When most people think about security risks for large companies, such as manufacturing or production plants, they tend to think of cyber-attacks. Don’t get me wrong – there is a great deal of trouble lurking around out there in cyberspace and you have to be very aware of it. You have to take preventative action to ensure that you do not end up with any troubles with a cyber-attack. However, protecting your company needs to go much further than that. There are hidden dangers lurking within the automated plant.
Understanding The Dangers
It is important to understand the dangers of a plant that is either completely unmanned or that has very few people on the property at any given time. First, machinery can fail and misfire. This can result in anything from an electrical fire to an explosion. If no one is there – how will the proper emergency services be called? Also, a plant that is sitting there, virtually vacant, is much more likely to be broken into and vandalised. Equipment and supplies can be damaged or stolen. The property could be set on fire. How will you stop this? How will you know that the police need to be called?
One of the best things to do is to have your automated plant set up with a reputable security and monitoring company such as Nortek Security & Control. Make sure that you are checking out all of the options for security because you simply can no longer leave your unmanned automated plant alone and hope for the best. You have to prepare for the worst and by doing that – you may actually be much less likely to find yourself ever having to deal with the major problems that you would if there was not any real security protection.
With the help of the best possible company that you can find, you should be able to have a sensor-driven system put in place. This will give your unmanned plant the around-the-clock monitoring that is needed in order to truly ensure that it is protected at all times. Not only will you love this service, so will the insurance company. After all, the better protected your plant is, the less likely it is that you are going to have to file any major insurance claims in the near future. With that in mind, you might even want to get a hold of your insurance company to inquire about a possible discount for the type of security systems you are putting in place. Even if it is a small discount, that is just more money that you can sink back into protecting your automated plant.
Other Protections Needed
Once you have taken the appropriate steps to protect the unmanned plant from physical dangers, you will want to go ahead and turn your focus to the cyber-crimes that can happen. While they may be less likely to happen, you still need to make sure that you are considering them to be a real possibility. After all, so many plant owners find that it is the one thing that they did not prepare for that ends up being the biggest problem that they encounter.
This is not something that you can do on your own, no matter how much you know about computers. You need some intense cyber protection because the cyber criminals of today’s world are so advanced that they are already preparing to beat some of the newest security systems. This is why you want to make sure that the company you go with for your cyber protection is going to be one that is always working hard to improve their systems and that will update your level of cyber security as new advancements are made.
It should be easy to see why it is vital that you are taking the extra steps to secure your automated plant. While it might seem like a lot to do, it is certainly worth it when you consider all of the benefits that your company receives from having a fully automated plant.