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Articles
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PLAYING IT SAFE
Maintaining the safety and security of your exteriors.
By Kevin Dent
Since the events of September 11,
2001 and some of the more
recent natural disasters, safety
and security have become major considerations
for facility managers. By
maintaining the safety and security of
your properties’ exteriors, you can not
only avoid potential litigation from
injuries on-site, but also build customer
trust and loyalty and drive away
possible criminal activity.
Unfortunately, if a customer does
not perceive that your location is safe,
they are likely to shift to another retail
location, regardless of the security
measures you may have in place.
According to studies from the
American Research Group, many
shoppers, regardless of gender, avoid
shopping at night due to a fear of
crime. Therefore, the less safe your
store appears, the more likely you are
to lose profits after dark and the more
overwhelmed your daytime resources
will be.
LIABILITY CONCERNS
By failing to adopt certain safety
and security measures on-site, many
retailers are leaving themselves open
to customer and employee injuries
that can lead to expensive lawsuits and
litigation. In today’s litigious society,
facility managers must be overly aware
of site security and customer safety.
From violent crimes and robberies to
slip-and-fall injuries, the number of lawsuits and their related liability
costs have seen a dramatic escalation.
In fact, each year accidental falls send
more than 1 million Americans to the
emergency room for treatment and
millions of dollars are awarded to victims
of crimes taking place on properties
with insufficient security.
With these numbers in mind, the
main question emerges — what steps
should the facility manager be taking
to protect customer and employee
safety, not to mention the company’s
bottom line? While there are a number
of measures that should clearly be
taken on your properties’ interiors, the
exteriors of your sites are a necessary,
yet often overlooked, concern. From
the landscaping that directly surrounds
your retail location to the lighting
and design of your parking lots,
every element of your exterior should
be inspected for potential safety or
security hazards.
LANDSCAPING LAYOUT
Landscaping serves a number of
functions across locations, regardless
of whether it is a commercial, industrial,
educational or residential property.
Exterior design creates an eye flow
and aesthetic appeal, as well as determines
traffic flow and defines space.
Furthermore, the specific vegetation
used in landscaping can hide unattractive
assets, provide privacy, accent a
view or property features, supply shade, retain or block heat and wind,
limit erosion and provide a sound barrier.
Despite the functional uses, however,
landscaping can also create a
number of safety-related issues if
improperly designed, installed or
maintained. Overgrown ornamentals
and shrubbery can create hiding
spaces, damage the building, harbor
pest infestations and block visibility.
As a specific example, one particular
facility manager admitted that his
retail property had been burglarized,
more than once, due to site vegetation
that was obscuring the building from
street view, providing a convenient
wall of privacy for covert activity.
With proper design and maintenance,
however, this landscaping can function
to create some privacy and block
street-level noise, while still allowing
for better visibility. Tips to help reduce
landscaping-related safety and security
risks include:
- Avoid large hedges and overgrown
plants that could allow someone to
hide behind them.
- Keep trees and bushes near the
building well-trimmed and the ground
underneath clean to prevent building
damage, infestations and hiding
places.
- Professionally maintain large trees to
reduce the potential for damage in high
winds, or falling limbs and debris that
can harm customers or their property.
- Opt for low-growing, compact
shrubs which improve visibility, cost
less and require less maintenance.
- Defining your space with boundary
limitations, such as fences, help keep
out unwanted visitors and provide customers
with a perceived safety.
- Consider thorn-bearing plants to
prevent access to sensitive areas.
- Use hardscaping and walkways to
clearly define traffic flow, and ponds,
fountains and similar assets as blockades
to deter unwanted entry.
- Be sure debris is cleared from footpaths
to avoid any slips or falls.
- Follow a routine maintenance
schedule.
IRRIGATION INSPECTIONS
Your landscaping maintenance
schedule should also focus on any irrigation
systems in place. Broken irrigation
heads have been known to create
hazards for unsuspecting pedestrians,
and a broken system can cause flooding
and damage to surrounding assets.
It is also important to ensure that your
irrigation systems are properly winterized
to prevent damage during freezes,
and then inspected the following
spring to check for any incidental damages.
PARKING LOT & PATHWAY PROTECTION
As the first and last aspect of your
store that a customer sees, your parking
lots are an often underestimated
element of curb appeal and safety, and
tend to be the location of most
injuries. Similar to landscaping, it is
both the design and the maintenance
of your lots (and other pathways) that
affect your customer’s sense of security
on your premises. Safe ingress and
egress are of utmost importance, and
the following tips can help ensure it:
- Implement a sweeping schedule to
keeping lots free from debris and clutter.
- Be sure debris and leaves are
removed from pathways and sidewalks.
- Immediately fix potholes, cracks or
uneven areas in lots and pathways,
and maintain a schedule to inspect for new damage, especially after the winter
months.
- Ensure all oil spills are promptly
cleaned.
- Inspect all bumper blocks for cracks
or unsecured tie-down rods.
- Make proper use of signage for traffic
and flow control.
- Keep lot striping fresh and identifiable.
- Implement a comprehensive snow
and ice plan during the winter to
schedule routine and prompt snow
and ice removal.
- Have salt or sand available for icy
patches.
- Allow plenty of space on the sides
of walkways and sidewalks for “push
zones” during the snow season.
LIGHTING THE PATH TO SAFETY
Proper lighting around your stores’
exteriors can not only enhance the perceived
safety of your site, but also
accentuate certain property features.
As always, lighting should be professionally
installed and maintained to
ensure safety and security. Some lighting
tips include:
- Lighting should be uniform; excessively
light or dark spaces create hiding
spaces.
- Lights that are too bright or too
high can blind customers or annoy
neighbors.
- All steps and walkways should be
well lighted.
- To prevent shadows, light from
more than one direction.
- Switches, connections and fixtures
should be checked regularly for any
damage.
- Place lighting underneath railings,
benches and stairs to help reduce accidents.
- Avoid lighting between trees in
parking lots and beneath shrubbery as
the effectiveness of the light will
decrease as the plants grow.
THE NEXT STEPS
So where do your properties stand
in terms of safety and security? The
best way to determine the answer to
this question is to conduct an audit of
each of your sites’ exteriors. You may choose to do this in-house, or to bring
in a team of professionals, such as an
exterior services management (ESM)
company, to help identify any potential
hazards. Make notes about each
aspect of your properties, including
building orientation, ingress and
egress, traffic patterns, landscaping,
parking lots, irrigation, snow and ice
removal, lighting, fencing, signage and
all pedestrian walkways. You may also
want to walk your property at night to
identify further safety risks, such as
lighting concerns, hiding places, areas
to highlight and visibility from the
street.
Once you have identified potential
problem areas, you and any professionals
you choose to involve can
establish a list of procedures and maintenance
schedules to minimize risk. If
your budget is an issue, you may want
to prioritize your list by the projects
that are most important to resolve
first, and then move along to other
solutions that are less expensive but
enhance the perception of safety. Keep
in mind that while some maintenance
or installations may seem costly, the
value is evident when compared to the
million-dollar lawsuits that are being
awarded!
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