Effective perimeter protection is the first deterrent to theft. However, if your pharmacy perimeter is breached you also need an effective alarm system securing your pharmacy.

Note that not all alarms are created equal. To be effective, your alarm system should provide an alarm monitoring company with immediate notification of any forced entry, attempted forced entry, glass breaks, fire, or hold-up. The alarm monitoring company should then action alerts immediately, ensuring the appropriate emergency services are contacted. 

Factors that may impinge on alarm effectiveness include the quality of equipment, maintenance and support systems. The integrity of the company installing the system is also highly important. Do they understand your business and are they aware of the risks faced by a pharmacy?

In many cases you could be spending anywhere between $2,000 and $10,000. This is a significant investment in your business so it’s important to make it work for you.

To determine whether or not you receive adequate service from your monitoring company you may like to answer the following questions:

• Do you receive annual service checks from the security company?
• Has the company alerted you to the importance of display placement so that motion detectors are not obscured?  
• Does your system monitor the perimeter of the premises?
• Does your monitoring company put in place strategies for eliminating false alarms?
• How old are your sensors?  (Motion detectors deteriorate over time, losing both range and sensitivity.) 
• Are they tested regularly to ensure correct operation? 

Relying on the same security system installed a decade or more ago could be providing you with a false sense of security. At a minimum, your security company should:

• Provide you with a risk analysis of your business and the security measures most appropriate for you.
• Review sensor positioning whenever refits or refurbishments occur to ensure detection is not compromised. 
• Fix problems associated with false alarms, these should not occur. 
• Update your equipment periodically to ensure optimal performance.
• Inform you of any changes or improvements to security products.

Money and Drug Safes

Poor quality safes are a boon for offenders. They can be an indication as to where cash or drugs of dependency are stored and take only minutes to open.  In addition to alarms does your pharmacy have both a money safe and a separate drug safe that are ‘cash rated’?

‘Cash rated’ refers to the average time taken to penetrate a safe’s defences, not simply the physical cash holding capacity. Once you have selected the right safes make sure that the area where the safes are located is away from the public view and covered by a motion detection device and/or video surveillance system. If one drug safe is not adequate to store the quantity of drugs that the pharmacy stocks, consider purchasing a second one and locating this in a different area of the pharmacy.

Other internal security measures worth considering are:

• Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) to discourage theft from all sources.
• Limit the display and stock levels of targeted drugs such as pseudoephedrine products at your pharmacy.

Burglary is a risk that can never be totally eliminated but can be minimised if your pharmacy has an integrated security strategy from perimeter protection to security alarms and good quality safes.