When it comes to construction site security, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. Every jobsite has its own unique challenges, from protecting valuable tools and building materials to ensuring worker safety and preventing unauthorized access.
“There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.”
That’s where Scott Dowd, TrueLook’s construction security solutions engineer, comes in with over seven years of experience helping construction companies enhance their security measures through custom-designed solutions.
In today’s article, we’ll dive into Scott’s expert insights on improving construction site security, drawing from his experience designing comprehensive security systems for thousands of projects across the construction sector.
Whether you’re struggling with after-hours security breaches, upgrading your surveillance systems, or seeking better ways to maintain safety on your jobsites, Scott’s practical advice and deep understanding of the industry will help you create a more secure environment for your workers and assets.
Why Construction Site Security Matters
Construction site security requires a thoughtful, customer-focused approach that goes beyond cookie-cutter solutions. Each project has unique challenges and requirements that require security professionals and project managers to implement targeted measures that effectively protect assets, workers, and equipment without impacting operational efficiency.
- Equipment Theft Prevention: Construction sites face significant risks of theft, with heavy machinery, tools, and building materials representing high-value targets for criminals. Equipment theft leads to project delays and substantial replacement costs that impact the bottom line.
- Vandalism Protection: Unauthorized access during off-hours often results in vandalism and property damage. These malicious acts come with costly repairs and cleanup that set project timelines back days or even weeks while insurance claims process.
- Safety and Liability Mitigation: Proper security measures prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing dangerous areas of construction sites. Unauthorized access increases the risk of accidents and subsequent liability issues, eventually resulting in legal complications and increased insurance premiums.
- Project Timeline Protection: Security breaches and resulting investigations cause significant delays to construction projects, impacting completion dates, contract obligations, and relationships with clients and stakeholders.
- Reputation Management: Construction companies that experience repeated security incidents face damaged reputations in the industry, potentially losing future contracts and affecting their ability to compete for high-value projects.
Implementing targeted security measures not only safeguards valuable assets but also demonstrates a commitment to worker safety and project efficiency. Through proactive steps and a mindful security plan, construction companies significantly reduce the risk of theft, vandalism, and unauthorized access.
Meet TrueLook’s Construction Security Solutions Engineer
I sat down with Scott Dowd, TrueLook’s construction security solutions engineer, to learn how to improve construction site security. Scott has over seven years of experience with TrueLook, working with numerous customers to design tailored solutions for companies like yours. He’s a TrueLook enthusiast at heart, jokes about “bleeding green,” and sports a TrueLook tattoo to showcase his dedication.
In his day-to-day role, Scott helps customers identify and address security challenges on the jobsite, designing customized solutions for every project. He closely partners with sales teams or internal experts to meet and exceed the needs of his clients.
Scott isn’t just passionate about his role with TrueLook; he exemplifies it with a penchant for problem-solving, working directly with customers, and the variety and creativity required for each job. He’s a creative talent who thrives on challenges and is happy to roll up his sleeves to get the job done.
In Scott’s own words, “I’ve reviewed thousands of site plans and worked with thousands of customers.” He continues to help the team grow and “Do the job that needs to be done, to make a customer feel secure that we are doing what we say we are going to do.”
Q&A with Scott Dowd: How to Improve Construction Site Security
Now that you have a good idea of who Scott Dowd is and his role within the company, we take a look at what he has to say about construction site security. Through our interview, Scott outlines several areas of jobsite security and how TrueLook meets the multi-faceted needs of the modern construction site.
Throughout our conversation, he mentioned several tools that TrueLook offers to make securing your construction site a breeze. These include remote live viewing, motion detection, and even TrueShield and TrueDeter, two complete systems that up your security posture with minimal effort on your end.
Q: What advice would you give to construction professionals looking to improve their site security?
There will always be commonalities that exist in every jobsite you set foot on. That doesn’t mean every project is the same, and Scott feels the same way as he gives some practical advice for improving your security posture.
During our interview, Scott said, “Not every project is the same. You may have a one-acre site that is a similar shape but is designed differently, so it’s going to require a special touch and a solution to give the customer what they need to protect that individual point.”
To that end, Scott mentions that it’s vital to work with someone who designs a proper solution for the security of the site instead of working with a cookie-cutter provider. That designed solution should incorporate a multi-faceted approach with solutions that have several benefits, like security, documentation, and deterrents.
Q: How do you approach understanding a customer’s unique security challenges?
Customers have unique challenges depending on the type of project they are working on. Scott’s approach to those needs is focused, as he said, “The goal is to meet with the customer, understand each project, its layout, and its design so that we can engineer a solution to best protect their assets, property, and the project itself.”
