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Blue-U Defense Corporate Virtual Security Assessment, Educational Guide, and Questionnaire

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Organization of Faith Security Assessment, Educational Guide, and Questionnaire

Guide and Instructions for a Virtual Security Assessment

Introduction

True safety and security are about far more than today’s typical site security assessments, security systems, and/or one-time, or periodic, training courses. The very foundation of true safety and security is the successful establishment of a “culture” which inspires everyone to take responsibility for their safety and security on themselves. As an employer, when we are able to successfully create an environment that clearly indicates that employee safety and security are a top priority, and that each employee plays a significant, and even critical, role in this environments success, or failure, the typical response is the acceptance of “ownership” which creates a natural desire to not only take that role seriously, but improve our skills and ability to perform in that role. That’s what this Virtual Assessment is all about - discovering where you are as an organization with true safety and security, where you ultimately want to be, and developing a plan to get you there.

This means that in order to conduct a meaningful and successful security assessment, it’s topics must cover all of the elements of a properly designed system with an ultimate goal of establishing where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there in your designated time.

An Introduction to Systems

Systems that accomplish true safety and security must have a designer to ensure that all the parts of the system work together as a whole, or towards a common and ultimate goal. Today, typical security systems, and all of the elements of the system, are implemented independently of the others and therefore don’t work together effectively towards a common goal. In other words, we bring various experts in to implement their specific safety-related products or services with no regard for the role that these products or services play within a designed system. As a result, many organizations deploy products, services, and elements of services, that simply are not needed, they have no impact on the true safety and security of those that these products and services are meant to protect, and in some cases, the actually elevate potential danger. So, while we think that “checking boxes off a checklist” by deploying the products and services generally accepted as security solutions (mostly technology-focused like alarms, cameras, badge-readers, etc.) is creating safety, our time, resources, and investment may do little to truly keep us safe. And again, in some cases, it could create more dangerous situations than they are intended to protect against.

So, while the elements of today’s generally accepted safety and security solutions don’t necessarily need to change, the system, and the quality of the elements of the system that we use to achieve the goal must improve and change.

What is True Safety and Security Really About?

Here’s the real bottom-line - True safety and security is not about technology. It’s about people! In fact, we see security systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars rendered completely useless by the actions of a single person not following established policy and procedure. Well thought, reality- based policy and procedure and the training of people is far more important to true safety and security that technology.

Here’s another consideration to support individual responsibility and improvement in skills. When we have people assigned to the role of “Security”, or in some cases we hire contractors, or employ full time security professionals, what its generally does to other employees is provide them with a false sense of security. Their general mindset is “I don’t have to worry about safety and security because it’s someone else’s responsibility”. What happens, however, when that other person, department, or technology fails? And, unfortunately, they will fail.

An Introduction to Prevention

In security, we place tremendous effort on prevention. The mindset is – “If we can prevent a problem from happening in the first place, we don’t have to worry about anything else”. Obviously, this is true. The problem, however, is that regardless of what we do, we will never prevent acts-of-violence from happening in their entirety. Again, NO MATTER WHAT WE DO! This doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t try to make ourselves unattractive as targets and do everything that we can to discourage a potential threat. The question becomes, what do we do when our prevention efforts fail? And again, they will fail. So, our system of true safety and security must go well-beyond the prevention aspects.

An Introduction to The Life or Death Gap

The bottom line of true safety and security is not about technology and/or establishing good, practical, and realistic policy and procedure. If true safety and security are about people, our efforts therefore, must remain focused on providing them with engaging, practical, and effective resources to both shorten, and enhance their performance during, the “Life or Death Gap.

What is the “Life or Death Gap? It’s the time that begins the second you know and understand that there is danger to you, or someone you may be responsible for, and it expands until the time that you know 100% for certain that this danger no longer exists. This gap can be seconds, several seconds, minutes, many minutes, and in some cases hours. Regardless of how long this gap is, if you are in it, it is a lifetime! Why? Because a lot of damage can happen within just a matter of seconds. Most training and security products and services focus on getting help to those in need more quickly. While this is a critical component of true safety and security as it can shorten this Life or Death Gap, the focus on this gap is typically overlooked and never discussed. As a result, we don’t know how to stay alive during the Life or Death Gap or the time when there is no one there, except for you, to help you survive. The focus of a system that achieves true safety and security must include prevention as well as shortening and surviving the Life or Death Gap and, performing during this gap.

So, what are we Really Trying to Do?

