Managing risk is not just about defensive driving. It’s also about guarding your trucks and your customers’ freight against theft. Trailer and load theft may be on the rise, but the good news is your anti-theft plan doesn’t have to break the bank.

For example, you probably know that a fenced yard isn’t much of a deterrent. Yet you can up your security quotient considerably simply by parking your trucks and trailers properly. Does your shunt man set up your equipment so that the trailers inside block the locked gates? That’s one way to increase security. Another is to park trailers with their doors up against one another, or back them as close as possible up to a building wall. Sitting like that, there’s no easy way a thief can remove the freight inside.

Security can be that simple, and good sources of information can be so obvious you may overlook them. Talk to your local police. Some forces have a commercial truck anti-theft task force; it may be able to help you make your terminal “theft proof.” Your insurance company and provincial trucking association can provide information on theft protection.

Your fleet, no matter how large or small, should have an official security program in place, one that’s communicated clearly to everyone involved. On the other hand, you must make it clear that part of any good security program includes the “limiting of information.” Information on high-value loads should be compartmentalized. Protect your loads and your drivers by strictly controlling load-routing information. Too much information known by one too many people could mean trouble.

Here’s how such a plan might work.

Say you don’t have sophisticated tracking technology but you do carry some high-value loads. In that case drivers should follow a strict “call-in routine” between the points of pick-up and delivery so dispatchers can track them and the freight.

Further, all high-value loads should follow pre-planned routes, and you should create a few variations on each route. Then, assignments for the high-value trips should only be issued immediately before the driver leaves the dock. That way, potential thieves won’t be able to predict which lanes your trucks will be following. Keep your predictability to a minimum.

Your entire policy should minimize opportunities that criminals might have to bribe your staff in exchange for potentially damaging information that they could use against you. Simply stated, “No employee should disclose any details about company business, freight, or travel routes.” Truck-stop chatter is the start of many stolen loads.

If you operate between Canada and the United States, plan and change border-crossing points if it’s at all possible. Ensure that loads move with little or no consistency with regard to departure times, drivers, dispatchers, routes, or border crossings. You don’t want the thieves to be able to plan around your trips.

Finally, don’t be deterred by some minor investment in high-tech. Security camera systems have come a long way in the last decade and some now use wireless technology, so even remote trailer drop yards can be monitored. And new tracking technology can stave off huge headaches with relatively little upfront investment. Originally designed for construction and higher-end auto applications, this tracking gear can be best described as a “vehicle recovery” tool and can locate swiped units even if they’re hidden in a locked warehouse on the other side of the country. You can also affix a mobile tracking unit to a particular component so you can monitor that item throughout a move even if it gets transferred from one vehicle to another.

You can’t afford to take security for granted any more than you would take safe driving or roadworthy equipment for granted. There are processes to be followed and employees to be trained. Otherwise, you’re gambling with the fate of your equipment and customers’ valuable loads.