According to a 2009 study published by the Australian Institute of Criminology, theft and vandalism cost construction, transportation, and other industries a significant amount of money each year. The investigation interviewed 7,014 builders and the findings were alarming.
*Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
39% of residential builders were affected by theft or vandalism and had more than one instance per year. With the risk of theft and vandalism rising as staff and annual turnover increased.
65% of theft victims and 66% of vandalism victims had experienced more than one incident, and events were more prevalent at night and on weekends.
19% had experienced theft alone, 7% had experienced vandalism alone, and 13% experienced both theft and vandalism, with the risk of incidents increasing as the building or construction sites drew closer to urban or CBD areas.
24% of victims of theft and 17 % of victims of vandalism had incurred indirect financial expenses as a result of these offences. The mean amount of indirect losses incurred of theft was $1,873, and $8,568 for vandalism, while the median amounts were $500 and $400 respectively.
Nearly one-third of theft victims stated that the most recent incident of theft had involved some forced entry and tended to take place at the final stage of construction. The most frequently stolen items from building sites were raw materials (61%), while the most commonly targeted expensive items were white goods (17%) and heating/water systems (15%). Residential builders with an annual turnover of $1m or greater were more than three times more likely to experience theft or vandalism.
The Introduction of a Cutting Edge AI System to Combat This Problem
As a result of an increase in theft and vandalism in the construction, transportation, and other industries, it became apparent that there was a need for a completely self-contained, easily deployed, and entirely monitored security solution that could deter and identify potential criminal activity, thus giving birth to the ICU Solar-cam.
According to James Harrison, Display Building Manager for Metricon Homes “Over time we have tried different products from different companies. However, we found we were still being broken into and those other products were failing to deter theft. The ICU Solarcam cameras, on the other hand, look like a serious piece of hardware and appear very intimidating. The image quality is the best I have seen on this type of equipment for both day and night videos. As a result, ICU Solarcam has been part of the Metricon business for a very long time.”
Mr Harrison goes on to explain, “The cameras have been extremely effective due to the flexibility and portability of the design. They are very visible and if activated, floodlights, flashing strobe lights and an audible voice message means that the intruders quickly turn around and leave”
Mark Darmanin, Senior Building Manager, Metro West Region for Simonds Homes relates a similar experience. “We tried a number of other security products in the past but the footage was never acceptable. Based on our experience, the ICU Solarcam product really is second to none”
Mr Darmanin goes on to say, “This reduction in theft has a major impact on our profitability. In the past, claims valued at less than $5000 were not passed through to our insurance company. This has meant that Simonds Homes has had to carry the cost of these incidents. Beyond the simple financial cost, there were also expensive time delays associated with having to order new equipment as well as paying tradespeople to do the repair or replacement work. To have eliminated these costs from our projects is a major bonus. Since Simonds Homes began using the ICU Solarcam system on our sites, we’ve had zero incidents of theft or vandalism. What more could we ask for.”
How The Solarcam Technolgy Works
The ICU Solarcam system is a self-contained, high-definition CCTV system that can record still images and videos and send them to a number of devices in full HD resolution. The system’s solar panels, PV (Photo Voltaic) charge controller, and battery are all incorporated so that it can be set up almost anywhere with little effort or expense.
Among several other locations, the ICU Solarcam is ideal for deployment in areas like construction and building sites, underground car parks, parks and gardens and inside buildings where wiring is impossible or too costly.
The system works using 3G to provide a fully wireless solution. WATCHDOG, an in-built function for checking 3G connection availability every minute, is used to verify continuous connectivity. Thus ensuring that the in-built back to base monitoring is active and operating as expected at all times.
Another one of the ICU Solarcam’s distinguishing features is the ICU web portal, which allows users to access all trigger events immediately and also supports pre/post-recording capabilities, along with full HD 1080 video and audio recording.
The system has on-board storage for digital stills and video capture, as well as full cloud server back-up to ensure that all data remains intact, regardless of conditions in the field or damage to the system on-site.
The combination of two-way communication capability and an LED floodlight to record people and objects in full colour (even at night) allows security personnel to notify offenders before potential theft or damage occur, saving construction site developers and other locations a significant expense.
Element Security’s 24-hour Monitoring Centre
Using CCTV analytics the camera detects disturbances. Subsequently, the onboard AI determines the incident differentiating between weather disturbances, vehicles, animals or humans.
In the event of a suspicious incident, an onboard siren and floodlight are activated. Within seconds footage is uploaded to the cloud and the 24/7 security monitoring control room for immediate inspection. If the activity is deemed legitimate the matter is escalated to the local police and the site contact.
The benefits of using the Element Security Remote Site System:
- Cost-effective: The Element Security Remote Site System is extremely cost-effective and easy to deploy and manage, requiring very few resources for installation and ongoing maintenance.
- Rapid Deployment: Can be deployed for any site or event with virtually no downtime compared to traditional video surveillance solutions.
- High Quality & Reliable Coverage: The ICU Solar-cam is a high-quality camera with full-colour night vision capabilities and can be installed in any location from the CBD to the bush.
- Remote Accessibility: All events are recorded and stored on a cloud platform where authorised users can access them remotely via the web portal or smart device with 3G/4G.
- Save time and avoid annoying phone calls and push notifications for unimportant occurrences at inconvenient times, as all footage is reviewed by Element Security’s monitoring control room first.
- Save on the costs of employing a security guard to monitor your site.
- Minimise liability by protecting personnel and assets at all times.
In Conclusion
It is important to have access to 24/7 security surveillance at remote sites and construction projects. The ICU Solar-cam provides a low cost and reliable solution for all day and night site monitoring so businesses can be confident they are protected around the clock.
Contact Element Security for more information.
t: 1300 325 276
