During a webinar titled “The New Edifice of Vacant Property: ProtectingAsset Value as Commercial Real Estate Slowly Recovers”presented by PropertyCasualty360.com, Zurich's Jeff Shearman,senior risk-engineering consultant, reviewed a host of securitybest practices for idle and vacant properties.

When preparing to idle a facility, “do a vulnerability analysis”to identify areas that natural elements can affect, such as roofhatches and windows, as well as areas that human elements canaffect, he says, referring to human actions ranging from settingfires to squatting. 

Shearman distinguishes between idle and vacant properties,giving slightly different definitions for risk-engineeringpurposes. Idle properties are those with contents and systems leftin place so that the facility can be used for the same purpose invery short order. 

In vacant facilities, the heating, ventilation, air-conditioningand alarm systems are shut off, contents are removed, and thebuilding is secured in a more permanent manner.

Because an idle facility is merely “stopped in time”—where itwas when the last person walked out the door and shut thelights—valuable resources remain on site and become attractivetargets for thieves. They are going to be watching, Shearman notes,recommending that owners perform “regular, though not predictabletours” daily or weekly.

“Don't go every Tuesday at 2 o'clock,” Shearman says. And thetour shouldn't be a “WD-40,” he adds, coining his own phrase for adrive-by at 40 miles per hour.

In a vacant facility, such tours can be done more irregularlyand less frequently, he says. 

For an idle facility, it's very important that protection (fire-and security-alarm systems) remain in place. “In a vacant facility,insurers still like to see such systems as much as possible. But ifthere's just bare concrete and block walls, then…it's morepalatable to idle or take down [protection] systems,” Shearmansays. 

In either case—whether a building is idle or vacant—resourcessuch as copper pipe and wiring may remain on site, making it a goodidea to maintain a security-alarm system. Shearman advises ownersto check whether the security system is “tied into the fire-alarmdialer.” In some instances Shearman knows of, owners believed theywere taking only the fire-alarm system out, not realizing that theburglar alarms were on the same modem, and they unknowingly tookthose offline too.

Other guidelines Shearman provided that apply to both idle andvacant buildings:

• Consider fencing the facility perimeter; there are securitysystems available that will activate if a fence is cut.

“They can make decorative fences that don't make it look like aprison but provide some added level of security,” he says, helpingowners to balance the goal of security with curb-appeal forpotential buyers.

• Secure mail slots and drop points, such as night deposits forbanking facilities. 

“Those are places people can pour flammable liquids into to setbuildings on fire,” he says.

• If you have a shed or portable building on site, considergetting them off the property.

Shearman suggests that such buildings can be turned intomethadone labs or storage facilities for contraband.