Office safety

• Keep your purse, wallet, keys or other valuables with you at all times or locked in a drawer or closet.
• Mark any personal items, such as a calculator, coffeemaker, radio, etc., with your name or initials and an identification number.
• Check the identity of any strangers in your office. Ask whom they are visiting and if you can help them find that person. If you are uncomfortable doing this or the stranger seems suspicious, contact management and/or security. Be aware of new people outside your immediate area, such as maintenance personnel.
• Always let someone know your whereabouts, whether it's going to the copier or mail room, leaving for lunch or a meeting, coming in late or working late.
• Report unsafe conditions. Don't wait for someone else to report flickering lights, dimly lit corridors, doors that don't lock properly or broken windows.
• Be discreet about your social life. Don't discuss your social activities or vacation plans with people calling or visiting your office.

Emergency preparedness
Tips from the National Crime Prevention Council:

• Know the emergency plan. If your company doesn’t have a plan, ask for one.
• Practice your company’s emergency plan, including evacuations. Evacuation plans should be posted prominently on each floor.
• Identify at least two exit routes from each room, if possible, and be able to find them in the dark.
• Designate a post-evacuation location where a count can be made of all employees.
• Make considerations for coworkers who are disabled or may need assistance in an emergency.
• Know the location of fire extinguishers and medical kits. Periodically check them and alarm systems to ensure they are functioning properly.
• Consider keeping personal emergency supplies in a desk drawer, including a flashlight, walking shoes, a water bottle and nonperishable foods.
• Report damaged or malfunctioning safety systems to appropriate personnel.
• Never lock fire exits or block doorways, halls or stairways.

Internal theft prevention strategies

• Develop a purchase policy that specifies how employee purchases are to be processed. Do not allow employees to process their own sales.
• Provide lockers for employees and develop a policy that prohibits employees from taking personal articles such as purses, backpacks, lunch boxes and briefcases into merchandise areas.
• Restrict employees, in non-emergency situations, to a single, monitored exit.
• Number refunds and keep control over refund books.
• Develop a policy regarding trash removal. Use transparent trash bags. Flatten all trash cartons and boxes. Spot check trash containers.
• Perform random checks of employees and employee areas.
• Do not permit truck drivers to load their own vehicles without inspection or supervision.
• Develop strong audit controls by outside auditors and inventory all supplies, equipment and merchandise regularly and often.
• Develop and maintain an effective access management policy for all keys.
• Returned merchandise should be inspected by someone other than the person who made the sale.
• Limit the amount of cash allowed to accumulate in a cash register and make unannounced counts on registers.
• Bookkeepers should not be responsible for shipping and receiving merchandise. Purchasing should not be involved in any aspect of accounts receivable or the receipt of merchandise.
• Check all cashbook entries against cash on hand at the end of each day.
• Perform audits of blank checks, order forms, payment authorizations, vouchers, receipt forms, and all other forms which authorize or verify transactions.
• Employees responsible for preparing payroll should not be involved in its distribution.
• Require that all customers receive a receipt.
• Perform criminal and prior-employment background checks on all prospective employees.
• All inventory shortages should be immediately and aggressively investigated.