How To Prevent Theft Of Drainage Materials From Building Sites

With the ever-increasing cost of plastic underground drainage, thieves are targeting it more than ever. Whether it’s stolen by temporary labourers from within the site to make a bit of extra cash on sites like eBay or by thieves breaking in, it amounts to the same thing. An expensive problem for groundworks companies who have to replace the materials at their own cost.

How do drainage materials got stolen?

Many groundworks companies estimate that over 10% of their drainage materials end up going to waste. A lot of these are lost or damaged on site due to inadequate storage (where they aren’t using SiteStak) but others may be deliberately stolen. This amounts to a costly problem that is widespread across the groundworks industry.

Does using a shipping container solve the problem?

While many building sites use shipping containers to store their underground drainage materials under lock and key, these are not the best option. Not only is it typically dark inside the containers, (which makes it harder to find the materials needed) it doesn’t take long before the interior ends up in a mess. The other major drawback is that the container remains stationary so workers have to walk across the site manually carrying their materials. They also then tend to leave them on the plot they were working on. This leaves the materials exposed to the risk of theft, damage or just going to waste.

How you should store underground drainage materials on your site.

We designed the SiteStak System to solve these exact problems with storing, transporting and cutting underground drainage. To prevent the theft of fittings we have added optional lockable lids. These can be padlocked, acting as a further deterrent to opportunistic theft. We still recommend storing the entire SiteStak unit in a secure compound overnight and over the weekends.