Why should you be worried about copper theft?

cgoodram — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Copper theft is an increasingly common crime; a quick browse of copper theft on Google News will unveil a spate of cases across the globe, with the value of copper stolen by the perpetrators often in the thousands. The reason copper theft has become so common is because the value of copper in recent years has skyrocketed. This is because of the increasing demand for the material in nations such as India, where construction rates have similarly increased in recent years. Copper is a mined material, making it quite difficult to source if you don’t have access to the proper equipment or indeed a location to mine the material. Therefore, the easiest way for someone to make their fortunes with copper is to steal it – often from custom cables, which utilise the material for grounding. No-one thinks that a crime is going to be committed against them, despite us all hearing about such cases on the news every day. However, copper theft is a genuine threat to anyone using cables, especially those in open areas such as train yards. There are plenty of reasons to take precautions against the crime too, as copper theft can have a series of devastating effects.

It’s costly to replace

Copper has a high market value, which makes it attractive to thieves. On the opposite side of the coin, it means that replacing stolen copper can be extremely expensive. Network Rail, one of the biggest victims of cable theft, suggests that the crime costs them well over £19m a year. While your cable collection will undoubtedly be smaller than that of Network Rail, the costs incurred in replacing cables damaged in removing copper can be extremely high.

It poses a massive risk to your workers

Copper is commonly used as the grounding element in multi-core cables, the part of the cable that protects anyone handling the cable from electrocution and even death. Without this element, your cables present a massive danger to anyone potentially handling them. You’ll need to deactivate the cables to ensure the safety of your staff, which means downtime and costly replacements. You might have also heard horror stories regarding the people who steal cables receiving an array of injuries and even being killed in the process of trying to steal copper.

What can you do about cable theft?

We’ve discussed cable theft and the actions you can take against it before, but there are a couple of other things to consider when protecting your cables.

Hide or disguise your cables

Most cable thefts occur at sites where cables are left exposed in the open air, meaning that a thief can walk in, cut the cable and take what they need with the minimal of effort. Hiding your cables in a place they can’t be seen (consider hiding them from aerial view too if possible, as thieves can use a tool like Google Maps to locate cables) or even burying them underground can make your site a lot less vulnerable to theft.

Log who has access to your site

It’s sad to think it possible, but quite a few copper thefts are ‘inside jobs’, i.e. carried out by people who work for an organisation. The best way to negate this threat is to make everyone accessing the site sign-in and sign-out. Also keep a register of who has keys to the site, and determine who gets key holder privileges carefully.

Consider changing to a copper alternative

This isn’t a cost-effective option for those who already have cables with copper in them unfortunately, but switching the build of your cable so that it includes a lower value material such as tinned copper can reduce your risk of theft. Some technology also weaves nylon into the copper wiring, which contaminates and spoils the copper when melted down. If you’re concerned about cable theft and want a high-quality, secure cable solution, get in touch with CDC today.

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