Seven security sins

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/2007

Trailers full of product disappear from loading docks. Warehouse workers steal inventory and sell it to support their drug habits. Receivers collude with truck drivers, disguising theft as normal operating procedure.

Blue-collar crime is on the rise, and it costs U.S. companies billions of dollars every year, says Barry Brandman, president of Danbee Investigations (www.danbeeinv.com), a firm specializing in investigating corporate losses.

Brandman’s presentation at the recent Warehousing Education and Research Council (www.werc.org) conference warned against committing the “seven deadly sins of logistics security”:

• Making it too easy for dock personnel to work in collusion with truck drivers. The most important people in your shipping department, Brandman says, are the people you trust to match product going out the door with shipping manifests.
• Relying on safeguards that don’t work. Alarm systems don’t deter internal theft, he says, video surveillance only works if it’s properly monitored, and few guards are trained to recognize employee theft and collusion.
• Being too reactive. Don’t wait until you’re victimized to think about security.
• Failing to weed out workplace substance abuse. “If you have a drug problem,” says Brandman, “you’ll have a stealing problem.”
• Not regularly checking your checkers. When there’s little oversight, those who check inbound and outbound shipments can become negligent or dishonest.
• Making it hard for concerned employees to report security problems. Brandman suggests hiring a third-party to run an anonymous tip line.
• Hiring high-risk employees. By failing to conduct thorough background checks, companies unknowingly hire people with drugs and crime in their backgrounds.