How Often Should Your Business Change its Locks?
As a business owner, it is vital to ensure that you have adequate locks on your premises at all times. Adequate locks give you peace of mind and security.
It prevents burglary and unauthorized entry into your facility. When running a business, one of your goals is keeping the premises secure.
Locks are not like other building appliances that have scheduled maintenance.
You don’t change them after using them after a particular time or date.
Since there are no specific timelines for changing locks, there are certain incidences that should prompt you to change your lock.
Below are guidelines on when you should change your locks:
1. Employee Turnover
If you have several employees in your business, your locks become a source of concern.
That is because you can not be so sure of how many of your employees have unauthorized duplicate keys.
Even when you can boast of stringent management, it is difficult to keep track of keys as employees increase in number.
Also, when you have so many employees, if there is an unauthorized entry, it will be challenging to know who had access to your premises.
This is especially true if you hire outside companies to maintain your building, like cleaning company.
For this reason, it will be appropriate to change your keys often. You can also consider other alternatives like non-duplicate security locks.
2. Type of Locks
If you are using standard locks that are easy to duplicate, you will have to be changing the keys often. That is because you can not be so sure if someone has reproduced your keys and when it took place.
We recommend that you change your locks.
A preferable option is digital locks or high security lock.
With digital locks, all you have to do is to change your codes anytime you feel like updating your security.
3. Wear and Tear
Over time, the locks may get damaged and eventually fail.
You should replace your locks if they are getting sticky, worn, rusty, tarnished, damaged, or showing other visible signs of wear and tear.
We recommend this because damaged locks are a severe security weakness.
It can be difficult for you as the owner to open and access your business premises, and they can also be easy to break or pick.
If you are experiencing these, you should change your locks immediately.
The best option to prevent frequent wear and tear is to use high-quality rustproof keys.
4. Disgruntled Employees
It is not uncommon to have disgruntled employees; some resign unhappily from your business and others you lay off. A disgruntled employee can harm your business.
You can never be sure if they have duplicates of your keys.
Sometimes they may want to seek revenge. They can burgle into your facility and steal or destroy things.
For this reason, we advise that you change your locks whenever you have any disgruntled employees. It will save you from unauthorized access and also give you peace of mind.
5. Misplaced Keys
Misplacing your keys can be worrisome. You can’t be sure if someone stole them or if it just fell off your pockets. It becomes so bad when you have a lot of spare keys, and your employees have them too.
In this instance, the possibility of misplacing keys increases.
You should not overlook this issue even when you later find the misplaced key.
That is because you have no idea where the key is and there is also the likelihood that the key got stolen.
Someone can also duplicate your keys and later return them.
Your only guarantee to security when you misplace any key is to change the locks.
6. After A Burglary
Did you have an incident of burglary? That can be very traumatizing.
But even when the burglary was unsuccessful, the criminals may have damaged your locks while trying to pick it.
Damaged locks can be easy to open; they can also prevent legitimate entry.
Once you experience any form of burglary (whether successful or not), there is a security breach and we suggest that you change your locks.
7. Relocation
If you just relocated to a new property, we recommend that you change your locks.
That is because previous occupants may have forgotten to return all the keys.
Even when they return all the keys, they could have had some duplicates with other people.
So to avoid the risk of unauthorized entry and also have peace of mind, always change locks when you move into a new apartment. Better safe than sorry.
8. Renovation
During renovations, often you give a spare key to the contractors for easy access to the building when you are not present.
The contractors may also have employees who have access to the keys as well.
There is no guarantee that the contractors or their employees have not duplicated the keys. That doesn’t mean that your contractors cannot be trusted, but it is a security precaution that you should change your locks after a renovation.
The bottom line
When your business locks are functional, you have security and peace of mind. You can only be sure that your locks are functional when you take the necessary precautions by changing when needed. Consider hiring a locksmith for your business to make sure your locks are secure and premises are always safe.