An Introduction to Developing Thinkers

The ability to be able to prevent a sudden, unplanned incident of violence from happening in the first place, prepare appropriately to react to such an incident, and then performing during such an incident, must start with establishing a foundation or a “base” in which to begin our work from. Again, in order to get where we want to go, its critical to know exactly where we are starting from as well as what the ultimate destination, or goal, is.

Unfortunately, todays generally accepted security solutions, starting with physical site assessments, continuing through policy and procedure, and finally training, are all based on assumptions that likely will not materialize as expected. As a result, our developed plans will not work as expected if, and when, reality strikes. Therefore, it is impossible to develop plans. So many are led to believe that plan development can save lives, and therefore place significant resources into plan development. Unfortunately, this can create more danger than the effort is intended to protect against.

What we can develop, however, is thinkers!

The bottom-line goal of any security program, or coordinated system that will result in real success, must start with establishing the ability to be able to react appropriately under the most extreme and quickly changing of circumstances. Further, we must have the ability to renew our reaction based on highly dynamic situations. Success is not about developing a “master plan” as many believe; it’s about developing the skills that will create the ability in every employee to be able to think and develop their own plans, based on what will be circumstances extremely unique to them at the time and under the conditions in which they are presented.

An Introduction to the Core of True Safety and Security

The very core of an appropriately established foundation is first determining what a threat is likely to do once inside our facility. Until this is determined, with as much accuracy as possible, we cannot establish a foundation of true safety and security. Once this is determined, and tested, we must then figure out how to utilize our current resources, to include facility layout, technology, and people, to design exactly what we want a threat to do rather than leaving it to chance. Determining what a threat is likely to do leads to the formulation of remedies designed to enhance employee performance and safety during incidents like a robbery, active shooter, or other acts-of-violence. Once we determine what a threat is likely to do, and develop the appropriate remedies based on our assumptions, it’s critical that we test our developed theories to ensure that what we are assuming is based on reality. This process is one of the most critical elements of true safety and security.

The Blue-U Defense Virtual Security Assessment, Education Guide and Questionnaire

Secure facilities fall into a few of the critical categories that comprise true safety and security – prevention, shortening the Life or Death Gap, and survival while within the “Life or Death Gap”. There are additional components that fall outside of our focus as a company – recovery, business continuity, psychological resources, incident command and management, etc. – all of which I strongly encourage you to envelop into your overall plan.

The following questionnaire, combined with appropriate photo support, has been thoughtfully and carefully designed to provide us with the information necessary to provide you with conclusions and remedies that will significantly enhance your organizational security – even if you take no additional steps beyond this one.

This Guide and Questionnaire is also designed to act as an educational tool. As you will note as you progress through this Guide and Instructions, we are providing detailed explanations of why the posed questions are critical to be considered and resolved which will significantly enhance your effectiveness and expertise in the areas of safety and security. Ultimately, this is a resource that you can use as a “Do It Yourself” tool and resource.

As you complete this questionnaire, please take the time necessary to provide us with complete and concise information. This was purposely designed to require thought, and time. The more thoughtful the information that you provide to us the better the overall value that we can provide you with.

If you have any questions, or need clarification on any part of this questionnaire as you complete it, please email [email protected] or call 603-759-7803.

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The Blue-U Defense Virtual Assessment, Education Guide, and Questionnaire

What Are Your Goals?

When we begin our journey towards true safety and security, regardless of business-type, size, industry, etc., we first must establish what our goals for the journey are. This is not always, and cannot be, so simple. Our services are requested by clients daily. The first question I ask of inquiring clients is “why do you want our services?” What I typically get, in response to this question, is a pause. The pause is a result of not having previously considered the “why” or the “ultimate goal”. It’s only upon having been posed with this question that they really begin to consider this for the first time. Some of the common responses, without prior thought are – “because our employees are asking for it”, “because everyone is doing it”, “because we are concerned about our employees”, and other very similar reasons. The bottom line is that none of these “goals” are good enough as they are just not specific enough to generate real results. Goals that lack specificity will typically result in wasted time, resources and investment. In general, they typically result in a single training course that will do little, by itself, to create true safety and security. So, in order to establish true safety and security, and create the culture that is necessary for true safety and security, we must start with understanding where we are currently, and where we ultimately want to be. Therefore, lets start our journey with establishing your goals for true safety and security.

What are Your Goals?

Why are you concerned about organizational safety and security beyond what your current resources and systems?

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Because your starting goals are so critical to success, they must be well-thought, thorough, and be such that they will always keep you on-course to achievement. Your goals are your guide! Here are what your goals should be:

What Your Goals Should Be

There are three goals that must be embraced in order to achieve true safety and security.

