One of a business owners biggest priorities should be the safety of her employees and customers. An area that sees a high-risk of robberies, assaults, and abductions is a parking lot, and every business has one. Parking lots can be dangerous, especially at night when fewer people are about and there is less visibility. There are a few easy things that a business owner can do to increase the safety in a parking lot: install cameras and street light posts, and hire security personnel.

1. Install Security Cameras
Installing security cameras should be one of the first steps in increasing parking lot safety. This not only benefits the people who work at and frequent the business, but it can actually protect the property and the merchandise at the business as well. The presence of cameras alone can be enough to deter a criminal, and if it doesn’t, camera footage can be used to help find the suspect.

2. Add Large Outdoor Lighting Fixtures
Part of the reason parking lots are so dangerous is that they’re dark at night. Criminals have plenty of places to hide and shadows to duck into, so installing commercial outdoor lighting fixtures is a good step toward making it safer. Commercial lamp posts should be installed near entrances and should be timed to automatically turn on at dusk.

3. Hire a Security Staff
Commercial lamp posts can help light a parking lot, but if there’s no one there to see a crime in progress, it can be hard to stop one. Hiring a security staff — even if it’s just a few hours a day to make sure that people leave the business safely — can make a big difference for increasing the safety of a parking lot.

Do you have any other tips for increasing safety in parking lots, especially at night? Feel free to let us know in the comments section.