Maintaining Your Security System – Things you should know

Everything in life needs a bit of TLC now and then.

Maintaining the security of your property and personnel is likely to be a cornerstone of your business continuity plan… while maintenance of your security system may not have been on the list!

Like a car, your security system needs regular maintenance to ensure that it is operating effectively and not going to break down when you need it most.

A security maintenance plan is an affordable and easy way to make sure your security and access control systems are running optimally, ensuring that your property is secure and your staff are immediately aware of threats to their wellbeing.

What is involved during a Preventative Maintenance? Testing and cleaning of all detection and surveillance devices Testing and cleaning all audible/visual warning devices Testing of power supply and all back-up batteries Ensuring the system is reporting to the monitoring station correctly Testing and realignments of perimeter beams (where applicable) Checking of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) & Surge protection units. Adjustments to housings and focusing of cameras where necessary Checking date & time workings of digital surveillance recorder and alarm system Testing of CCTV playback capabilities and recording capacity Confirming remote accessibility via PC & Smart device viewing Updating of Emergency After hour details and alarm User PIN codes if required Assessment of any security coverage issues and potential risks

Why is maintenance important?

Now let’s think about the environment in which your system is installed.

There are a lot of moving parts and points to consider which can make the maintenance question overwhelming which is why we provide a full assessment for you – first.

We provide scheduled preventative maintenance plans to ensure that your systems are maintained throughout the year for your peace of mind and allows us to document your systems information and spot any potential future issues before you’re vulnerable.

Here’s an example

“A business has 15 cameras, some of these are installed at a height where there is a need for height access equipment to get to them.
Others are more easily accessible. The camera system goes back to a communications room where the recorder is located, and where footage is stored.
This business is a busy heavy machinery depot where there are millions of dollars worth of machines parked overnight; and moving during the day… it’s a dusty gritty place to be.
How often should maintenance be done?”

This is a good scenario to examine, because the environment plays a factor, and there are cameras installed at heights which require special equipment to reach.
How important is the equipment in your yard and the potential health and safety risks that come with it if it isn’t monitored?
Most businesses would answer, medium to high.
By having the cameras cleaned regularly we can ensure a better-quality image capture, especially overnight.
By checking the firmware versions are always up to date we can ensure the system runs without issues in preference to an old version that isn’t compatible any more.
By checking the retention of footage or recording capabilities we can ensure we have enough storage available to see an incident that happened 3 weeks ago or more… 
This could be a good example for a 6 monthly maintenance plan to cover your site.