#Theft Protection for Construction Equipment
Theft Protection for Construction Equipment
High losses and low clearance rates: construction equipment theft is a serious risk for builders. In this article, we show you what theft protection options are available and how you can insure yourself against theft damage.
What theft protection options exist for construction equipment?
When construction equipment is stolen from a job site, it costs the builder a lot of money: not only is the value of the stolen machine lost, but also procuring replacement equipment and potential construction delays can result in high costs. However, there are a number of measures you can take to protect construction equipment from theft:
Secure equipment storage
Often thieves strike at night or on weekends when there's no activity on the job site. It's advisable to park construction equipment closely in a row after work: smaller machines can be positioned in the middle, large and heavy machines at the edges. This makes it harder for thieves to remove the smaller machines from the line.
Mechanical and electronic theft protection
Mechanical anti-theft locks on the steering wheel or accelerator have been around for a while. While they're relatively inexpensive and easy to install, they don't help if machines are transported away by crane, for example. Electronic immobilizers are also used for theft protection: they prevent unauthorized users from starting the engine and are released by the signal of an RFID chip in the machine key.
Digital theft protection
A modern and particularly secure method of theft monitoring is digital theft protection. Construction equipment is equipped with a small transmitter that sends the machine's current location via GPS or GSM signal. Such systems can function completely autonomously for many weeks using batteries and can be connected to the construction equipment's power supply for recharging. Unlike passive theft protection such as immobilizers, these active security systems are individually customizable: owners can be notified via SMS or email as soon as the machine is moved during certain times (e.g., at night) or as soon as it leaves a previously marked area on a map (so-called geo-fencing).
The systems can be combined with additional sensors, for example with a measuring unit in the tank that triggers an alarm when fuel is stolen, or with a vibration sensor that detects the machine being loaded by a crane. This allows you to create a comprehensive package of security measures tailored to the situation on site, which quickly and easily transmits all unusual occurrences to your computer or smartphone. Of course, the safest approach is to combine the different passive and active theft protection methods.
Also interesting: Construction site monitoring by camera – benefits and information
What does theft protection for construction equipment cost?
Costs depend on the scope of theft protection. Positioning tracking systems, for example, start at a few hundred euros but can also exceed 1,000 euros. Should you invest this money in digital theft protection? Absolutely! The costs for such modules are only a fraction of the potential damage from construction equipment theft. Additionally, your insurance provider might offer you better rates if your machines are equipped with modern tracking devices – this way you can save extra money.
Can you insure rented construction equipment against theft? Is theft insurance worth it?
Since damage from stolen construction equipment is often very high, it's definitely worth insuring yourself against equipment theft and agreeing on a liability cap with the rental company for rented construction equipment. If no liability cap is agreed upon, the renter is liable for theft during the rental period and must cover the costs. For example, if you rent construction equipment from klarx, you can limit your liability in case of theft to a deductible of 25% of the list new value (minimum 1,000 euros). However, in case of loss or theft due to the renter's intentional actions or gross negligence, the full replacement value must be paid. You can find more information in our Terms and Conditions.
Read more: Insurance for construction project owners
Free GPS theft protection at klarx
Construction equipment you rent from the klarx logistics center in Munich Sendling is automatically equipped with a telematics system. This gives you free theft protection that triggers an alarm as soon as the machine leaves a defined area (so-called geo-fencing). When the machine breaks through the "virtual job site fence", klarx immediately notifies the police and tracks the machine's location.
But that's not all: the built-in telematics module offers you additional benefits beyond theft monitoring. In the free klarxMANAGER, you can retrieve data on the machine's activation and deactivation times, utilization calculations, and consumption information – this allows you to prevent excessive fuel consumption or unnecessary downtime and optimize the use of your machines.
DIN Standards in Construction – Examples
There are over 3,000 standards alone in the construction industry. For every situation there are guidelines that builders, architects, planners and others should follow where possible, and which help meet requirements for construction, equipment, or safety.
DIN standards from the construction industry cover many areas. The following selection shows a few case examples and applications:
DIN ISO 9245
This standard specifies the performance of earthmoving equipment. Formulas for calculation, data sheets, terminology, applications, and units are part of this standard.
DIN EN 13001 Cranes – General Construction
Load effects, safety tests for wire ropes, and limit states of steel structures are summarized in DIN EN 13001. This product standard deals with crane construction and is particularly relevant for crane testing.
DIN EN 15573
Earthmoving equipment – Requirements for road application
Dimensions, weights, speed, braking systems, and operator's platform – all of this and much more is specified by the DIN EN 15573 standard for earthmoving equipment in relation to road use.
These two standards are the most important with regard to machine maintenance. You can read more about this in this klarxCADEMY article: Maintenance.
DIN EN 474-1
DIN EN 474-1 relates to the field of view of earthmoving equipment, which must meet certain requirements to protect operators from hazards when operating earthmoving equipment.
DIN Standards and the Legal Situation
When certain product details or quality standards are specified in a DIN standard, compliance with these requirements is initially voluntary and not mandatory. A DIN standard is not automatically a law. It's different when compliance with certain DIN standards is specified in a contract or when the legislator refers to a DIN standard in a regulation. In such cases, compliance with DIN standards is mandatory.
Additionally, DIN standards can simultaneously represent recognized rules of engineering practice. Be careful: while this is often the case, there can also be deviations. Recognized rules of engineering practice can also be specified in other regulations besides DIN standards, and not every DIN standard is automatically a recognized rule of engineering practice. These recognized rules of engineering practice play an important role in everyday practice. Even though they are not quite clearly defined in the German Model Building Regulations, they are essentially standards that have proven to be suitable in practice and are widely accepted in the construction industry. Most of these rules are published by the German Institute for Building Technology as so-called technical building regulations.
In contracts for the provision of construction services, it usually applies that recognized rules of engineering practice (and thus automatically many DIN standards) should be followed if nothing else is expressly stated in the contract. Recognized rules of engineering practice are thus a kind of minimum standard: if it is not met, there is a defect. This is why DIN standards play an important role in the construction industry – even if they don't automatically correspond to laws.
This page was automatically translated from German.