For those interested, the field of protection management offers a variety of career choices: physical security, computer security, and asset security to name a few. With the plethora of educational choices currently available, it is easy for a person to find an area of expertise that suits their abilities and interests. No matter which area a person leans toward it is important to cross train into the other areas of protection management as each specialty overlaps into others. One area that is often overlooked, but has much to offer, is loss prevention. Loss prevention courses provide a foundation on which protection management education can be built.
When thinking of protection management the first ideas that often come to mind involve physical protection. As for "loss prevention," it has become the term for retail physical security and protection, as commercial managers have found that the word "security" could be offensive. However, it does not take long in learning about protection operations to understand there is much more to the field than being a simple bodyguard. Loss prevention courses, when taken early in protection management training, illustrates protection management as an industry and how it relates to the operation of an organization.
Loss prevention is normally viewed in terms of retail and the prevention of shoplifting and/ or employee theft. The term applied to the loss of potential revenue due to loss or damage is shrinkage. Shrinkage is currently in a downward trend according to the loss prevention magazine LP Magazine and can be attributed to several factors, which are indentified in the 2010 National Retail Security Survey Executive Summary.
Further identified in the summary is a list of types of retail stores that have shown the lowest levels of shrinkage as well as locations that appear to have lower shrinkage levels. It is this type of research and information that allows a person assigned to protection management to better understand the various components of loss prevention in order to better protect the assets of their organization.
Protection management is a discipline of research and application directed at protecting the stability of an organization. The research is completed by extensive analysis of losses in all areas of the organization. Losses do not always come from shrinkage due to thefts or damage, but also to litigation losses, losses to injured workers, and proprietary information loss. Any loss in the above categories provides an opportunity to analyze the loss and create a protection plan to avoid having the same problem occur. Loss prevention analysis plays a critical role in determining what methods may be best suited for a given situation.
Loss prevention has the ability to assist a corporation in other ways beyond reducing shrinkage. Employee theft has long been identified as one of the major causes of product theft, but other factors may contribute to the overall reason. The loss prevention executive summary identified high employee turnover and the high reliance on part-time employees as a likely culprit for the high theft rates. A protection management specialist with a good understanding of loss prevention is better able to see possible relationships similar to those above and make recommendations for improvements, which has the potential to reduce hiring and training costs.
Protection management is a diverse field with many opportunities to learn a variety of specialties. No matter which specialty is chosen, loss prevention courses should be included to provide the big picture of the relationship between the reduction of profit due to loss (shrinkage) and protection management's role in that reduction. The connection between the programs greatly benefits both the specialist and the parent organization.
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Dan Sommer works for Henley-Putnam University, a leading educational institution in the field of Strategic Security. For more info on Henley-Putnam University,loss prevention courses,protection management, call 888-852-8746 or visit us online at http://www.Henley-Putnam.edu
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