When the day shift leaves a construction site, the tools, plant and materials stay behind. On many projects, so does a single security officer, left to patrol until morning.

Reported tool thefts across the UK rose 16% in 2025, and thieves are busiest in the dark evenings after the October clock change. More firms now plan after-hours security around the person on patrol as well as the assets.

Why sites are a target after dark

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by Monster-Mesh found 30,848 tool thefts reported to police in 2025, worth almost £19 million. Only 26 of the 46 forces contacted replied, so the true number is likely higher.

 

Direct Line for Business analysis of 2023 police data found that tool thefts peak in October, after the clocks go back, and fall to their lowest level in April. Site workers report the same pattern, with a noticeable increase in theft in winter.

 

The wider cost of crime is covered in construction site security solutions that pay dividends. This article looks at the people left to guard the site.

The risk to the people guarding the site

A 2020 University of Portsmouth study found that more than 30% of security operatives had been physically assaulted at work. A further 43% were threatened with violence at least once a month, and almost 40% showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

 

Working alone adds to the danger. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance Protecting lone workers says people who work alone face the same dangers as other staff, but with “a greater risk of these hazards causing harm”. It applies to anyone who employs lone workers or hires them in from another firm, so principal contractors can’t leave a guard’s safety entirely to the guarding company.

What contractors are putting in place

Measures that protect the guard also make the site harder to hit. Common steps include:

 

• Welfare checks: timed check-ins by phone or radio, with an agreed escalation plan if one is missed. HSE says employers should provide “training, supervision, monitoring and support”.
• Lighting and varied patrols: well-lit routes and patrol times that vary from shift to shift, so the officer isn’t predictable.
• Remote eyes: monitored closed-circuit television (CCTV) and drone checks let a control room assess an intruder before anyone approaches. One firm’s new drone service is designed partly to reduce staff exposure to risky situations.
• Body-worn video: some guarding contractors now issue body cameras for security guards, which act as an active deterrent. Hostile encounters often calm down the moment an intruder realises they’re being recorded. If an incident turns physical, the device captures tamper-proof, court-admissible evidence and protects lone officers against false misconduct claims.
• Clean handovers: the day team confirms gates are locked, keys are secured and the plant is immobilised before leaving.

 

Responsibilities are best agreed before the contract starts. In a typical split, the principal contractor shares site hazards, access routes and known hotspots with the guarding firm. It names out-of-hours escalation contacts and provides lighting, a secure cabin and clear patrol routes. It funds CCTV or remote monitoring where needed, agrees how body-worn video is used on site and makes sure the day team secures plant, keys and gates before leaving.

 

The guarding firm assesses the lone working risk for each officer and runs the check-in schedule, acting on any missed calls. It reports lighting faults and blind spots and links officers to its control room. It also issues the body cameras, trains staff to use them and manages the recordings. At the start of each shift, the officer checks and logs the state of the site.

 

Getting recording and reporting right

Body-worn video captures personal data, and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) sets out what’s expected in its body worn video guidance. Organisations need a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) before using it, and continuous recording needs strong justification because it can capture bystanders.

 

People should be told when they’re being recorded, through an announcement, a warning light on the device or signage. According to the guidance, footage should be kept for “the shortest time necessary” for its purpose.

 

Training is changing as well. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) consultation on licence qualifications, which ran until 23 October 2026, proposes adding incident recording and crime scene preservation to training, along with more real-life conflict scenarios for guards. New qualifications are due later in 2027.

 

Tim Archer, Executive Director of Licensing and Standards at the SIA, said: “As the demands on private security operatives evolve, their skills and knowledge need to keep pace.”

Planning for the winter shift

The weeks after the clocks go back are the busiest for thieves and the hardest for officers working alone. Contractors can write guard safety into the security specification, agree who owns each measure with the guarding firm and review the plan before the dark evenings set in.

A site that looks after the person on patrol is better protected too.

Image Source : https://pixabay.com/photos/building-construction-6705863/