A practical checklist for facility managers walking into a site with existing surveillance - what to look at, what to test and what to do about it.
Most facility managers, building owners and operators inherit a CCTV system at some point - through an acquisition, a new role, or a building they have just taken over. The first instinct is to assume it works. The reality, in our experience, is that inherited commercial CCTV is rarely doing the job people think it is.
This piece sets out the practical assessment we run on a site we are taking on. It is not a substitute for a formal review, but it gives you a working checklist for the first walkthrough - enough to know whether the system you have inherited is fit for purpose or quietly failing.
A commercial CCTV system is a sum of these four. If any one is failing, the system as a whole cannot do its job.
Once you have walked the site, the answer is usually one of three. Repair where the design is sound but the system has drifted from spec - aim, focus, firmware. Replace components where they are past support or no longer fit for purpose. Rebuild where the original design never reflected the operation in the first place.
A good security contractor will tell you which of those three applies and will not push for the most expensive option by default. If you would like that assessment on a site you have inherited, that is the kind of work we do.
We'll walk the site, test what's there and tell you what to repair, replace or rebuild - and what to leave alone.
Send through your requirements. We respond within one business day with a project lead and next steps.