Security Checkpoint: 5 Ways to Ensure the Security of Your Pharmacy

As an independent pharmacist, one of your biggest worries is that your business will suffer shrinkage because of shoplifting or other theft. This is something you can help prevent with some basic security measures.

Here are 5 ways to ensure the security of your pharmacy:

1) Keep controlled substances locked up and away from prying eyes

You should already be filling prescriptions behind some type of privacy barrier. This minimizes distraction and thus error, and it also keeps you in compliance with HIPAA privacy rules.

But there's a security benefit to this, too. When prescriptions are filled in private, you reduce your risk of theft. Thieves steal controlled substances like oxycodone – sometimes through dangerous armed robbery – to sell and because of their addictions. You can minimize the risk of having these thefts occur with this simple pharmacy design fix. It can address the problem before it ever becomes an issue.

Finally, as a further deterrent to theft, you should also ensure that controlled substances are locked up unless they're being dispensed.

2) Locate bathrooms near areas of staff activity

If possible, situate bathrooms where you can keep an eye on them. Customers won't be as likely to sneak merchandise into the bathroom and secret in clothing or otherwise hide it if they know you're nearby and being watchful.

3) Keep merchandise displays neat and tidy – and stock shelves sparsely

Set up your pharmacy design and layout so that you have enough display options for the merchandise you sell without being crowded. You can further prevent theft with neat and tidy displays housed on shallow shelving options instead of deeper ones. Shallow shelves give the visual illusion that you have a lot of merchandise when you don't. It's also beneficial because you can quickly see when merchandise is missing. (You'll also be able to free up money that would otherwise be invested in merchandise.) Because you can keep track so easily, you can quickly match register sales to any missing merchandise. You'll know right away if something has been stolen rather than sold.

4) Create dead-end aisles for merchandise not behind the counter or under lock and key

Establish a counterclockwise footpath through your store so that your customers can see everything you have to offer. This makes it easier for them to shop – and discourages theft, too. You can create dead-end aisles that require customers to both enter and exit each department from a central location; there's no opportunity for them to slip out a side door or otherwise leave unnoticed.

The footpath will guide your customers through the store as they shop and then lead them right to the checkout as they finish. They must go through the checkout to leave your pharmacy, which is an integral part of pharmacy design that significantly reduces customers' ability to shoplift. Not only do they have to try to get stolen items through checkout without being noticed, but your employees can also carefully monitor customers for any suspicious behavior or bulkiness underclothing that might signify something is being hidden.

5) Remember to say "hello"

Greeting customers as they enter and leave your store isn't precisely an element of pharmacy design, but it's an excellent way to do business – and is yet another way to discourage shoplifting. Customers who have been greeted are no longer "invisible," which will make it much harder for them to steal if that was their original intention.

Protect your profits and safety with an eye on security. Greet customers as they enter your pharmacy, and include some basic security measures in your pharmacy design, too.