The lighting can be used the other way; they can be switched off so that the vandalism people can be observed more closely if they are planning to harm the business unit at night. Some of the employees can be assigned for this duty during the night time. Apart from that, cameras can be of great help. Organizational surveillance should include patrolling by the security guards inside and outside the building area. Another possibility can be and cannot be there, but it depends on the company itself if they want to pursue or not, which is that the company can ask any police official to patrol the area for them one time during the day and once at night. The company can agree on some deal on the payment criteria to the police official. This can help a lot because the individuals responsible for vandalism would get an idea that there is an authority which might punish them for doing so. But it must be taken into account that the police official should come on unknown timings; he should not have fixed timings for patrolling because the vandalism individuals would get an idea and would, therefore, not do any such thing on their patrolling time, and might get a chance of doing it afterwards. Access control means clearly mentioning and restricting the areas that are for public use and that are not. For instance, clear sign boards for the restricted area can be displayed on or near the building premises. Fences can be put so that common public can be restrained from the business unit area. Even some of the most private business units are strictly made safe by keeping dogs within their fencing area or sometimes charging those fences with the electric current, so that if anyone tries to pass over it to gain access to the building should not think of doing so. Territorial reinforcement can work wonders as well. It means that maintaining your own property in such a way that it looks in proper shape and thus gives an impression to the public that it should not be harmed. According to the “Broken Window Theory”, there is a perception that if the owner does not care for the property, why should anyone else. So, it is better to take care of the premises well because in that way, common public would not want to harm it. Also, a clearly defined border in the form of fences would determine the public’s property and the business property. In this way, common public would know that they are to take care of their property and do not trespass the industrial area. Apart from that, the existing infrastructure needs a little change changes in landscaping, pavement and signage are very important to keep away the people responsible for vandalism belonging to the farmland. Target hardening is another suitable strategy to make the building harder to reach and harder to vandalise. As already mentioned, it should be made sure that exterior lighting is in good condition and is switched on during night; if needed, it can be switched off to navigate the vandalism individuals more closely. Security camera and alarm systems should be in proper working conditions as well. If required, exterior doors and indoor locks can also be reinforced by having them locked with strong locking systems. Moreover, it can sometimes be expensive to hire guards and other such workers to take care of the building itself. The purpose of saying so is that if a guard is appointed to take care of vandalism and other related harms according to the surveillance strategy, it would require the company to hire, let’s say, three guards who would be assigned shift timings for the whole day surveillance. Or if the company has employees in the monitor where all the cameras of the buildings are to be monitored, they might not be able to perform the job well; the employees might fall asleep while keeping an eye on the monitors constantly, they might have gone to washroom, or to eat food etc. In such a case the monitors would remain unattended and there are chances that such a surveillance could cost the company a lot. Additionally, the company has to do something about handling salary costs of the guards on shifts or the employees working in monitor room. To avoid this, the company can think of having “virtual management”, which refers to an organization of security and surveillance professionals operating from a surveillance and response centre with the help of advanced software, skills and expertise in order to avoid any such incident. Above all, these strategies to keep of vandalism from the business unit, it is better to act upon them in the construction stage but it can be made effective in another way which is to clean vandalism and other related harms on the property as soon as they are seen because it would give an impression that the company cares about the property and wants it to stay clean. Besides, it would add to surveillance and would increase the chances of catching the individuals who are responsible for this. Loss Management for Staff Safety If the company decides to employ some of the strategies mentioned above for the safety of the building itself, or the mix of some of the strategies to gain better results, then there are some issues which are related to employee safety and health regarding loss management. For example, if the company thinks that it must keep its building clean whenever vandalism is observed, either it is a daily basis or even twice a day then the company has to appoint some employees on this duty. The employees would have to clean the vandalism damages and keep the building in a proper condition so that the vandals get the idea that the building and the owners do not want any such behaviour and also are concerned for the unit’s safety. To fulfil this purpose, the employees assigned on this cleaning task might face some safety or health issues. For elaboration, let’s say the employees have to take care of vandalism and perform duty during extreme summers or winters, they are likely to suffer from extreme weather and are prone to getting ill. Also, if they are working for the cleanup day and night, they would probably feel weak and get ill more frequently by working so hard. Furthermore, if the workers are attacked sneakily by the vandals when they are working on their assigned cleaning task then they are likely to get hurt badly. If the company thinks of replacing the ill employees by the healthy ones then it is going to cost them a lot if the replacements are required more often. The company can adopt various strategies to avoid such situations. The most effective one is, as mentioned earlier too, having dogs for safety against vandals from the farmland. If anyone tries to surpass the fence, the dogs would start barking and scare the vandals away. There would be fewer chances for the premises to be attacked by vandalism and therefore, the workers would not have to clean up so frequently and get sick every now and then. Consequently, the health issues of the workers could be resolved. Conducting periodic health safety audits in the business unit area would keep the organization updated of the health issues or the improvements if the company is providing any safety measures. In addition, developing, conducting and delivering a remedial safety and health training program to the employees which should also be proactive. Also, if the company is willing to pay extra and have some insurance plans then the company can think of getting their employees insured on health insurance plans. Even the company can assign one of its senior management officers to act as a point of contact whenever there are health related issues from the lower employees’ side. Loss Management for the Organization as a Whole There are various ways of avoiding vandalism and related harms. Michael Baker (n.d.) tells about the ways of doing so. To avoid continuous loss through vandalism, the company can think of getting insurance for the property against such practices. It might sound expensive but if the company has money and is willing to put some into it, there would surely be positive results. Insurance markets are always changing, so the company must look for the best chosen insurance plans. But the company has to weigh advantages and disadvantages of insurance plans and must decide upon that which one outweighs the other. Mary Strain (n.d.) talks about the same issue in her article. But to be on the safe side, Cameron Easey (n.d.) discusses some effective ways to avoid high insurance costs from which the company can benefit a lot. Risk retention can play a vital part in this regard too. This means that efforts should be made, such as the above mentioned strategies, which would aim at minimizing severity of vandalism and much more. This would directly affect on cost minimization positively. This needs identification, assessment and controlling of risk exposure areas of the company. The scale up to which the costs can be saved through effective risk management should not be underestimated because there can be a lot of costs associated such as employee compensation, replacement costs etc. Christopher Raines (n.d.) tells about the costs that are associated with vandalism which the companies have to suffer. References Baker, M., n.d. Vandalism of Corporate Property. SmallBusiness.chron.com, [online] Available at: [Accessed on 9th April 2014] Easey, C., n.d. Methods for Managing Business Insurance Costs. SmallBusiness.chron.com, [online] Available at: < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/methods-managing-business- insurance-costs-16892.html> [Accessed on 9th April 2014] Morton, J., 2012. 3 Ways to Protect Against Vandalism. Buildings.com, [online] Available at: [Accessed on 9th April 2014] Raines, C., n.d. What Can Vandalism Cost a Business? SmallBusiness.chron.com, [online] Available at < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/can-vandalism-cost-business-63820.html> [Accessed on 9th April 2014] Strain, M., n.d. Advantages and Disadvantages of Insurance. SmallBusiness.chron.com, [online] Available at: < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantage-disadvantage-insurance- 39117.html> [Accessed on 9th April 2014] Read More