This G4S customer is a large producer of concrete building materials, with plants located in East Africa. The company’s history dates back to 1994, forming after the local government privatised the cement industry. Today, business is booming, and the customer has aspirations to become East Africa’s preferred provider of cement and concrete building materials. The company was struggling with security, which was causing avoidable financial loss. The following are a few of the issues the customer was dealing with:

• Fraud at the weighbridge
• Financial losses due to fraud
• Accidents at the plant, because of low HSSE standards — low health, safety, security, and environment standards
• Difficulty conducting investigations due to lack of sufficient evidence, which was a result of no on-site security cameras

The customer contracted G4S to address these issues with a new security system.

THE GOALS

The customer’s ultimate goal was to become East Africa’s preferred concrete building material provider. However, to achieve this primary objective, G4S had to first address a more itemised list of goals.

First, it was imperative for avoidable accidents at the plant to be eliminated. This objective required an HSSE-backed solution, so G4S would need to rely on its knowledge of safety regulations in addition to its security expertise. One way to aid with accident reduction would be to provide a means of monitoring activity in the plant to identify how accidents may have occurred, so it could correct these risks going forward. Another objective G4S was faced with was to reduce fraud-based financial losses. The customer had particularly significant issues with fraud at the weighbridge, which resulted in material loss. Losing materials means losing money.

At the time, the customer had no way of recovering losses due to a complete lack of evidence. Therefore, one of G4S’s goals would be to provide a means of simplifying the investigation procedure. With the customer’s goals clearly defined, G4S set out to devise a solution to eliminate all the biggest pain points.

THE SOLUTION

The first component of the integrated security solution G4S implemented was the deployment of highly trained security professionals. While technology would also be an important component of the security plan, it was critical to lay the groundwork with experienced security professionals while implementing the remaining security systems.

In the next phase of the project, G4S implemented an access control station with biometric screening and set up CCTV cameras. The cameras were placed in key locations around the plant, including the weighbridge, where the customer had struggled with significant losses due to fraud. The new camera system allows incident investigations to be conducted more easily, as evidence is more readily available. Finally, G4S instituted control room monitoring of the CCTV system. This allows for real-time responses to incidents. The alarm monitoring and quick response services G4S deployed can stop incidents while they are occurring, rather than relying on an after-the-fact investigation.

THE RESULTS

The G4S integrated security solution was a major success for the customer. With this solution, G4S met all the customer’s requirements, and the different components that were implemented worked together seamlessly. The customer experienced a marked decrease in fraud, theft, and HSSE-related incidents due to the intervention of G4S and its integrated security solution. As a result, the increased safety of the facility boosted the customer’s bottom line by reducing financial losses. Additionally, the implementation of innovative technology solutions ultimately presented savings compared to the cost of increased physical guarding.

G4S is in a long-term partnership with the customer, thanks to the swift response to its security needs. As the partnership progresses and losses continue to be minimised, the customer is well on its way to meeting its goal to be the preferred concrete building supply provider for East Africa.