When Surveying Equipment Goes Missing: Is Your Business Ready?

For a surveying business, equipment is much more than a collection of tools.

Total stations, GNSS/GPS equipment, laser scanners, laptops, accessories and drones can represent a significant investment. More importantly, they are essential to keeping projects moving, teams productive and clients satisfied.

So, what happens when a critical piece of equipment suddenly goes missing?

Whether equipment is stolen from a vehicle, disappears from a worksite or is lost while moving between projects, the impact can extend well beyond the replacement cost. For surveying businesses that rely on specialised equipment every day, even a short period without the right tools can create delays, rescheduling and unexpected costs.

Equipment Theft: Looking Beyond the Headlines

It can be easy to assume equipment theft is becoming more common. However, the available data paints a more complicated picture.

The Australian Equipment Theft Index 2026, published by MapTrack in August and based on NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data, found that recorded theft from motor vehicles in NSW fell substantially over the longer term. The report also acknowledges an important limitation: Australia does not currently publish a dedicated national statistic specifically measuring equipment theft.

The latest BOCSAR figures, released on 16 September 2026, similarly show that recorded crime across NSW remained largely stable in the two years to June 2026. Steal-from-motor-vehicle offences were stable statewide and declined by 4.2% across Greater Sydney during that period.

That doesn’t mean surveying businesses can afford to become complacent.

Surveying equipment has several characteristics that make loss particularly disruptive: it can be expensive, portable, regularly transported between locations and essential for completing work.

For a business, the better question isn’t necessarily “Is equipment theft increasing?” but rather:

“What would happen to our business if an important piece of equipment wasn’t there tomorrow?”

The Cost Isn’t Just the Equipment

Consider a field team arriving at a project and discovering that a total station or GNSS receiver has disappeared.

Replacing the equipment is one concern. But there may also be scheduled work that can no longer proceed, staff who need to be redirected, deadlines that become more difficult to meet and clients who need to be informed.

Depending on the circumstances, replacement equipment may need to be sourced quickly while the business deals with reporting the loss and making an insurance claim.

This is why equipment risk should be considered as part of broader business continuity planning—not simply as an asset replacement issue.

Know What You Own

One of the simplest risk-management measures is maintaining an accurate and current equipment register.

For significant items, businesses should consider recording identifying information such as serial numbers, purchase details and photographs, as well as keeping relevant invoices and documentation somewhere secure and accessible.

It’s also worth considering how equipment moves throughout the business.

Who has responsibility for an item? Where is it normally stored? Is there a process for equipment being transferred between employees, vehicles or worksites?

Clear records can make it easier to identify what is missing and provide relevant information if an incident needs to be reported.

Think About Where Equipment Is Left

Surveyors don’t operate exclusively from secure offices.

Equipment may be transported in vehicles, used in public areas, temporarily positioned across large worksites or left in the field while other tasks are completed.

Those working conditions make it important for businesses to review their own procedures for securing equipment.

Practical measures might include limiting unnecessary equipment left in vehicles, locking equipment away where practicable, reviewing storage arrangements and ensuring staff know the business’s procedures for reporting lost or stolen items.

There is no single measure that can eliminate the risk entirely. The goal is to make sensible precautions part of everyday operations.

Does Your Insurance Match How You Actually Work?

Insurance is another part of the equation but the details matter.

A surveying business should understand what its policy covers, particularly if expensive equipment regularly leaves the office.

ACSIS’s Equipment & Portable Tools Insurance is specifically designed for surveying businesses and can cover equipment including total stations, GPS equipment, multi-stations, theodolites, laser scanners, accessories, laptops and UAVs/drones.

Current ACSIS policy features include cover for accidental damage, fire, theft and natural disasters anywhere in Australia, as well as theft in the open air, including unattended equipment on-site. The policy also provides new-for-old replacement and a blanket $50,000 cover for unspecified items. UAVs and drones can also be covered while in flight.

Those features reflect an important reality: surveying equipment doesn’t spend its life safely inside an office.

Prepare Before Something Goes Missing

No business expects to arrive at a job and discover that essential equipment has disappeared.

But having the right processes in place beforehand can make a difficult situation easier to manage.

Keeping accurate equipment records, establishing sensible security procedures, understanding where assets are being used and regularly reviewing insurance cover can all form part of a stronger approach to equipment risk.

For surveyors, the tools of the trade are also the tools that keep the business moving.

Protecting them means protecting more than the equipment itself.

How ACSIS Can Help

ACSIS has supported Australia’s surveying profession for more than 40 years, with insurance solutions designed around the way surveying businesses actually operate.

If you’re unsure whether your current equipment cover reflects the equipment you own and how it’s used in the field, the ACSIS team can help you review your insurance needs.

Learn more about ACSIS Equipment & Portable Tools Insurance