Commercial Real Estate - Onsite Safety

How serious of a problem is safety in commercial real estate? The answer really depends on you: Your preparation goes a long way to protect yourself, your business, and the tenants in the buildings you manage.

Direct to Commercial - Stay Safe Onsite

It is the greatest fear of every commercial real estate professional and tenant — safety issues that threaten you, your clients, or your fellow employees. These issues can arise from a slew of potential threats; a masked gunman, an unexpected accident, a piece of equipment that malfunctions, and the list of potential threats is extensive.

Tragically, many incidents have occurred, leading to real personal safety threats. However, commercial real estate professionals can take a series of safety measures to better protect themselves.

Commercial Real Estate Safety Issues

Unfortunately, we live in a dangerous world, and many serious safety concerns exist at commercial properties.

Making matters worse? The current economic circumstances. The highs and lows of these volatile economic times and rising interest rates mean businesses are getting more stressed, and employees are becoming more frantic. These challenges may lead to significant pressures that can result in compromised safety.

Despite a wide range of advances in consumer protections, significant issues persist. These includes:

• Fire or other hazmat situations in commercial real estate buildings may have industrial or light manufacturing components. Multi-alarm fires are common occurrences in large commercial spaces, with such events happening daily.^1,2
• Equipment accidents can endanger staff, potentially immobilizing them and leaving them unable to call for help or assistance. These accidents are even more common in urban or crowded areas, where accidents involving nearby vehicles or pedestrians are far more likely.³
• Mass shootings can come from disgruntled former employees or other random attackers. In these situations, quick action is required by all present, and getting emergency help to the problem as quickly as possible may limit the damage and save lives.⁴ 

Tips for Tenants

Thankfully, there are many safety tips individuals can enact onsite to increase their safety. For example, having speedy access to safety personnel and understanding that their property management team takes security seriously.

These tips include:

• Office teams should draw up safety plans and regularly practice safety drills, including fire drills, evacuation drills, and active shooter drills.
• Staff should be trained on preventative actions that they can take to enhance safety. Staff should also know what to do and who to call in dangerous situations.
• Employees should secure offices and doors locked unless leaving them unlocked is necessary.
  
• Tenants should deploy security equipment and recording devices appropriately.
  
• Staff should ensure that they always have access to call for police or fire help. While having landlines or cellphones is unquestionably essential, it may not be enough, as safety situations may arise in which personnel may be unable to reach their phone to call for help. In these cases, a one-touch system that can immediately alert 911 and others in the office should be used.

Ready to Increase Your Onsite Safety?

Apartment Guardian's Onsite Safety Devices are ready for deployment. You may contact us or book a meeting with me today to understand how our devices serve to increase onsite safety.

Deploying our one-touch devices and recommending them to your tenants can protect your staff, clients, and the properties you manage.

Contact us today to set up a phone call and learn more about how we can enhance your and your entire team's onsite and personal safety.

References:

https://www.cleveland19.com/2022/06/22/fire-breaks-out-overnight-storage-building-clevelands-west-side/
https://www.wbtv.com/2022/06/20/firefighters-battle-2-alarm-commercial-building-fire-northwest-charlotte/
https://pasoroblesdailynews.com/truck-crashes-into-commercial-building-in-paso-robles/135993/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/us/shooting-orange-california.html