Using The Best Locks Is Not Enough To Prevent Break Ins

If you have already considered your business security requirements and are ready to buy security hardware, you may prefer to go straight to an online security hardware store now.

This page is about how to make your business safe from burglary?

Experts have said that physical security is 90% of burglary prevention. If you have fortified external doors, installed the best locks on doors and windows and made other possible entry points more secure, you will have gone a long way to make your business more secure from burglary.

Your business security will be further enhanced if you install an alarm system, and post signs saying that your property is protected by the alarm system. You should also leave internal lights on overnight and install external lighting at possible entry points, at the side and rear of the property, to make your property more visible from the outside.

Installing business security measures of this nature, minimizes your risk of being burglarized. It will be harder, and it will take longer, for an intruder to gain entry to your premises.

The objective of these business security measures is to convince a burglar that the risk of being caught, while burglarizing your business, is too great. A burglar needs to enter and exit your property easily and quickly in order to avoid being caught. Time is a key element for burglars. The longer and more difficult it is for them to break in, the greater the risk to them of being caught. The burglar will more likely pass up your premises, and look for one where the chance of success is greater, if you improve your security as outlined.

So exactly what security hardware should you purchase to protect your business from burglary?

The internet is awash with information and advice from police forces, and security organizations, from around the world about business security and how to prevent a burglary. The information that follows has been distilled from those sources.

Making your business secure involves more than just installing the best locks on the external doors of your premises.

Obviously an alarm system is a deterrent to a burglar, but before you address that you should consider the current state of security of your external doors and your windows.

You Need More Than The Best Locks To Make Your Doors Secure

Begin by checking the state of your external doors. Exterior doors and their frames need to be sturdy. There is no point in installing the best locks on a door that is not sturdy. In most forced entries, the burglar breaks in by either forcing the lock or kicking open the door.

Make sure that your external facing doors and frames are strong. Heavy and solidly constructed doors and frames provide the best protection.

The frame should be fitted with a heavy duty strike plate. The strike plate is the housing for the lock bolt or latch.

Use 3-inch screws to secure the strike plate to the door frame. Many strike plates are installed using short screws (an inch or less). A door can be easily kicked open if the strike-plate is secured with short screws.

Use long screws also to secure door hinges. This makes the hinges more secure. Also, be sure that hinges are not external facing.

All of your external doors need to be fitted with secure locks. More about security locks for doors will be found in the section below about best locks for doors.

All of the hardware mentioned will be available from a store that sells good security hardware.

Windows Will Not Be Secure By Just Installing The Best Locks

Next check the state of your windows. Replace loose or rotting frames. Rusting or weak hinges, latches, pins, screws, fasteners and bolts should be replaced.

For a burglar, the most vulnerable part of a property is the windows. The wooden parts of a window are prone to rot and swelling. The metal parts are prone to rust. Rotting wood and rust makes it easier for a burglar to break in to your property. Check the condition of each of your windows and their frames, and their hinges, latches, pins, screws, fasteners and bolts and get them repaired or replaced as necessary. Check also that screws and fasteners are not accessible from the outside.

You may also want to consider installing burglar resistant glass or break resistant acrylic or polycarbonate plastic windows. They provide better protection against intruders than the usual glass window. You will need to go to a specialist provider to obtain these windows.

Check that windows cannot be pried loose from their tracts from the outside. Windows should be fitted with blocking devices and anti lifting devices to prevent entry by a burglar. These are available from a good security hardware store.

Bars, grills or grates can be installed on windows that are infrequently used and that pose a security threat.

Every window should be fitted with a secure lock. More about security locks for windows can be found in the section below on best locks for windows.

Best Locks For Doors

Many doors are equipped with spring-latch door locks. These locks can be pried open easily by a burglar. The police recommend that you install deadbolt locks on all external doors, for optimum security. The bolt should extend at least one inch into the door frame.

There are two types of deadbolt locks – double cylinder and single cylinder. The double cylinder lock requires a key to open and close the lock from the inside and the outside. The single cylinder lock requires a key to to open and close the lock from the outside, but it opens and closes by a thumb turn on the inside. The double cylinder lock provides the best protection against a break in, but a single cylinder lock still provides good protection.

Two locks on external doors offers double the protection. The second lock could be a padlock.

Use long screws to install the security locks on the doors, for maximum resistance to break in.

You can purchase deadbolt locks of any of the leading manufacturers, from a store that sells security hardware or even a home security store.

Best Locks For Windows

Windows usually come fitted with latches and not locks. Latches can be easily jimmied. All windows should be fitted with the best locks. There are a wide variety of locks available for windows. The type to use depends on the kind of window you want to secure and what it’s made of. There are locks for wooden, metal and UPVC windows. There are locks for casement windows and there are locks for sash windows.

Key-operated window locks are reliable for security. You should be able to open all window locks with the same key. For ventilation purposes, the locks should be designed to lock the window in a partly open position.

The Security Sash Lock provides good protection for double hung windows. The Dual Screw Lock is also good for sash windows, because they bolt the two sashes together.

Casement windows need to be locked by securing the window to the frame. Be aware that many casement locks are screwed to the window, rather than the frame.

Deadbolt security locks offer the best protection for casement windows.

Use long screws to fit the locks to the windows to make the locks even more more burglar resistant.

Any good security hardware store, will have the full range of the best locks for windows.

You can click here to obtain the security hardware you require.