Introduction
A privately owned three-location retail sales establishment that specializes in automotive parts and accessories needs to upgrade its security levels within its businesses. As a security director, I have been tasked to develop a single all-inclusive security and loss prevention plan that will be applicable to all three stores. Such a plan is important in ensuring the safety of the establishments in terms of loss due to internal and external factors.
As the paper reveals, this comprehensive security and loss prevention plan will cover in-house and outdoor elements such as loss prevention, applicant screening, and peripheral domestic threats, among other areas. As a security prevention officer, I will consider risk management significant in tackling risks and losses to assure profitability and property and personnel safety for the company. The paper suggests the need for the company to ensure it has a prudently managed safety policy, including a motivated and well-managed workforce. Below will be key considerations.
The RLPP Development Process
This risk and loss prevention plan (RLPP) will form a significant part of the overall business plan. The plan will specify the need for collaboration between the management and employees. The management will allow employees time to go through the plan outlining their responsibilities in preventing theft and loss and risk issues in the company. Local contractors and other interested groups will be approached to share their views, ideas, and contributions regarding the best practices during their involvement with the company.
Afterward, the plan will allow for random visitations to any of the three establishments to ensure that unusual things do not take place at odd hours of the business. Finally, it will call for open forums with field employees concerning theft and security issues in various sectors of the company to identify potential problems.
Security Policy
The security plan worksheet will cover the outline of company procedures to be followed and a checklist for a preliminary security audit. The plan requires the hiring of security guard services to do monitoring of all business worksites. In addition, video surveillance systems will be installed. Besides having a list of employees who have access to sensitive areas, identification cards will be given to each employee, including visitors’ cards that will be issued to any guest who accesses the establishments. To guarantee fluent security, a good relationship with national law enforcement units will be encouraged. Hence, the officers will have occasional drive-bys patrol around the facility premises during off hours to identify any projects with risk issues. Disposable cameras will be availed to security guards to take photos of any unusual activity.
Management of Inventory
To increase the possibility of recovering any lost property, detailed equipment records will be made part of accounting functions and fleet management. The records will be readily available to law enforcement units. A precise and detailed inventory of all equipment in the three establishments and their specific locations will be maintained, detailing delivery dates and anticipated profits. All units will be recorded based on the respective manufacturers’ serial numbers or PINs, names, and model numbers.
All facility capital equipment will have to be registered to the law enforcement national database. Besides, they will acquire decals for deterring theft and a signal to potential thieves that the equipment has been decaled. Still punch, etching tools, or die stamping will be used to assign PIN, serial numbers, and owner applied number (OAN) in all equipment in more than one place on each equipment. One place will be easily seen while the other will be hidden. This strategy will be helpful when proving ownership and/or seeking equipment identification.
Retail Loss Prevention
The National Retail Federation survey report indicates that American business owners incur more than $34 billion losses due to employee fraud, shoplifting, theft, and paperwork errors. Therefore, as an officer in charge, my RLPP has to capture the following areas to reduce theft.
Internal Theft Prevention
Internal theft can include merchandise robbery and/or an employee or friends’ collusion to engage in practices that deprive the facilities of their assets. It involves loss of inventory and merchandise for sale. A register at the point of sale can also lead to conversion frauds such as discount theft or refund. Such fraud can cause simultaneous loss of inventory and money on a single occasion.
For any new employees, background verifications of their conduct will be made by inquiring from previous employers. Related criminal conviction records, any false information submitted by the applicant, and job references and history will be captured in the plan. Policy enforcement and close supervision will be conducted because theft cases emanate in circumstances where supervision laxity prevails. Regular audits and inspections of inventories and bookkeeping will be done. At all costs, individuals who will be associated with paperwork errors and erroneous entries will be dealt with.
External Theft
External theft can include break-ins, shoplifting, robberies, and/or other practices that emanate from outside influence. To curb this issue, programs will be established to educate employees about enhanced customer care service, potential loss signs, theft awareness, and business protection against external loss. This process will entail training employees on the strategies of preventing shoplifting, situation handling, robbery consciousness, and safety.
Employees will be required to engage any walk-in customers by inquiring about their needs, including escorting them to where they want to be served. Spaces between displays will be widened, and floor fixtures shortened near entrances for a clear view of customers’ activities to be maintained with little obstruction. Mirrors will be installed throughout the stores to allow guards to keep watch of potential shoplifters and/or activities of customers while at the stores. Warning signs will be erected regarding shoplifting consequences to let potential thieves be aware of the implications of their actions (Greggo & Kresevich, 2011).
Security Systems
The company will have to contract a security firm to carry out the installation of security systems at the three facility establishments. Besides, it will establish a security office where all information regarding security issues will be collected. In addition, the firm will conduct training on employees in handling and operation of security gadgets at their respective locations. Security gadgets that will be considered include:
Video solutions
These gadgets will comprise remote video services entailing surveillance cameras. The gadgets will be installed in all blind spots and areas of high risk within the facility stores, compounds, and along fences. The strategy will offer protection over vandalism, shoplifting, and employee theft. In addition, digital video recorders will be availed to security personnel to document incidences for evidence purposes.
