Case Studies
Theft Recovery
Enhancing theft
recovery for HSS
Summary
Hire Services Southern is an independent Tool and Plant Hire Company which has been established in Surrey since 1972.
They provide local builders, landscape gardeners, DIY enthusiasts and the community with everything from alloy access towers to petrol snow throwers, tracked trenchers to cordless drills, and floor sanders to 17m powered access platforms.
Requirements
In the years leading up to 2016, the business had been experiencing an increase in the theft of compact plant. The measures taken up to this point had been overcome with apparent ease. It was decided that there was a need to upgrade the after-theft recovery/tracking technology currently fitted to some plant.
The criteria for selection required the vendors to demonstrate expertise and experience in recovery of stolen assets and effective outcomes within the plant and construction sectors together with a strong financial base to ensure continuity of supply.
Solution
Following an extensive process and a number of meetings, Viasat Connect and their Skyline product was selected. The solution was a combination of discreet devices installed covertly by the Viasat Connect in-house installation team coupled to the Skyline platform.
This platform provided the flexibility to monitor the fleet using a variety of devices, including smartphone and tablet, with configurable alerting, curfew periods and movement alarms direct to personnel involved with fleet protection. If required an additional 24/7 third-party monitoring option was available at a modest additional cost.
Outcome
Since deployment, the rate at which stolen equipment is being lost has reduced significantly. The ability to receive alerts 24/7 and respond to these quickly is fundamental to the success of the system.
These alerts arrive in a number of ways which includes both email and SMS. The relevant people within the business are now setting up unique alerting profiles depending on the type of machine and site-risk profile.
In all cases, users get a clickable link that provides them with a secure method to immediately track a stolen asset without losing time logging into other devices.
Client testimonial
“We tracked a stolen micro excavator locally, when we arrived at the location given by Skyline the excavator was nowhere to be seen. After some clever detective work by our staff, it was traced to the back of a large panel van at the location originally shown.”
“It was evident that the suspects knew they had been caught and fled the scene. The van was impounded by police together with our excavator in the back. This resulted in our micro excavator being fully recovered.”