Massachusetts has among the strictest cannabis regulations in the United States. Since 2015, we have helped more than 80 cannabis facilities open successfully in Massachusetts, with integrated security, fire, video, access control and environmental monitoring systems that have always passed state and local inspections.
The holidays are behind us but winter is here for a little longer. As your company progresses through the new year, it is important to include winter safety topics as part of your next workplace meeting. Certain health and safety risks are elevated in winter and your team needs to be informed about what you are doing – and what they can do – to avoid illness and injury.
Take a look at these four major winter safety topics you should bring up at your next meeting. A little time spent in these areas now can pay off big time in terms of employee health and happiness.
There is no doubt that in the last year the security landscape has changed for New England businesses as well as businesses across the globe. 2020 brought with it an upheaval of long-held business practices, forcing many companies to rethink the way they operate in order to survive. Greater reliance on technology was the immediate and natural response, but this came with a series of security issues such as increased phishing and malware scams that threatened many companies.
This rise in cybersecurity threats has pushed security tech companies to devise new or evolved ways to combat cyber and physical security bad actors. As we enter 2021, there are several clear high-tech security trends that have emerged. Let’s take a look at a few of the major ones that are expected to radically change how businesses operate in the future.
As a New England business owner or manager, you probably have questions about security that you weren’t sure how to ask. Here we have assembled a list of common, reasonable questions to help guide you in the future as you evaluate new (or existing) security solutions.
New England boasts the most well-educated workforce in the nation, yet productivity is still an issue – as it is everywhere in the United States. It is imperative for companies to find a way to increase employee engagement, and decrease stressors, pressures, and distractions that lead to a lack of productivity.
One of the best ways to do this is by implementing a stronger commercial security infrastructure. These added measures will fortify your business against wasted hours, employee distrust, and other productivity stealers. The following four tips show you how to use commercial security to increase productivity among your employees – across all areas of your business.
Upgrading School Security Systems
As a school administrator, are you wondering how to respond to new threats such as COVID-19 when you reopen your facilities? Besides the usual risks (vandals, thieves, intruders and potential shooters), administrators must now factor in hygiene and cleanliness protections (surveillance and monitoring may assist with these efforts).
The upside is that school buildings are less occupied and quieter than usual because of the pandemic. This provides the opportunity to get large projects done with less disruption, including bigger and more ambitious security infrastructure upgrades than would be possible during a normal summer season.
Businesses Reopen: Consider High Tech Protection
Idling New England business owners and managers look forward to opening up to the public once again, but COVID-19 regulations bring challenges and risks.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has imposed a variety of restrictions on how businesses must operate to ensure workers and customers are protected from infection. Violations could result in fines and closure.
More customer-facing businesses, such as retail or restaurant operations, face special new challenges. There are rules around social distancing and the need for everyone on the premises to work masks, and so on. This requires completely new processes for security and safety.
Reopening Your Business? Check Your Security.
Idling business owners are still awaiting the opportunity to reopen, both here in New England and across most of the country. When these businesses finally come back online, cash and inventory will be flowing again — enticing potential burglars.
Given all the other challenges businesses face, besides the lost time and revenue, protecting future revenue should be a priority. Now is a good time to think through the safety and security processes involved in ramping back up your business’ physical location.
Are you a New England business owner looking to protect your operation with an electronic security solution? If so, you will save yourself time, money and potential loss by doing due diligence in your search upfront.
You’ll need to evaluate your specific needs first. Do you want an electronic alarm with high resolution camera surveillance? Perhaps you also need 24/7 monitoring service? No matter what solution you choose, you need to select a reliable security vendor/service provider.
Why Security Systems Are Important
It’s wonderful when integrated security systems work as intended and limit losses for a business. According to a local news story in Brockton, Massachusetts, a triggered alarm in a seafood store led police to apprehend a suspect on the premises. When officers arrived at the scene, “they encountered a man wearing a ski mask next to a trash bag filled with items from inside the business.” Police made an on-the-spot arrest.
Similarly, also in Brockton, police interrupted the robbery of a pharmacy last June after a telephone alarm was triggered, says one press account. In this case, the alarm company also had surveillance cameras on-site. “The alarm company then called police to report glass had been broken at the store and they could see, through remote surveillance video, a man inside the store near the pharmacy.” The police apprehended the man, who was hiding in the locked pharmacy.
In both cases, alarms prevented the suspects from escaping with their ill-gotten goods. These examples show real- time security systems can help stop crime in its tracks.
We’re fast approaching International Data Privacy Day: January 28. This event, hopefully, will spur businesses and individuals to think about just how safe their data is — and hopefully, take action to address any protection shortcomings.
Here in New England, it’s also an excellent time to assess our own data security. Regrettably, as the National Cyber Security Alliance points out, millions “are unaware of and uninformed about how their personal information is being used, collected or shared in our digital society.”
As this blog just recently noted, the risks of cyber/web crime are going up, with hackers and other similar criminals using ever-more powerful techniques and technologies against us. According to the “Boston Business Journal,” in 2019, the Bay State alone saw 605,000 of its residents have their private data exposed by breaches. That is up by roughly a third from 2018, when 443,000 Massachusetts citizens were affected.
Commercial and Private Data Dangers
As individuals, we face many risks caused by hackers or by our own revelations through social media platforms and the like. If our data is vulnerable anonymous identity thieves can victimize us easily. They can break into a less-than-diligent retail chain’s server to steal our credit card number and make purchases on our dime. This is bad enough.
However, some individuals and businesses also hold other people’s data — such as client or patient Social Security information or other identifiers. These organizations may also face legal repercussions for failing to take proactive action to protect all third-party data.
Massachusetts law dictates any data breach of third party data must be reported to state agencies, and to “any consumers whose data is at risk.” This can damage your professional reputation and lead to loss of income, among other negative results.
