How to prevent your tools and machinery from getting stolen

Every year, millions of dollars worth of equipment is stolen from farms and worksites around the country.

While getting insurance is crucial to safeguard your possessions, you need to also be doing the right things to protect your assets from theft. Complacency and simply leaving it in the hands of law enforcement is not good enough.

With that in mind, here are a few tips to help you keep your prized possessions beyond the grasp of crooks.

Not just locking up your machinery in sheds but physically locking them down with whatever safety feature that came with your machines.

If your equipment has them, activate wheel locks, shut-off systems, ignition locks and battery switches. If not, remove circuit breakers and fuses when your machine isn’t in use.

Consider investing in the best locks you can afford for your machinery. It might also be worth asking your dealer to fit your equipment with vandal covers which are essentially metal sheets encasing the cab preventing unauthorised access or vandalism.

Some types of heavy machinery have universal keys, so secure these properly when not in use.

Even better, consider replacing the ignition and key. As these universal keys can be bought online, hiding them won't deter seasoned crooks. Instead, get your dealer to change your ignitions entirely with a more secure, unique ignition lock.

Also consider fitting an engine immobiliser to prevent unauthorised running of the engine through hot-wiring.

While number plates can help you identify your vehicle, whoever stole your equipment will probably have had them removed before you realised your machine was gone.

So it’s not a bad idea at all to mark all your equipment to make it easier for the authorities to track them down if they go missing.

Take several photos of your heavy equipment, including the PIN, serial numbers and other distinguishing marks like those identifiers you've made yourself; or dents and scratches that could help you easily identify your machine in the event of theft.

In this highly digitised society, there are plenty of ways to help you track your machine using GPS technology.

While some new equipment will come standard with fleet management software such as Komatsu’s KOMTRAX or John Deere’s JDLink that help pinpoint your machines’ locations at all times, older machinery might not have that kind of technology which means you will have to physically install a tracker on the machine to track it.

Also consider using a micro-dot 'DNA' asset identification system such as DataDot or NanoTag. These work by marking each asset with a unique code which is recorded on a secure database and matched with other asset and ownership identifiers such as VINs. This will help law enforcement to not only identify stolen equipment but also trace them back to their rightful owners.

It goes without saying that a good surveillance system is of utmost importance to help deter theft or aid law enforcement in identify the culprit(s).

If you haven’t already, buy and install the best CCTV security camera system you can afford. If your system is old and the images it captures are grainy and average at best, consider replacing it with a high-resolution system with colour and decent night-vision.

It might be worth installing bright lights in and around your property or have motion sensor lights that switch on when movement is detected. That may give the crooks a bit of a fright and stop them from going any further.

Let the thieves know you are watching them. Install prominent signage warning burglars that your yard is under constant monitoring and to stay away. It's all very well having a security system, but you want the bad guys to know about it as well.

Get all your friends, family, neighbours, employees and farmhands onboard to curb theft. Ask them to report any security vulnerabilities so you can patch them up.

Similarly, if you notice something suspicious happening at a neighbouring property or site, call it out or report it. We all have a shared responsibility to not only keep our own assets and lives safe, but others as well.

Extra pairs of eyes and hands work wonders in helping to identify the crooks, or even better, prevent them from trying to steal in the first place.