Access control
The access control system will be erected at entrances and exits to offer protection at doorways and sensitive places within the facilities (McConnon, 2014). The move will eliminate security hurdles and any costs that are incurred during the changing of keys and locks when employees leave. An electronic access control system will help in ensuring employee safety and protection of value assets.
Intrusion Alerts
These gadgets will include burglar alarms, intrusion alarms, and monitoring devices to provide dependable and effective protection from crime, holdups, robbery, vandalism, and any unauthorized entry. In addition, the alarm intrusion alert system will be eService-enabled to allow security personnel to monitor the facility remotely using web-enabled gadgets or mobile phones (Christin, 2016). One identified service provider would solely carry out installation and maintenance.
The party will be mandated with providing highly updated and innovative technology. He or she will have a hi-tech tracker system in the form of a text message or email that alerts him or her when the technician will arrive, including his or her identity (Global Data Ltd., 2016). A security-monitoring center will be established. The center will handle technical assessment, service dispatching, alarm monitoring, and technical support services. All service remote security details of the three-standalone establishments will be connected to a single monitoring and emergency center with on-site and off-site back-ups. The center will provide data analysis, delivery, and access to assist the management in quick decision-making in case of any risk issues (Ursin, 2012).
Internal Investigations
When fraud, theft, or any complaint has been received, investigation procedures will be available. The goal of the investigation will aim at uncovering facts on merits, considering legal obligations, and confidentiality to protect the reputation of the individuals and the company. Viable remediation measures to prevent and avoid liability and claims will be incorporated in the RLPP. The investigation goals will be consummated with fairness, respect, integrity, and impartiality.
After the confirmation of claims that warrant investigation, a careful consideration will be sought regarding the personnel to carry out the inquiry. In case the situation is complex and critical time, multiple investigators will be assigned the role of analyzing the issue. Authority positions will be given to the complainant and the accused to avoid biased perceptions in the investigation. After assigning investigators, document review will be conducted.
Any data, whether in the form of paperwork or electronic will be put in safe custody for evidence purposes. The investigators will be required to find key witnesses before commencing by interviewing the complainant, followed by the accused, then the key witnesses and others. A guide outline for investigation will factor in company policies regarding such incidences, chronology of important events, key witnesses’ identities, background and relationship status of the accused, witnesses, complainant, and the accused person’s employment information, identification of new leads and other witnesses, and relevant and related information claims.
After gathering evidence, the investigator will be expected to give recommendations regarding his or her verdict. The verdict will then help in taking informed, balanced, and merited remedial measures. The measures will include internal disciplinary action policy or referring the matter to further external investigations (Manning, 2010).
Fraud Prevention
The prevalence of frauds and identity deception is high in business settings. Therefore, unless measures are taken to prevent this situation, the company is bound to incur losses. Guidelines to deal with fraud will include sales personnel conducting ‘know your customer checks’ for any customer they are dealing with and/or confirming identities of contractors, suppliers, and equipment (Al-Saadoo & Al-Hamami, 2015).
Fraud warning signs will also be observed such as a change in contact details and address of customers, yet the said customer has not communicated such details and/or transportation of equipment to and from countries prone to frauds. The signs will further include instances when funds are requested to be sent to different accounts other than the normal accounts of customers, contractors, and suppliers and urgent sales advice of orders and sales opportunity.
In some circumstances, incidents such as generic email addresses and customers’ comments of lucrative incentive and work to be availed when consignment delivery is successful will be checked. In case of such suspicious fraud incidents, employees will be required to report to security management office while at the same time being barred from doing any further transaction until otherwise advised.
Risk Management
Risk management can be defined as the practice of understanding and managing potential threats that are inevitable to an entity with the view of preventing delayed achievement of its goals (Al-Saadoo & Al-Hamami, 2015). Any organization has potential risky events, which can influence its operations rate and/or costs that are involved in achieving its objectives. Therefore, risk management involves understanding the risks, their nature, threats, and eventualities (Berthiaume, 2015). This information will be prudent in the RLPP when it comes to establishing mitigation measures to combat the risks.
Risk Management Cycle
Risk management cycle is a collaborative process that involves identification of risks, assessment of their impacts, and action prioritization aimed at controlling and reducing the dangers. Below are the collaborative steps that the RLPP will emphasize.
- Instituting a risk management group with set goals;
- Identifying risky areas;
- Ensuring risk scale assessment and understanding;
- Having a strategy for risk response;
- Carrying out strategy implementations and responsibility allocation;
- Monitoring and implementing of control suggestions;
- Process review, refining and revisiting.
