More than half of small businesses experience shoplifting during an average year. Break-ins, vandalism, and other forms of crime can easily lead to thousands of dollars in expenses.
Because of these risks, security lighting is essential for your company. Besides deterring crime, the right lighting can protect your workers, lead to lower insurance premiums, and create a safer ambiance for your customers.
The Advantages of Security Lighting
By installing the right lighting in your business, you can enjoy a few key benefits.
Reduced Crime Levels
In one study, installing outdoor security lighting in key locations around a public housing complex reduced nighttime crime rates around 45%. As a general rule, criminals prefer to work in the shadows. Dark areas are easier locations for hiding from casual viewers, and it’s harder for security cameras to clearly capture the individual’s face. Because of that, many thieves choose to steal from darker locations.
Improved Customer Safety
As a business, you can’t afford for a customer to get attacked, robbed, or carjacked as they leave your company. The bad headlines can reverberate through your customer base, ruining your brand image and future revenue. By ensuring a well-lit building and parking lot, you protect your customers and your reputation.
Better Employee Protection
The cost of security lighting pales in comparison to the cost of a criminal attacking your on-the-clock workers. Outdoor lighting helps to improve employee safety as they walk to their cars after the shift.
Easier Day-to-Day Activities
Additionally, the right lighting makes carrying out your day-to-day activities a lot easier. From unlocking the office door to taking out the trash at night, good lighting keeps you from fumbling around in the dark. In turn, this benefit can also prevent employee and customer injuries. Over the long run, your lighting system can help you avoid workers’ compensation claims and customer lawsuits because of accidental injuries.
Lower Insurance Premiums
Because of all of these reasons, well-lit workplaces typically have lower insurance premiums. Your insurer knows that these workplaces are less likely to file a claim, which lowers your overall insurance costs.
What Are the Best Outdoor Lighting Options?
The right lighting for your company depends on your overall layout, whether you operate at night, the landscaping, and similar factors. Often, companies use the following lighting equipment to provide better nighttime security.
- Spotlights: This type of light is designed to quite literally cast a spotlight on signage, landscape features, and similar objects. You can use a spotlight to light up the company’s entrance or the business address, so first responders can easily see where they need to go in an emergency.
- Floodlights: When it comes to security, you can’t afford to skip out on your floodlights. As the name suggests, these devices flood your property with light so that criminals can’t hide.
- Step Lights: In addition to preventing crime, your workplace security should also focus on avoiding injuries and ensuring on-the-job safety. With step lights, you can light sidewalks and outdoor staircases so that people are less likely to trip.
- Wall Light Fixtures: With wall light fixtures, you can increase the amount of light around your building.
- Motion-Activated Lighting: These lights use motion sensors to spot movement. They still deter crime, but you don’t have to spend as much on your electricity costs.
- Ceiling Light Fixtures: Ceiling lights are great for illuminating parking garages, pavilions, and other covered areas.
It’s also worth remembering that security lighting is important inside your building as well. If a thief looks into your front window and sees that the cash registers are fully lit up, they’ll think twice before breaking in because they don’t want to be visible to passersby while they commit a crime.
Place Your Indoor and Outdoor Lighting With Care
Once you decide what type of lights you want, the next step is finding the right location to install them. Typically, you’ll want to have ceiling or wall lights near your entrances and exits to help employees safely reach the building. Meanwhile, spotlights are useful for guiding first responders.
You should also consider the location of your video cameras as you install your security lighting system. For the cameras to record criminal activity, they must be viewing an area that is adequately lit. Floodlights or ceiling lights are often great options for video monitoring systems, but you need to make sure they don’t cause a glare on the camera lens.
Get a Professional Review of Your Lighting System
At Mister Sparky, we have spent years working with local businesses on their indoor and outdoor lighting systems. Our top-rated electricians can evaluate your existing systems and design an effective option for your company’s needs. From timely services to licensed electricians, we do everything we can to deliver the best peace of mind to our customers. When it comes to your electrical safety, we don’t mess around. Don’t put up with any malarky, call Mister Sparky! Learn more about our security lighting services by reaching out to our team today.