1) Truly keep people safe – Employees and Clients2) Mitigate Risk – Prevention3) Limit Vulnerability to Organizational Liability

True organizational safety and security is not only about the physical aspects normally associated with them; things like security systems and policy and procedure. Goals also must factor liability into the equation. Again, this is something that is rarely discussed or planned for. The question that must be answered is:

Organizational Philosophies

Have you ever had an Incident of Violence within your organization or ever had a real threat of such an incident happening?


If yes, please describe the circumstances of each in as much detail as possible.


If an act-of-violence where to happen within your organization, what have you done to prevent it and keep your employees safe if your current systems fail?


If your answer is “Nothing”, that’s going to create for significant exposure to liability. If your answer is “the minimum that is required” then you are much better off than having answered “nothing”. So, what will significantly reduce your exposure to liability? The ability to be able to say that you not only did the minimum required, but you did far more than the minimum is a critical component of liability reduction. The ability to be able to say that you thoroughly assessed your facilities, developed and/or enhanced your policy and procedure, trained your employees and continue to train them, etc could significantly reduce your risk of liability.

What is your administration-level philosophy on safety and security? In general, is it of high priority and do you get high level support at the highest levels of the organization?


If your answer is “no”, what are your greatest challenges?


Administrative level philosophy on safety and security should be very apparent based the time, human and financial resources dedicated to safety and security. If a true culture of safety and security exists, it will be very easy to see. If this culture doesn’t exist, it will be equally easy to see. Administration level philosophies on safety and security can, and will typically, drive employee level philosophy.

Is your employee-base concerned about safety and security and how has this been determined?


While employee level philosophies on safety and security can be driven by administration level philosophy, we see many situations where employees have significant concerns about safety and security while administration level does not. This can be a significant challenge and will many times result in loss of employees if not addressed. This should not be driven by the

employee base but at the administrative level in order to create a culture of true safety and security.

As someone responsible for the safety and security of employees and clients, what keeps you awake at night? In other words, what are your greatest concerns about keeping truly keeping people safe?


As someone responsible for safety and security within your organization, what is the process that you follow if you find a “flaw” or something that needs to be corrected?


As the person who may be designated with organizational safety, this process is critical for you to understand and it should be guided by policy and procedure.

If you are denied the ability to correct a recognized safety or security flaw, what do you to do ensure that you are protected?


One of the greatest concerns of those responsible for the safety and security of others is the risk that comes with bringing a flaw or recommendation to the organization only to be turned down or denied funding or resources to correct them. There should be a process in place that addresses how this is handled to ensure that both you, and the organization are adequately protected should the flaw or concern become a real problem. In the end, will this come back to be your responsibility?

General Business InformationRegardless of your business type, it’s critical that you understand how your customer service model can impact safety and security. How these models are deployed and utilized can be very different from company-to-company, even when in the same industry. While there are numerous established models, all of them can be customized in order to enhance safety and security.

As a result, providing the requested information in this section can help us focus on your specific organization, its philosophies, needs, etc. and therefore provide you with the highest of quality results.

Please provide the following details about your facility:

Type of Business (Retail, Corporate or Office; Manufacturing, etc.)


If you are not a retail business, how many people come/go through your facility each day?


Do visitors typically have appointments or are they unplanned/walk-in?


Please describe, in as much detail as possible, how your Receptionists, or employees, are trained to respond to incoming visitors, or clients?


How your employees are trained to react to incoming customers, visitors, etc. can have a significant impact on not only the deterrence and prevention of a robbery or act-of-violence, but as important, employee performance should our prevention efforts fail. It is fact that business who utilize customer service models that promote paying attention are less likely to become victims of a violent incident.

Training

Proper and appropriate training is one of the most critical elements of true safety and security. Today’s typical training simply will not result in our intended goals. As a result, it’s critical that training be engaging, practical, effective, and based on reality. It is critical that training be continuous and ongoing in an effort to eliminate the “perishability” common with periodic

training. If training is not continuous and ongoing it will not be effective when needed. Effective training begins with establishing a proper foundation which must include an understanding of the problems that the trained solutions are meant to resolve. And ultimately, training and developed plans cannot be based on assumptions.

Please describe your act-of-violence training, the method of delivery of the training, frequency of delivery of the training, and the length of training.


If your facility is at risk of robbery, are your employees trained in, and do they know the difference between, a robbery and an act-of-violence, and are they trained in how their reaction to each must be completely different, as well as when and how their reaction must change?