A risk management committee will be tasked with coordinating and facilitating the entire process of risk management. Members will include, but not limited to, a security director, a non-executive director, an internal auditor, a finance director, heads of sales and planning, operational staff members, a treasurer, and line managers. This committee will be meeting regularly. It will be entitled to coming up with a strategy to tackle the identified risks, promoting assessment and risk understanding. It will carry out system procedures and reviews to identify risks while doing assessment of fraud risks and formulating the best applicable control measures.
All risky areas will be exposed by developing risk model, which will assist in knowing threat evolution in the organization. The process will aim at ensuring that the risk is defined carefully and detailed to enable additional analysis. The analysis techniques to be employed will include brainstorming, process mapping, questionnaires, interviews and workshops, peer discussion, and comparative studies.
After risk identification, impact assessment and occurrence probability will be made by applying priority development parameters and analysis, both qualitative and quantitative. The process will be done keeping in mind the business financial viability, reputation and commercial and political sensitivities. After the identification and assessment of risk, risk management committee will identify risk response strategies.
The response shall include risk avoidance, risk retention, risk transfer, and risk reduction strategies. In terms of strategy implementation and responsibility allocation, the selected strategy will be assigned to the responsible personnel for implementation. Each action will be assigned suitable operational managers with a set of guidelines and objectives. Cooperation will be encouraged through effective communication, action plans, seminars, and budgetary allocation and adjustments.
Implementation and modification of the identified controls will be an on-going process due to the dynamic nature of business and associated risks because of internal and external influences such as new technology and market change. The committee will monitor the effectiveness of controls. The last step will be to review and improve the plan and communicating to the management team for decision-making.
Emergency Management
According to Business Wire (2015), disasters can happen any time without warning. Therefore, this situation calls for preparedness. In case a disaster cannot be mitigated, its effects will be contained and minimized to avoid a state of panic, confusion, and loss accrued to its occurrence when preparedness measures are not in place. Emergency incidents such as natural disasters and human calamities such as fire strike tend to affect small businesses due to poor plans of business continuity. To arrive at an effective emergency management plan for this business, the RLPP will consider several questions:
- How prepared is the business?
- What procedures are already in place that can be used in case of emergency?
- What magnitude of emergencies is likely to be witnessed?
These basic questions will lead to the guidelines for effective emergency response plan. The risk management committee will double up as an emergency administration commission. The emergency response plan (ERP) will entail potential hazard mapping and zoning, preparation of evacuation routes, emergency exits, evacuation procedures, and emergency assembly points and accountability.
Evacuation procedure and emergency response manual will be pinned at various points in the facility buildings and strategic points. The RLPP will determine the necessary conditions for evacuation, draw evacuation routes, and/or ensure clearly marked emergency exits. In the event of power outage, emergency lighting will be installed. The emergency exit and evacuation routes will be wide, clear, and hazard-free. Signs will also be created. After making the plan, employees will be educated and trained. Emergency drills will follow. Important emergency supplies, emergency transportation, and employee conduct will be considered in the RLPP.
First aid training will be carried out to employees to help one another as a way of medical response. After a successful evacuation, employee support schemes will be established to cater for cash advances, day-care, care packages, salary continuation, and crisis counseling
Safety in the Workplace
Effective management of employees’ health, safety, and risks in the workplace will involve activities such as hazard identification to find out the potential causes of harm, risk assessment that will help in comprehending the nature of risk following the underlying hazards, scope, and occurrence probability (Cravens, 2015). Risk control will entail effective control measures that are practicable, reasonable, and applicable in all circumstances. Lastly, the RLPP will review the measures to guarantee a workable control and prevention plan.
Conclusion
From the discussion, it is evident that the security and loss prevention plan is an ongoing process that entails the contribution from stakeholders, management, and employees to be successful. Internal factors depend on the company’s reputation and the staff while external factors may be human and natural. The paper has presented a RLPP that guarantees proper inventory management, retail loss prevention, internal theft prevention, security system installations, and internal investigations.
External threats can be minimized through fraud prevention and the establishment of external threats countermeasures and emergency management plan in case of natural disasters. Therefore, a well-maintained and followed security and loss prevention plan will be crucial in ensuring the safety of business and its personnel.
Reference List
Al-Saadoo, G., & Al-Hamami, W. (2015). Handbook of Research on Threat Detection and Countermeasures in Network Security. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
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Cravens, K. (2015). Workplace Culture Mediates Performance Appraisal Effectiveness and Employee Outcomes: A Study in a Retail Setting. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 27(2), 1-34.
Greggo, A., & Kresevich, M. (2011). Retail Security and Loss Prevention Solutions. Boca Raton, FL: Auerbach Publications.
Manning, G. (2010). Financial investigation and forensic accounting. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
McConnon, E. (2014). Security for All, Development for Some? The Incorporation of Security in UK’s Development Policy. Journal of International Development, 26(8), 1127-1148.
Ursin, C. (2012). Store Security Technologies Continue To Improve. Beverage Dynamics, 124(4), 8-11.