What is the easiest way to open a lock? Well that is kind of a trick question, the easiest way to open a lock is to use the key that opens that lock.
If you are a home owner buying a your first house, or are simply moving into a new house you should stop and think for a minute as you are moving in, who still has a copy of the keys to your house? or, who still knows the code to open my garage? In a similar situation, what about if you are buying a newer car? Most newer cars come with a door code to get into your car with out your keys. Fortunately this code is easy to set to a code that you can remember, but unfortunately having a code that is easily remembered is also easy for the last owner of that car to remember also.
Securing access to your property is not only an issue for home and car owners. If you are a business owner, you have to ask your self How many of my employees have a copy of my keys? If it is anything more than yourself then the next question you should ask should be how much can I trust my employees? and What would happen if I had to fire one of my employees? You might say “Well I know my employees, and I would have them turn in their keys” but even if you are able to make your former employee turn in their keys, what is the probability that they may have made a copy of those keys with out you knowing?
Thankfully there are things everyone can do to help deter any issues that may come up from any of these situations. Action Locksmith inc. suggests the following tips to help deter unproved access to your property.
For residential:
- When you buy a new house, have a locksmith either rekey or replace the locks on your house. While you can not guarantee the former tenants will be honest or will have turned in all of their keys, you can simply circumvent the problem by making the keys they might have useless.
- Don’t be lazy about changing the code to enter your garage if you have one. If you ever feel unsafe about a certain situation, you should be proactive about your security. If this means changing the code to open your garage, or having your house rekeyed, or inviting a honest locksmith or security specialist to come check out your home security then do so. It may cost a little bit of money to have someone help with your security, but the peace of mind is priceless in the long run.
- Be careful about who you give a copy of your keys. If you have a cleaning service or a contractor that comes to your house on a regular basis, make sure the company you hire is a trustworthy company. Take a little bit of time to do your research on the company or the people you are inviting on to your property. If you feel uneasy about any situation with a contractor, or anyone that is in your house, be proactive and take the right measures to keep them out of your house.
For businesses:
- Be careful who you give the keys to your business. It is an inevitable fact that if your business gets big enough you will eventually need to find employees that you can trust to either open, close, or run your facilities. If you feel you can trust an employee, then by all means give them a copy of your keys, but do your homework first.
- Talk to a local locksmith about setting up a biometric lock system, a security system, or at the very least look into having a proprietary key blank set up to make it difficult to copy a key with out your permission. If you have a proprietary key blank, it makes it difficult (but not impossible) for another locksmith to duplicate the key with out contacting the original locksmith that owns the proprietary key blank.
- Always have a plan B. In a perfect world, no one would need to have locks on anything and everyone would be happy, but unfortunately nothing is perfect and people are not always honest. There are many means you can go through to help deter unauthorized access to your business; one simple way to help deter access is not give a reason for people to access your business. This means don’t leave large sums on money in your cash register, don’t leave valuable merchandise or inventory unsecured. If all else fails and you can not prevent access to your business, talk to a trustworthy locksmith or security specialist about setting up a surveillance system so you can monitor what is happening if needed.
As always remember it is much safer and easier in the long run to be pro-active about your security and safety than it is to try to fix things after something goes wrong.