Guidance on The Use of CCTV for The Business Owner

It is a perfectly legitimate practice to install CCTV at your business premises. In fact, it is highly advisable as a form of security that both deters would be intruders and records any behaviour that might need investigation.

CCTV helps secure the premises, but it also supports good workplace safety onsite. The detection of suspicious behaviour by using security cameras often helps detect and prevent crime. However, you must be mindful of certain best practices when it comes to using CCTV systems. These include ensuring you are not intruding on the privacy rights of individuals or using it for excessive monitoring.

Here is a CCTV checklist to ensure you are mindful of your use of CCTV:

• Purpose: Make sure you have a clearly documented purpose for why you are using CCTV. In most cases this will be for security purposes only and to observe activity relating to that.
• Lawfulness: Know what the legal basis for your use of CCTV is and make sure it is appropriate.
• Necessity: Ensure you can demonstrate that CCTV is necessary to achieve your goal.
• Proportionality: If your CCTV system is to be used for purposes other than security, you should be able to demonstrate that those other uses are proportionate. Ensure you know who you are recording be it customers, visitors, staff or members of the public in general. Can you justify this?
• Security: You must keep the CCTV recordings safe and secure, both technically and organisationally. Plus, you will note who will have access and how the footage will be managed.
• Retention: Document how long you will retain recordings for, taking into account that they should be kept for no longer than is necessary for your original purpose.
• Transparency: You will have to inform people that you are recording their images and be able to provide them with a copy of that recording if requested. That recording may have to be redacted to comply with data protection.

Your security provider should be able to discuss these matters with you and advise you where appropriate. Do not let the worry of data protection get in the way of the security of your business. Compliance is straight forward when you work with a trusted provider.

To learn more about the use of CCTV for business owners, you can call TEC Security today on 00353 1 404 5124 or email info@tecsecurity.ie.