The customer-first approach allows Scott to design solutions that are specific to the project’s needs, and he does that through “multiple avenues from standard camera monitoring to our TrueDeter system that provides lights and sirens for deterrence on a project as well as our TrueShield offering, which offers talk down, lights, sirens, multiple cameras, battery backup, is tamper-proof, and includes monitored alerts, as well.”
These are tailored solutions; as Scott said, “Solving for X—finding the customer’s need and finding a solution to meet that need.”
Q: What features of TrueLook’s security solutions do you think make the biggest impact on jobsites?
Scott’s intimate knowledge of TrueLook’s customers and security offerings allows him to comment on the most impactful features. For example, Scott commented, “Most of my customers love the fact that we provide 24/7 security recordings from the cameras themselves.”
He went on to say, “This 24/7 recording access allows customers the capability to record not only in the event of an intrusion but also an accident or something that may happen on a jobsite that they can document. So, we provide them with up to 90 days of functionality and the capability to go back and fetch and review any of the recordings that our cameras have captured.”
In addition to having up to 90 days of stored footage, Scott mentions that the construction cameras (fixed, pan-tilt-zoom, and interior cameras) have remote live viewing and documentation features. This capability means project managers, as Scott said, “no longer have to travel every day or every week or even every month to a project site,” saving time and money when managing multiple sites.
Q: How does TrueLook make sure its solutions meet builder’s risk insurance requirements and other critical needs?
Thanks to supply chain issues, rising incidents of theft, high demand, and exploding costs, construction site insurance requirements are a constant worry for project managers. Scott comments on these requirements and mentions how TrueLook meets those demands.
In our interview, Scott said, “Our TrueShield system is designed and built to meet every one of the specs provided by the underwriter insurance documents that we have been provided in the past. We design each and every site and system to best protect the property, of course, but that includes designing a solution based on the customer’s needs.”
He continues with, “Then our internal team designs the internal or back-end process to help protect those sites with exclusion zones to best understand and monitor the project site without false alarms.”
Finally, he mentions that the TrueShield system “is designed with a battery backup, and if power is lost, we provide 20 to 22 hours of battery backup as well as tamper alerts. So, anytime tampering happens or power loss happens, alerts immediately are sent out so that be ideally rectified as quickly as possible.”
Scott caps the question off with insight about the battery backup: “But with the 20 to 22-hour backup, we provide 24/7 security recordings as a part of our offering on the monitoring side and send over those clips and alerting authorities.”
Q: Can you share specific instances when TrueLook’s technology helped prevent a security breach or save money?
Thanks to TrueLook’s multi-faceted approach, monitoring services, and standard features, several companies have real-world examples of how our solutions prevent and monitor security incidents.
Scott recalled an incident where a company caught footage of an unauthorized truck pulling up to a jobsite, loading up a front loader on a trailer, and driving off with the equipment. TrueLook’s footage was able to capture the incident and identify the vehicle’s make and model, allowing police to recover the equipment.
Another incident involved a subcontractor damaging completed work. In this situation, a truck drove over a slab of freshly poured concrete, leaving tire tracks (and additional work) for the crew. Once again, TrueLook’s footage captured the incident, identified who was at fault, and addressed the issue to recover damages.
Q: How do you see AI evolving the construction security landscape, and how is TrueLook integrating it into our solutions?
Scott also had some insightful words about artificial intelligence, stating that “AI plays a pivotal role in understanding when a site is active, who’s on-site, what’s happening, counting, what’s transpiring.”
He continued with a real-world example of AI’s features when he said, “If the contractor is supposed to have a sub that’s there every day, but they only show up three days a week. Ideally, AI will be able to provide that visibility of when they’re arriving, how long they’re on the project site, and being able to track the project progress as well.”
Concerning deliveries, Scott said that AI “will just give GCs and PMs great insight and detail on deliveries, and when materials show up so that they can go back and use that and say, we’re two days behind because a delivery was late on arrival. AI ideally is going to build in all of those metrics and data points, affording them additional capabilities with the data that they receive from our system.”
AI is also poised to bring additional features to jobsites within the next few years. These features include safety enhancements through wearable tech and delivery coordination through logistics algorithms.
Securing Your Site: Expert Advice You Can Trust
The construction industry faces unique security challenges every day, and having an expert in your corner can make all the difference in protecting your valuable assets and workers. Modern technology has revolutionized how we approach site security, giving project managers powerful tools like real-time monitoring and smart surveillance systems that work around the clock to keep sites secure.
Scott’s expertise provides invaluable insight into how you can improve your construction site security. To take your security posture to the next level, reach out to work with Scott and the TrueLook team for a demo of solutions that can protect your sites!
