Are Plant Security Devices Worth Investing In?
This might sound like a stupid question but many plant operators however still regard unique transponder keys, pin number key pads, immobilisers and the like to be nothing more than a pain. ‘What’s wrong with having a Lucas key on your key ring which will start most things?’
Mention the CESAR registration scheme and some people look blankly at you – ‘what’s that?’ When you explain that it is the triangular sticker on the side of your machine with a registration number on it, they’re none the wiser and have no idea of the benefits of security measures such as this.
When you move on to Tracking devices, the camp seems split; some people think they’re fantastic and some don’t have any faith in them or simply refuse to give them any attention at all.
If you’ve bought a machine and then taken the positive move and invested the money having an immobiliser or tracker fitted, then you’re clearly one of the people who see the benefit but what if you’ve not had to do anything extra and the machine you’ve bought just happens to be fully equipped with security kit?
When you own something, in this case a piece of Plant, you don’t expect it to get stolen. That’s broadly the position we take as society – we know it could get stolen but we don’t expect it to go. So when it doesn’t get stolen, well, that’s what we expect. But do we ever stop and ask ourselves WHY it hasn’t been stolen? Is it just because I haven’t been unlucky enough to have it nicked or are their other factors at play.
Plant theft in the UK was, and still is a big problem but the situation is improving thanks to more and more manufacturers fitting security, tracking and covert identification devices as standard. Certain Insurance Companies fund a dedicated unit of the Metropolitan Police – PANIU the ‘Plant and Agricultural National Intelligence Unit’ who are dedicated to tackling Plant and Agricultural equipment theft. Thatcham, the organisation that amongst other things approves the quality of security devices giving them a Star Rating are also driving this war against criminals.
PANIU produce quarterly statistics to focus on and monitor plant theft so they can see just how effective all of the work that everyone is doing is. And as someone involved in Plant Insurance I am delighted to see that it is being very effective.
Accordingly to PANIU Plant Theft is down by 33.2% since its 2010/11 peak. Even at this reduced level though there were still 3,658 reported plant thefts in the year to September 2013.
As you might expect Mini Diggers are the most stolen with Telehandlers also being regularly targeted.
JCB have been at the head of the battle against thieves since late 2007 when they started fitting CESAR registration as standard to all machines and since then they have phased in unique keys and immobiliser technology which has a Thatcham 3 Star rating to almost all machines. In addition pretty much every machine over 5 tonnes also now has their ‘Livelink’ Tracking technology fitted as standard totalling over 16,000 machines in the UK.
Other manufacturers are also working hard to keep up with JCB and improvement have been made to their security provisions too.
It is very likely then that if your machine is less than 5 years old, it came fitted with some security features as standard and perhaps this is the reason why it hasn’t been stolen?
The Police have identified that the majority of machines stolen in the UK is now pre-2008 ie before security devices were fitted as standard and that Plant theft is dropping year on year proving that if we all work together, including manufacturers, we can win this battle.
Looking at the machines under 5 years old, in 2008 178 Telehandlers were stolen in the UK. In 2013 this dropped to just 25. In the same period 143 JCB machines were stolen – it dropped to 50 proving that the standard fit devices, and CESAR are working.
We are led to believe that the total number of stolen JCB’s under 5 years old that have been stolen and not recovered in 2014 is just 2! That’s not a typo, TWO machines only.
These statistics haven’t happened by accident, they are as a result of an industry shift and focus by the Police and other organisation to clamp down on this nationwide problem and we are winning – that’s why your machine hasn’t been stolen, not just luck.
So when I ask you ‘Is it worth investing in Plant fitted with Security Devices?’ what’s your answer now – I know what mine is, and it’s backed up with hard evidence – Yes!
About JCB Insurance Services
JCB Insurance Brokers are specialists in all aspects of Construction Insurance and by having this focus, were are able to have a deeper understanding of the risks in this sector. As a result we can usually provide better protection at a competitive cost – all backed by the world class JCB Brand and everything that stands for.
