How to keep your home business safe and secure

Courtesy of Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co.

If you have a home-based jewelry business, you know the importance of making security part of your daily routine. Not only are you protecting your livelihood; you’re also keeping your family safe. To help ensure your home business is safe and secure, Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co. offers these security tips. 

Step 1: Pay Attention to the Basics 

You can begin with a few simple modifications to help keep your home business secure:

• Operate your business from a defined location within your home. Choose a room that is separate from your main living area, dedicate that one area to your business, and don’t allow it to spread to the rest of your home.

• Lock all doors and windows even when you are home.

• Install high-quality locks on all doors and windows. A deadbolt lock is a good choice for a home’s perimeter door. This is a lock that cannot be opened by sliding a piece of plastic between the door edge and the doorjamb. UL-listed locks are recommended, as long as the door and jamb are of sufficient construction to support these devices.

• Although the lock is important in protecting perimeter doors, proper installation is critical because even the best lock is useless unless it is correctly installed. Contact a local professional locksmith to periodically examine your locks. For more information about finding a professional locksmith, visit the Association of Locksmiths of America.

• Properly safeguard all keys. Follow these tips from the Crime Prevention Council:

1. Don’t hide keys. Leave a key with a trusted family member, friend, or neighbor.

2. Keep a list of everyone to whom you give a copy of your keys.

3. Consider keys with protection against unauthorized duplication (i.e., patent protected).

• Install smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. Always keep a fire extinguisher near your soldering bench or small kiln so it is conveniently located in case you need it.

• Install proper lighting around the entire perimeter of the home, preferably motion-sensing floodlights mounted high enough to prevent tampering. Provide enough lighting to deter would-be burglars.

• Minimize shrubs, bushes, and other items that create areas for individuals to possibly conceal themselves close to your home.

• Use a post office box for mail and a cell phone as your telephone number.

• Avoid advertising the location of your home-based jewelry business, and don’t put a sign in front of your home.

• Install peepholes at proper levels in all exterior doors to allow all family members to identify who is at the door prior to permitting access. 

• If you intend to meet with customers at your home-based business, do so by appointment only. Be cautious about opening your door to unscheduled and unknown visitors.

Step 2: Choose a Reliable Burglar Alarm System

Now that you’ve accomplished the first steps in securing your home business, it’s time to choose a reliable burglar alarm system. Homes with an alarm system installed are far less likely to be victimized. Jewelers Mutual recommends you do the following to choose the most reliable system:

• Obtain quotes from a minimum of three different companies

• Have each alarm system company provide numerous quality references. Fully investigate each company and each reference.

• Ensure that only UL-Listed products and components are installed in your home.

Once you choose a well-known, qualified and reputable alarm system company, work with them to evaluate your home security. Be actively engaged with the company during all phases including installation, maintenance, servicing, and monitoring your security system. To make sure your alarm system is most effective, ask the alarm company to:

• Include a battery back-up power supply to maintain appropriate security coverage in the event of a power failure.

• Outfit all access points, including doors, windows, hatches, and scuttle holes, with appropriate anti-intrusion hardware and devices if they are not in place already.

• Cover common areas of the inside of the home with motion sensing devices that can be active during night hours while occupants are sleeping as well as when nobody is home. 

• Install audible alarms (sirens, horns, bells, etc.) throughout the main living area of the home, as well as outside or in the attic area near a gable or roof vent.

• Install an automatic communication transmission device to provide immediate notification to authorities in the event of alarm activation or a break-in at your home.

• Provide “line security” to ensure notification in case your system is compromised. Line security enables a system to monitor the integrity of the communication link between the alarm system and the monitoring facility or between the alarm system and the serving telephone company’s nearest switching center. Without line security, you do not have adequate burglary protection because burglars can defeat alarm systems by preventing the transmission of the alarm signal from your home to the alarm service company’s monitoring facility. 

Step 3: Ongoing Security Practices

After your burglar alarm system is installed, there are ways to make sure your system remains as effective as possible. Jewelers Mutual recommends that you:

• Provide each member of your family with his or her own individual access code.

• Never share personal access codes with anyone outside your home.

• Provide visitors or service personnel with a temporary access code that can be deleted when no longer applicable.

• Place alarm system decals on doors and windows in visible locations.

For more information about security tips for your home business, visit Jewelers Mutual’s website at JewelersMutual.com.

MJSA exclusively endorses Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company’s commercial and personal jewelry insurance products. To learn more about Jewelers Mutual’s coverages and to find an experienced insurance agent in your area, contact Jewelers Mutual at 1-800-558-6411.