Fall and winter months bring colder weather, longer nights, and new security concerns for property owners to take into consideration. One of these considerations is stairwell safety, ensuring the building’s stairwells are safe for visitors and residents. Your residential security team should regularly check the building’s stairwells to ensure their safety and incorporate seasonal concerns into their quarterly security plan.
Stairwell Safety and Security
Despite stairwells frequently being used by visitors and residents to access key building areas such as parking garages, back entrances, and garbage rooms, stairwells are often overlooked when it comes to a building’s security strategy. Guards may often need the stairwells to perform certain routes on foot patrols or access certain floors in apartment buildings to perform wellness checks on residents.
During cold and rainy months, stairwells attract vagrants seeking shelter, which makes residents feel unsafe. This is particularly relevant in condominium towers that have elevators, stairwells that may experience infrequent foot traffic, or stairwells that open into alleyways.
Security Challenges Unique to Stairwells
The presence of vagrants poses both security and safety threats, as unauthorized access can enable theft, vandalism, and drug usage. Vagrancy within stairwells can lead to congestion in the event of an emergency such as a fire, posing a serious safety threat. Stairwells may lack security cameras or experience security camera blind spots, which can entice vagrants. Additionally, concrete stairwells often experience issues with CCTV reception, inhibiting the ability of security guards to monitor them remotely.
Security Measures That Keep Stairwells Safe
Here are the top tactics residential security guards employ to keep stairwells safe:
1. Foot patrols
When CCTV monitoring is not available for stairwells, uniformed security guards will patrol the area on foot. During foot patrols, guards will check for the presence of vagrants, ensure the stairwell is free from litter and signs of vandalism, and ensure that any doors with street access remain firmly locked.
If a security guard encounters an unauthorized individual in the stairwell, they will calmly, respectfully, and safely remove them from the premises. At Blackbird Security, our guards receive extended training in peaceful de-escalation, enabling them to enforce rules in a safe and professional manner. Learn more about our advanced training provided through Blackbird Academy.
2. Access Control Monitoring
For stairwells that don’t have working CCTV cameras within their walls directly, security guards can monitor cameras placed at stairwell access points. Monitoring street-side access points ensures that only authorized individuals are entering the building and prevents unwanted access.
3. Reporting Maintenance Issues
Reporting maintenance issues is part of a residential security guard’s daily tasks, and stairwells are no different. While on patrol, security guards should check for problems such as broken lights, damaged doors, or obstructions around doors that allow unauthorized individuals to enter. Reporting these issues to building management ensures that repairs are made quickly, preventing potential safety and security issues.
4. Overnight Mobile Patrol Security
Vagrants may sleep in stairwells overnight, which poses a problem for residential buildings that don’t have a 24-hour security presence. To mitigate overnight risk, many residential buildings opt for overnight mobile patrol checks. These patrols are conducted by a security guard in a marked security vehicle and can be scheduled at random intervals throughout the night. Mobile patrols are a cost effective solution for buildings that don’t require or are unable to budget for an overnight static security presence.
5. Providing Assistance to Residents
Residential security guards build rapport with a building’s community and are available to assist individuals who may feel unsafe utilizing stairwells on their own. Security guards are happy to escort residents to their desired floors, offering a sense of security and confidence when navigating isolated areas.
Partner With Canada’s Best Residential Security Provider
Through regular patrols and vigilant monitoring, residential security guards keep building stairwells safe for residents and visitors. It’s important that your building’s residential security team consider stairwells when planning their fall security strategy.
At Blackbird Security, residential security is one of our specialties. We’re familiar with the seasonal challenges condominium buildings face and we’re experienced in servicing condos across Canada in major cities like Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton. Get started through the form below.
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