Tennessee moves a lot of freight. Memphis is one of the country’s major distribution centers, and Interstates 40, 65, 24 and 75 carry trucks between Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga and everywhere in between. That makes warehouses, cross-docks and truck yards some of the busiest properties in the state, and some of the hardest to secure.
SecureOne has provided contract security since 2002, and our Tennessee office is in Knoxville. Logistics security guards are on our Tennessee service list. Here is how I would plan security for a Tennessee warehouse or distribution center.
Start with the gate
Most problems at a distribution center start or end at the gate. Trailers leave with the wrong load, drivers arrive without paperwork, or someone simply walks in behind a truck. A gate officer who checks seals, bills of lading and driver credentials, and logs every vehicle in and out, closes most of those gaps.
Ask who will write the gate procedures and how the officer will learn them. At SecureOne, every officer gets site-specific training before the first shift, and our in-house Director of Training builds programs for each industry and facility.
Watch the yard and the fence line
Trailers parked overnight, empty dock doors and long fence lines are easy targets. A posted officer cannot watch all of it at once. Mobile patrol officers can check the yard, the fence and the dock doors several times a night on a schedule that changes, and remote camera monitoring or a solar camera trailer can cover the corners nobody walks.
Plan around shift changes
Many Tennessee warehouses run two or three shifts. Shift change brings a rush of people through the employee entrance and the parking lot, and it is a common time for theft to slip past. Ask whether the security plan accounts for those windows, and whether the officer at the employee entrance knows who should and should not be there.
Get records you can use
When a load goes missing, you need to know who was at the gate, which trailers were checked and when. Our officers file reports, photos and patrol checks in Vision Insights, our real-time security reporting platform, during the shift. Patrol vehicles are tracked with GPS Insight and record with in-car 360-degree cameras, so you can see exactly when the yard was checked.
Know who to call
Problems at a distribution center rarely wait for business hours. Every SecureOne client has a single point of contact who can be reached 24/7 and who knows the site, the officers and the procedures.
Check the license
Tennessee regulates contract security companies and registers security guards through the Department of Commerce and Insurance. Ask any company for its license number and how it keeps every officer’s registration current. SecureOne works in the state under Tennessee License #13883.
Think about weather
Summer heat and humidity, spring storms and winter ice all affect a gate officer working outdoors and a patrol officer driving the yard. Ask how the company plans shade, water and relief, and make sure storm damage to fences, gates and lighting gets reported so it can be fixed quickly.
Ask for references
About 76% of SecureOne’s new clients come to us through referrals from existing clients. A major transportation company manager told us that in 8 years with SecureOne there had not been a serious security related incident on the property, and a warehouse manager in Tinley Park, Illinois told us we take care of any issue immediately. Call the references any company gives you.
A word about price
SecureOne is not the cheapest of the Tennessee security companies. For a distribution center, a missing trailer or a gate left open can cost more than a year of the difference in hourly rates.
Talk to us about your site
If you run a warehouse, cross-dock or truck yard in Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga or elsewhere in Tennessee, we would be glad to walk it with you. Call (888) 834-5285 or request a quote.