Industrial Protection
West Midlands-based Oldbury Aluminium Alloys is using event-driven CCTV technology to protect its two-and-a-half acre Halesowen premises against the ongoing threat of criminal attack.
The company currently employs more than 20 people and has been operating successfully in the West Midlands for some 12 years. Its move to a purpose-built Halesowen site three years ago was designed to allow the company to considerably upgrade its ability to refine aluminium from scrap metal into ‘added value' ingots.
Jonathan Gadsby, Oldbury Aluminium Alloys' Joint Managing Director, comments, "The nature of our business, processing valuable metal, means that we are an attractive target, so effective security is of paramount importance. Sadly, in the local area there is a high theft rate for ingots and also scrap metal. Without measures such as remotely monitored CCTV to deter them, in an industrial estate such as ours, hardened criminals and opportunists are more than willing to attempt to climb over a fence onto site and grab specific items - often stealing to order - and then selling them on for cash. In terms of scrap metal there are always some less scrupulous operators who are more than willing to melt down scrap with no questions asked."
The move to a new location gave the company the chance to look closely at its security requirements and remotely monitored CCTV was adopted as the best solution to provide all-important coverage when the site is shutdown overnight or at weekends.
The solution in place at Oldbury consists of cameras and detectors placed strategically around the site, linked by specialised transmission equipment to RemGuard's Remote Video Response Centre (RVRC). At the RVRC specially trained operators provide event-driven monitoring of the area.
Remote Response
According to Mr Gadsby, an incident last summer underlined the value of the remotely monitored CCTV. "A gang broke into our site during the night by climbing an external fence. Thankfully, two individuals were spotted by operators at the RVRC, who alerted the police and one of our keyholders. The police were then able to bring their dogs onto our site and track down and detain one of the intruders at the scene. Without prompt action in this case we could have faced considerable losses and disruption to business."
With the criminal threat to industrial sites as high as ever, it is likely that more and more will follow Oldbury's example and adopt this intelligent event-driven approach to out of hours security.
