Written By: Brad Campbell | February 13, 2024
Small businesses of all types face numerous day-to-day security threats, and many business owners do not have adequate security measures in place to confront and mitigate these threats.
From forced entry and burglary to vandalism and storm damage, commercial security threats have the potential to cause devastating financial loss.
Because of this, understanding how to improve small business security is of the utmost importance for business owners.
By implementing the right security measures, small business owners can protect their property, merchandise, employees, and customers against a full range of risks, including damage, theft, and physical harm.
Almost all business owners worry about the threat of theft, but different forms of business theft aren’t the only potential threats to secure properties against. Here are some of the most common threats that can affect small businesses:
Forced entry and burglary are probably the most common small business security threat that business owners worry about, as they can (and do) affect businesses of any type, anywhere.
Commercial burglary involves the act of breaking and entering into a business with the goal of stealing valuable items. This form of breaking and entering is typically done at night, when businesses are closed and the lack of light and foot traffic makes it easier for criminals to hide.
While some commercial burglars prefer to target specific types of businesses, such as high-end retail stores, many criminals don’t discriminate — they simply look for vulnerable businesses to target and take whatever they can get their hands on.
The reality is that criminals know where to resell just about anything, from shampoo to electronics, so any type of small business is a potential target for burglary if it doesn’t have the right security measures in place.
Smash-and-grab theft is a type of retail theft in which the criminals have little to no regard for setting off alarms, making noise, or even being seen.
In practice, smash-and-grab thieves often target retailers during broad daylight with plenty of people around — they rely on speed and confusion to get away with their crime.
In a smash-and-grab theft, the perpetrators find businesses with expensive merchandise on display behind storefront windows or inside display cases to target. They then smash the glass protecting the merchandise using hammers or other heavy tools or objects, grab as many items as they can, and run off to an awaiting getaway vehicle.
In the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in a specific type of organized smash-and-grab theft known as “flash robberies” or “flash robs.”
In a flash robbery, a large group of thieves (sometimes as many as dozens) descends on an unsuspecting small business and shatters windows and display cases, making off with tens of thousands of dollars (or even more) worth of goods.
The thieves then split up, running in different directions to multiple getaway vehicles parked in various locations outside, so even if one or two of the criminals get caught, many more of them get away.
If you’ve watched the news in the past few years, chances are you’ve seen at least one instance of civil unrest that has turned into violent rioting and looting.
Unfortunately, wherever there is civil unrest, there will always be criminals looking to use the chaos to hide their activities and get away with looting small businesses.
During a riot, looters often target retail stores and other businesses, both big and small, smashing out their storefront doors and windows to gain unauthorized access and making off with whatever they can grab.
Not only can rioting and looting result in thieves clearing out your small business, they also typically cause tremendous amounts of damage to your property itself, resulting in even more devastating financial loss.
For small businesses in certain parts of the country, particularly in Florida and other southeastern states, man-made threats aren’t the only cause for concern — mother nature also regularly poses a huge threat.
We’re talking specifically about hurricanes and strong windstorms, which both have the potential to send storm debris flying at high speeds into your business’s doors and windows.
If a piece of flying storm debris causes a glass door or window to break, it leaves your business exposed to further wind and water damage, which can destroy valuable equipment and merchandise and result in very expensive storm damage remediation and repairs.
We, unfortunately, live in a society where an active threat scenario can unfold anywhere, anytime, even in or near a small business.
An active threat scenario often involves an active shooter entering a place of business looking to harm those inside.
Even if a business isn’t the primary target, active threat incidents unfolding nearby can still pose a serious risk of harm to employees and customers, making it vital for businesses to prepare for such worst-case scenarios.
Even though many small businesses are open to the public, there are still steps you can take to reduce the risk of harm to those inside when an active threat is present nearby.
If you look up small business security tips, you’re going to see lots of articles suggesting you do things like the following:
These are all excellent tips, and are important components of any comprehensive small business security system.
However, there’s one thing security measures like alarms and cameras don’t do: create a physical barrier to protect vulnerable doors and windows against security threats and actually keep the bad guys out.
An intruder or a piece of flying storm debris will make short work of unprotected commercial window glass, which shatters incredibly easily upon impact.
Even strengthened and tempered safety glass, which is one of the most common types of commercial glass used for business’ doors and windows, is easily broken by high-force impacts.
For the highest level of physical security for your small business, we highly recommend protecting commercial glass doors and windows with retrofit Riot Glass® or ArmorPlast® security glazing.
Riot Glass and ArmorPlast security glazing use specific formulations of laminated security glass, polycarbonate security glazing, and other impact-resistant thermoplastics, making them the most robust security glazing solutions out there.
Because of the use of polycarbonates, acrylics, and other plastics, these security glazing sheets are virtually unbreakable, even at non-ballistic levels.
Being a retrofit security solution, this glazing can be secured into or onto almost any existing framing system using retrofittable framing adapters, so there’s no need to remove or replace the existing glass.
The glazing then acts as an essentially invisible barrier over the existing glass, protecting it from all manner of impacts, whether man-made or caused by mother nature.
When retrofitting isn’t possible or desired, Riot Glass and ArmorPlast can also be used to replace the existing glass.
We recommend installing Riot Glass or ArmorPlast over all vulnerable glass doors and windows that an intruder could potentially break to open a door from the inside or climb in through.
When this is done, even the most determined forced entry attempts using sledgehammers or other heavy hand tools will be met with frustration, as the storefront security glazing diffuses the force of the blows and bounces them off.
In fact, even if riddled with bullets, containment-grade (non-ballistic) Riot Glass and ArmorPlast won’t significantly diminish in strength or allow easy access.
This means that any type of Riot Glass or ArmorPlast security glazing can be used for access denial during active threat scenarios.
That being said, if you want an even higher level of protection, Riot Glass and ArmorPlast glazing shields are available with various levels of ballistic resistance and are capable of withstanding attacks from many different common firearms.
Additionally, some types of ArmorPlast are tested and certified for use as storm panel and hurricane shutter alternatives in hurricane zones, including Miami-Dade County.
There’s no such thing as a magic, one-size-fits-all security solution for small businesses — but Riot Glass and ArmorPlast are about as close as it gets.
Installing this security glazing protects against a full range of potential security threats that any small business might face.
It’s still important to implement other components of a comprehensive small business security system, but the security glazing does the heavy lifting of keeping intruders out and protecting doors and windows from all impact-related threats.
With the right combination of physical security measures, like Riot Glass and ArmorPlast, and deterrents, like security lighting, alarm systems, and surveillance cameras, securing any small business against a full range of threats is an achievable goal.
Besides the high level of security you can achieve with Riot Glass and ArmorPlast, the best part about these solutions is that they provide protection without changing the appearance or functionality of your glass doors and windows.
In other words, your commercial glass will still allow high levels of natural light transmission and visibility, maintaining curb appeal and a comfortable working or shopping environment inside.
In short, Riot Glass and ArmorPlast fortify small businesses without making them look fortified.
Small business owners can protect their businesses, including the people and property inside, against all the common threats we discussed above simply by retrofitting windows and doors with Riot Glass or ArmorPlast security glazing.
Not only is this an extremely effective solution, it’s a very cost-effective one too. Because of the possibility of retrofitting, installing Riot Glass and ArmorPlast is far more affordable than some alternative solutions out there.
Contact us today for a free consultation, and we’ll help you find the perfect security glazing for your goals and budget!
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
