Construction sites are hunting grounds for criminals

Renovation and construction sites are becoming a breeding ground for theft and criminal activity.

According to SAPS, reported criminal activity is usually more rife for households neighbouring on construction sites.

Clive Humphrey from ADT security central region, said security at building sites should be an important priority for builders and contractors.

“It is a common method for criminals to blend in with building staff on busy construction sites in order to go about their crimes, unnoticed.”

Fareed Hoosen, operations manager at Pexco Security and Training, emphasised the importance of working with a reputable construction company. He said it is important to work with a company that is well-known.

“Get to know the construction sites and familiarise yourself with it. Get a night guard to work there. You sometimes get construction sites that just pick up workers on the side of the road; so it is important that the workers have identity documents with them.”

Hoosen urged residents living close to renovations sites to get involved in terms of protecting themselves and reporting suspicious behaviour.

He and Humphreys gave some advice for contractors or owners to follow to avoid falling victim to criminals:

• Assign one person to keep track of temporary or day labourers so that outsiders can immediately be identified.
• The full identity details of each person working on the site must be recorded.
• Consider a fence around the property and using security lights at night if your building work will span over a couple of months or longer.
• Keep the site neat so that anything out of place or missing will be noticed immediately.
• Plan the delivery of building materials close to the time of their use so that they do not stand on-site for too long.
• Valuable or high-cost items must be delivered only if they can be installed on the same day as secured.
• Advise your security service provider or neighbourhood watch that there will be building activity at your property and make sure that site managers have emergency contact numbers on hand.