Over the years, I have had an opportunity to discuss security measures with many business owners. The thing that stands out the most is the fact that most business owners seem to think that security is only having alarms and maybe cameras.

This is a myth that can and will eventually get you sued. Yes, alarms and cameras can make a difference and be an important part of your security measures to safeguard your business. But, they are not the main stays that people think they are!

There are a number of ways a business owner can and do get sued in today's lawsuit happy society. The U.S. Labor Department in 2009, states that 62% of business owners that were sued were by an employee. These suits were mainly for hiring, termination and retention issues.

This goes back to the policy and procedures that were either not enforce or not followed at the time of the event or not even implemented by the business to begin with.

This can be a problem for any type of business from the small retail company to the corporate manufacturing company. Listed below are some of the more prominent areas that people get sued for when dealing with security issues.

• No security measures at all
• Inadequate Security
• Improper Security
• Premises Liability
• Negligent Security
• Hiring/Retention/Termination Negligence

Of course these are not the only reasons you can be sued in business, but they do represent the majority of security issues lawsuits. They are also the most neglected or misunderstood areas of most business people.

Security has always been looked at by the majority of business owners as just another unnecessary expense. They seem to think that because nothing has happened, it won't happen to them so why worry about it. Besides it costs too much and takes away from their bottom line. This is true to some extent, but can usually make the bottom line better if done right.

Security measures should always be looked at by business owners more as an investment of the business instead of just an expense that you want to get rid of. You are investing in the fact that you have the ability to safeguard all your assets and keep your business from going under due to an incident that costs you too much money.

By this I mean that it adds to your overall profits in ways that most people seem to not understand.

• It reduces or eliminates your risks
• Saves you from a high cost lawsuit
• It can and does protect all your assets
• Can stop thefts and Assaults
• Can reduce your insurance premium
• Can give you better productivity
• Safeguards your employees and helps with morale
• It can and does save you time and money overall

So as you can see, there are a number of ways it can and does help your bottom line in the long run. It is also more cost effective to be proactive rather than being reactive to situations that can cost you money.