Theft and loss of equipment is a significant problem for businesses. It can affect their ability to operate, reduce productivity and have impacts on their bottom lines.
A recent Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation article (Norwegian) on theft in the construction industry reported that equipment loss effected nine out of ten companies surveyed. These businesses were documented across the country, and their impact amounted to tens of thousands and sometimes even millions of kroner in losses. Unfortunately, these thefts often also go underreported to the police due to their regularity.
What, if anything, can be done to prevent loss and theft on job sites with expensive tools and various types of heavy work equipment? Here are five tips that can help to reduce the risk of equipment theft.
Some instances of theft or loss occur due to lack of employee oversight or the decision of employees to take items for themselves. Other instances involve theft by external parties, fuelled by an increase in the demand for certain tools or equipment on the secondhand market.
Both categories of theft are made more likely when companies have a poor oversight of equipment in their tool crib. It is important to know what equipment is in the crib, which pieces are most valuable, which most commonly go missing, and when the risk of this is the greatest. Understanding where the risks lie enables companies to better manage equipment and put measures in place to prevent theft.
Keeping employees up-to-date on security procedures is the first line of defense against theft. It’s vital that tools and equipment be easily accounted for at the end of each shift or day. Using a digital program such as Onix Tool Store makes keeping all this data easily accessible to everyone. Combined with RFID technology, Onix Tool Store helps businesses easily keep track of the status of their equipment and issues automatic email notifications when tools and equipment have been checked out of or returned to the company’s tool crib.
Watch a demonstration of Onix Tool Store to get a clearer understanding of how this technology works.
Easily identifying each unique piece of equipment with an RFID tag means all equipment is accurately accounted for with current and historical data. Keep a full overview of who has what equipment, and who has previously had access to that equipment. This removes any uncertainty and room for individual items to go missing. Each piece of equipment can be tracked based on employee usage and accounted for after every shift or day.
Using RFID technology, as available with Onix Tags, can also open up the possibility for unattended tool cribs with the same security level as having a person document check-in and check-out. When levelled-up with Onix Checkout, it is made physically impossible to leave a tool crib without recording the use of equipment thanks to the use of a secure equipment scanning room at the entrance to a crib.
Relying on paperwork and spreadsheets to prevent theft on job sites has some very serious limitations. Paperwork can easily be lost, damaged or falsified and spreadsheets are cumbersome, outdated and ineffective. Both methods easily lend themselves to data entry errors too, whether intended or otherwise, which can increase the risk of equipment loss or theft.
Read about how Bilfinger switched from paper to digital here.
Theft in the Norwegian construction industry is widespread and unnecessarily drives up costs for an industry with sensitive profit margins. While 90% of the Norwegian companies surveyed report equipment loss or theft, being aware of and addressing risks can have a strong positive impact.
It is advisable for companies to decrease their risk exposure to loss and theft by tracking their tools and equipment inventory with digital tools such as Onix Tool Store. Onix Tool Store helps build job site awareness, uses RFID technology, maintains up-to-date records of all equipment and is less risky than using paperwork or spreadsheets.
If you are interested in learning more about reducing equipment theft or about Onix Work or Onix Tool Store, talk to one of our experts: