Warehouse Security: Common Risks, Challenges and Solutions

Warehouse security covers more than a fence and a camera. A distribution center has a gate that sees dozens of trucks a day, a dock where freight changes hands, a yard full of trailers, a workforce that may change with the season and a building full of people, forklifts and racking. Each of those creates its own risk. This guide walks through six of the most common challenges, what the current data says about them and the controls that address them. Where it helps, it links to the SecureOne service that fits.

1. Cargo and trailer theft

Cargo theft is rising in value even as the number of incidents moves around. Verisk CargoNet estimated losses of nearly $725 million in the United States and Canada in 2025, up 60 percent from the year before, with an average value per theft of $273,990. In the second quarter of 2026 alone, CargoNet recorded estimated losses of $304.6 million, more than double the same quarter of 2025, even though incidents fell. TT Club reports that thefts from facilities and warehouses account for about a quarter of recorded cargo theft incidents worldwide.

What helps. Verify every driver and every load at the gate, record seal numbers when trailers arrive and leave, patrol the yard at unpredictable times and put cameras on the yard entrance and staging area. Our warehouse theft prevention page covers how SecureOne combines those layers.

2. Fraud and fictitious pickups

Some of the most expensive thefts never involve forced entry. CargoNet describes impersonation of legitimate carriers, business email compromise and shipment misdirection as ongoing schemes. A driver shows up with paperwork that looks right, and a busy shipping clerk releases the load.

What helps. Officers who verify carrier and driver identity against appointment data every time, hold any truck that does not match and call a supervisor rather than guessing. That procedure is the heart of our warehouse access control service.

3. Insider and internal theft

TT Club and BSI found that 22 percent of global cargo theft incidents in their 2025 report involved the cooperation of insiders. That does not mean employees are the problem. It means procedures need to make the honest path the easy one.

What helps. Badge control at employee entrances, visitor logs, exit checks where your policy calls for them, separation of duties between receiving, shipping and inventory, rules that keep personal vehicles away from the dock and camera coverage of the dock. Trained warehouse security guards at the gate and employee entrance make those rules consistent.

4. Perimeter and yard weaknesses

A yard is only as secure as its weakest stretch of fence or its darkest corner. The TAPA Facility Security Requirements, a logistics security standard used by many shippers, call for a physical barrier of at least 6 feet around the shipping and receiving yard, inspected at least weekly, with gates that are manned or electronically controlled, adequate lighting in loading areas and camera coverage that makes vehicles and people recognizable.

What helps. Fence line patrols, lighting checks with every round, gates that are controlled rather than propped open and camera trailers for yards or overflow lots where permanent cameras are not practical. SecureOne's mobile patrol services give a yard a visible presence on a scheduled or random basis, with patrol units that can respond to alarms and suspicious activity.

5. Safety on the dock and floor

Warehouse security and warehouse safety overlap more than most people expect. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2023 rate of 4.7 recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in warehousing and storage, compared with 2.4 for private industry as a whole. OSHA's warehousing guidance covers forklift operation, which is limited to trained and certified operators and to no one under 18, along with dock edges, exit routes that are kept clear, lit and marked and monthly visual checks of fire extinguishers. OSHA's exit route fact sheet notes that a workplace normally needs at least two exit routes, and its warehousing guidance says exit doors must not be locked or blocked.

What helps. Officers who are trained to notice and report hazards on every round, and post orders that never ask an officer to chain or block an exit. SecureOne builds that into site orientation through our security guard training program.

6. Building a layered program

The strongest warehouse programs are not built around a single product. They start with a risk assessment, then combine physical controls, written procedures, trained people and reporting, and they are reviewed as the operation changes. That matches the management-system approach in the ASIS International Physical Asset Protection standard, which treats protection as something to design, put in place and review over time. TT Club makes a similar point: there is no one-size-fits-all answer, and the right mix depends on what is stored and how often it moves.

A practical way to begin is a walk of your own building at the times that matter most, such as shift change, the last outbound load and the middle of the night on a weekend. Our warehouse security checklist gives you a structure for that walk, and our article on cargo theft prevention for warehouses goes deeper on the gate, dock and yard.

Where SecureOne fits

SecureOne has provided industrial security for warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing plants and intermodal transportation hubs since 2002. Every account starts with a manager walking your site and writing post orders that fit it. Officers report in Vision InSites, our real-time reporting platform, and every client has a single point of contact available 24/7. If you would like a second set of eyes on your gate, dock and yard, call (888) 834-5285 or visit our contact page.

Sources: Verisk CargoNet, 2025 theft trends, Verisk CargoNet, Q2 2026 theft trends, TT Club, Operating a Secure Warehouse, TT Club and BSI, 2025 cargo theft report, TAPA Facility Security Requirements 2023, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, injury and illness rates 2023, OSHA, Warehousing: Hazards and Solutions, OSHA, Worker Safety Series: Warehousing, OSHA, Emergency Exit Routes fact sheet, ASIS International, Physical Asset Protection standard.