Workplace CCTV: where can cameras be installed?

Workplace cameras may protect people, property and access points. They must not be used to monitor employee performance. In practical terms, the design should focus on entrances, exits and the perimeter without keeping workstations under regular observation.

The exact position depends on the risk, the activity and how people move through the site. Do not begin with a camera count. Define the incident each view needs to clarify, then use the narrowest field of view that can do the job.

An electronic security design should answer that question before cameras, lenses or recording hardware are selected.

Design around a risk, not a device

Give every proposed camera a specific purpose: an out-of-hours entrance, access to a restricted area, intrusion from outside or protection of a particular asset. If the purpose can only be described as “seeing what staff are doing”, reconsider the position.

An entrance may justify recording people as they pass through the door. It does not follow that the reception desk should remain in shot throughout every shift. In a warehouse, protecting an external door or loading entrance is also different from continuously recording the aisles where employees work.

Portugal's Labour Code allows remote surveillance to protect people and property or where the nature of the activity requires it. It prohibits its use to control professional performance.

Keep working and private areas out of view

The Portuguese data protection authority's CCTV guidance excludes regular coverage of working areas, including offices, production lines, workshops and warehouses where people perform their jobs. The law also prevents cameras from covering employee-only areas such as:

• Dining and rest areas.
• Changing rooms, gyms and toilets.
• Other spaces intended for employee privacy.

Cameras should not cover public roads, neighbouring properties or other areas outside the organisation's control, except for the minimum view strictly needed to protect an entrance. Audio recording is prohibited while people are working in the monitored area unless prior authorisation has been obtained from the CNPD.

A privacy mask can exclude part of an image, but it does not rescue a poor camera position. Start with the physical design: location, height, lens and angle. Then verify that any mask applies to stored footage, not only to the live preview.

Provide information before recording

Employees must be told that CCTV is in use, why it is used and how the system operates. Visible signs are only part of the notice. The information should identify the data controller, retention period, authorised viewers and the process for exercising applicable rights.

Prior CNPD authorisation is not required to install the system. The organisation must still be able to show that each view is necessary, appropriate and proportionate. A data protection impact assessment may be mandatory where the system monitors publicly accessible areas systematically and on a large scale.

Unless specific legislation sets a different period, the CNPD indicates 30 days of retention, with deletion no later than 48 hours after that period. Keeping footage for months because it may become useful turns a defined security measure into an archive without a clear purpose.

Control who can view and export footage

The recorder should not sit on an open counter or rely on one shared account. Use named users, minimum permissions and a record of access and exports. Remove credentials when someone changes role or leaves the organisation.

Separate routine viewing from incident extraction. A person who checks an alert may not need permission to download recordings. The access-control policy should cover doors, accounts and security systems, not only cards and PINs.

The technical design should also establish whether recording continues without internet, where footage is stored and how it is protected. For a business, cameras, alarms and networking work best as a coordinated design, while every route into the system retains a defined purpose and owner.

Settle these points before installation

Before approving the camera plan, confirm:

1. The specific risk that justifies each camera.
2. Which workstations and private areas remain outside the image.
3. How employees and visitors receive the required information.
4. Who may view, export and delete recordings.
5. The retention period and deletion process.
6. What keeps working if internet access or power fails.

A sound design sees the entrance it needs to protect without turning ordinary work into the subject of the recording.

Review CCTV for my workplace. Include the entrances, areas to protect, operating hours and the workstations near each proposed position.