January 27, 2003—The UK construction industry suffers enormous losses as a result of the theft of equipment and materials, and damage by fire, on construction sites. An estimated 600 million to 1 billion were lost because of equipment theft alone from construction sites across the UK in 1997. More than 24,000 items of mobile equipment were stolen that year with only a 5-10% recovery rate (motor vehicles have a recovery rate of up to 70%).
A large proportion of such losses can be attributed to inefficient or even non-existent security. The Foundation for the Built Environment (FBE) has published a report on how some of these losses occur and how they can be prevented through effective planning and management.
The report is based on a comprehensive review of site security including case studies of varying build types—science park, transport link, office block, and gas station. In all of these it was clear that security, crime prevention, and asset protection were not considered particularly important. No specific security budgets were included and in most cases the emphasis was on the contractor to “sort it out.”
Lessons learned from the case studies are combined into guidance on policies and procedures for construction site safety and security, and guidance for on-site practice. The report, Construction site security and safety. The forgotten costs! is available for purchase from the Building Research Establishment (BRE) Bookshop at 020 7505 6622.
