Bar Cameras — Part II

(Editor’s note: This is Part II in a series from H&S Protection on a recent bar/restaurant video camera installation to give customers insights into how we protect their businesses.)

Weather and Heights

The day turned humid and hot after starting out with drizzling rain. “The weather can determine a lot about a job. Not WHETHER to do something, but WHEN we do it. It’s tricky in the winter, for example. We can be working in temperatures below zero on outdoor installations and we have to figure out how to work around that. We’ll take turns. One guy works for a while, then goes inside to warm up his hands while the other guy takes over,” Matt Hills explained.

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Hills can only remember a few times that a job has been postponed due to weather. Wind and heavy rain can be tricky. If you’re on a lift, for example, wind and rain pose serious safety concerns.

“We take ladder safety extremely seriously. It’s super important. You could die from a 20-foot fall and we work at heights of 20 feet pretty regularly,” he said.

Walker Mence got a taste for heights as a rock climber when he was younger. Crawling through attics on installations, he said he found he “kinda missed” the thrill of heights from his rock climbing. Now he gets the call from H&S when there’s a crawl space: “When we’re in a kitchen or bar and we need someone to crawl into a small space, I hear, ‘Send Walker in there’,” he chuckled.

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Coworkers and Customers

Mence and Hills have known each other since high school and have a friendship along with their professional connection. After Hills screws in the four-square box, he also caulks the connections to make sure the seal is tight to keep water out. The two then begin bantering as Hills looks for one of his tools:

“That’s the other thing you have to watch out for – your coworkers stealing your tools,” Hills joked.

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“I always give you your tools back,” Walked chuckled in reply.

Both noted they enjoy working with each other and talking with customers. “We’ll joke around, but also be professional. I show them I’m a person, too, and not a robot putting the system in,” Hills said.

“I’ve worked in factory environment and now I’m outdoors meeting people. Each install is different,” Mence added.

(Stay tuned for Part III of this story.)

Bar Cameras — Part I

(Editor’s note: This is Part I in a series from H&S Protection on a recent bar/restaurant video camera installation to give customers insights into how we protect their businesses.)

Once a security systems sale concludes, our installation team goes into action. Recently we followed Matt Hills and Walker Mence as they finished an eight-camera indoor/outdoor (six indoor, two outdoor) installation at a bar/restaurant in Amherst, WI.

Operations develops a scope of the install, preps the installation team and determines the most convenient time for the customer so H&S doesn’t impede during high traffic customer hours. In this case, Matt and Walker started on Monday, when the BR (bar/restaurant) was closed so they could get most of the work done with no business interruptions. Tuesday, they finished the project in time before the BR opened later in the day.

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“We make a big effort to get everything done in the high traffic areas when the business is closed. We don’t want to impede customer service.  Jeff (Lukasavige, Operations Manager) puts that into our calendars,” Walker explained.

Work began Tuesday with all four indoor cameras placed per the customer’s direction and with professional insights from H&S personnel. Additional wiring and drilling through the backwall concrete was required for this two-tiered install.

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Walker took on the finishing touches of the indoor cameras Tuesday, while Matt jumped on the drill. “We’ve got to start with a smaller hole and then if we need to, we’ll work our way onto a bigger one,” Matt observed.

Before firing up the drill, Hills put in his earplugs and went around to each member of the BR staff to offer them ear protection as well. “We make sure to give earplugs to the cook staff. I always carry extra ear plugs,” he said.

Drill Time

“This is the fun part,” Matt said, as he fired up the drill, applied force to dig the bit in, and the dust started grinding out. Punching through after several minutes, he explained how the next step was to run conduit through the hole for the two outdoor cameras.

While Matt examined his work downstairs, Walker put the finishing wiring touches on cameras upstairs.

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When Hills went outside to admire his handiwork, it wasn’t quite up to his standards. To get the right angle on the mount once he ran the cabling through the concrete, Hills decided he needed to drill a slightly stepper angle through the wall.

His second drill session deemed a success, Hills inserted tubing, then threaded the cabling through the hole. He attached a four-square box, and slid the cabling through it before beginning the next step: running conduit pipe to the back of the building and then right and left to the corners.

(Stay tuned for parts II and III of this story.)