Photo via Philippe Put
The recent tragedy at the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo magazine has given thousands of people reason to consider the security of their workplace. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report that between the years of 2006-2019, there were 551 workers killed each year due to workplace homicide, with 33% of those being from people that the victims personally knew.
While this doesn’t mean that you should stop going to work, it does create a need for a significant evaluation of the risks in the typical workplace. Even if you’ve never had a problem with your organization before, who’s to say that your building is completely safe?
Fortunately, that’s where a private investigator (PI) can be the perfect addition to your work team. A PI can act as an outside set of eyes to ensure that each level of your safety procedures is perfectly constructed to ensure a secure workplace, despite potential threats.
Private Investigation Means Better Safety Measure
A private investigator can ensure your staff’s safety procedures like no one else can. As a direct hire of your company, he or she can attempt to get through your security measures in the same way a potentially threatening visitor might. You’ll be able to gain valuable information from a PI visit, such as:
- How employees react to strangers in the building.
- Whether doors and windows are secure.
- If employees can recognize and report strange behavior or people.
- Whether vital information, systems, or areas are secure.
When the visit is complete, your PI can create a debriefing report or seminar that will teach your staff how to handle potentially threatening situations.
Private Investigation Means Safer Staff
Photo via Phil Whitehouse
Another area that a PI can help you with is the safety of your staff. While many offices do a background check before hiring staff, a PI can give you an in-depth look at your employees’ current criminal records.
For example, if an employee was hired with no criminal record, how would you know if he or she had incurred several DUIs during the course of his or her employment? This kind of infraction could mean danger if coupled with employment frustration or heavy machinery management. That’s why regular background investigation is a key element of ensuring that your office is safe and secure.
Private Investigation Means Secure Data
Finally, keeping your staff safe goes hand-in-hand with keeping your data secure. A disgruntled employee who has access to another person’s private information or home address can quickly become deadly.
By hiring a private investigation firm like Lauth Investigations International, you can determine the level of safety provided by your information management systems. Are your financial records tamper-proof? Are the passwords for your vital systems situated so that former employees can’t access them? A private investigator can evaluate each of your data storage devices to ensure that frustrated employees can’t cause irreparable damage to your organization’s important information.