Typical robbery training is based in compliance. Unfortunately, most organizations susceptible to robbery focus training efforts solely on robbery training and don’t typically teach their employees about the distinct difference between a robbery and an act-of-violence - each of which should prompt completely different, and opposite, responses. As a result, should a robbery turn into an act-of-violence, employees are likely to revert to the only training they have ever had, which is typically robbery training. The result being that even if a robbery suddenly turns into an act-of-violence, employees are likely to maintain “compliance”. Unfortunately, compliance during an active shooter threat will assuredly result in injury or death. Therefore, it’s critical that employees be simultaneously trained in both robbery (compliance) and acts-of-violence or active shooter so that they know when compliance turns into a need for action.

Do you provide training in hostage and hostage and “hostage removal from site” situations?


While rare in the United States, there have been instances that have turned into hostage situations. In some of these instances, employees were forced to leave the facility with the hostage taker. It is critical that employees understand, and know how to respond, to all possibilities that can arise from a general act-of-violence. Although a hostage situation is rare,

and one of many possible outcomes, it poses a significant risk to employees. Understanding how to read a situation as it progresses, to include the intent of the threat, and how to react to what are highly dynamic situations is critical to safety and security.

Have your employees been trained in general firearm knowledge and how to determine whether, or not, a firearm is a real threat, or not?


Have your employees been trained in how to disable various types of firearms in the unlikely, yet possible, event of an active shooter situation?


Acts-of-Violence where firearms are utilized as a means of control create for extremely fearful and tense situations for our employees. In many cases, a firearm intended to act as a threat may not necessarily be a threat. The key learning factor here is not to change standard compliance theory, but to lower our employee’s anxiety levels and therefore contribute positively to higher performance. As one of many possible examples – If an armed robber is using a revolver, it is typically very simple to determine whether the firearm is loaded, or not. Understanding this, and the ability to be able to make that termination can calm us if we know that the threat cannot, or will not, use it to harm us. Conversely, the ability to know how to render a firearm ineffective can be extremely valuable, and potentially life-saving, should a general act-of-violence turn into something more dangerous and deadly. Teaching your employees about common types of firearms is critical to practical and effective security.

Do you believe that your current training is effective and that it will result in the safety and security of your employees?


If the ultimate goal of our efforts are true safety and security, then it’s critical that our training be evaluated to ensure, with complete confidence, that it is having the desired impact. Today, training in general is ineffective for numerous reasons. It is critical that we adopt a training program that promotes a desire to constantly learn more, and that what we are teaching will be achievable and effective if, and when, we ever need it.

Do you think providing training, resources for training, or general guidelines for reacting to such an incident would be considered of high value to “your clients”?


Should you ever have an incident of violence within your facility, there may be a chance, and depending on your business type, that there will be clients present at the time. As a result, it’s critical that we consider how the reactions of a clients could put them, our employees, and other customers in danger.

As one of many possible considerations - Most organizations train employees to never activate an alarm until a potential threat has left the facility. The reason for this is to prevent a hostage situation. But what if a client were to activate an alarm, or alert law enforcement, prior to a threat leaving the building. Should this ever happen, all of our training, and the corresponding well-established reasons for, and development of this policy, would immediately be rendered useless.

Do you offer your employees with opportunities to practice established processes and procedures?


Employee performance during an act-of-violence is a critical factor in the safety and security of those within the facility at the time of an incident. In fact, the inability of an employee to perform can create a violent situation out of one that would not have turned violent without the employee’s ability to perform. We cannot assume that what we are expecting is achievable under high stressful circumstances. As a result, testing, and practicing our processes and procedures under created stress is a critical and necessary step in true safety and security.

The Responsibility for Training, Their Expertise, and Instructor Skills

As a person who may be responsible for providing for a safe environment for your employees and clients, it’s critical that you understand this role and the responsibility that comes with it. As someone with this responsibility to instruct, or train, others, it’s critical that you understand that this includes the responsibility to ensure that what you are instructing is taken seriously, understood, and retained. In other words, are you having an impact on those that you are instructing. Therefore, one of your primary responsibilities is becoming an Excellent Instructor.

Who is responsible for training your employees in the areas of safety and security? We don’t need a name; title only.


Do you do training in how to prevent and survive an act-of-violence?


If yes, how often is it provided to your employees?


If yes, is it mandatory, volunteer, or a combination of both? Please explain.


What training materials are used when training your employees in how to prevent and survive an act-of-violence? Is there a general program in which you obtain training curriculum from?


How often do you, or your trainer, present training material to your employees?


Have your trainers received instruction in becoming a professional presenter and speaker?


Are your trainers highly engaging and capable of immediately grabbing the attention of those they are training?


Building Safety and Security Planning

It Starts with Knowing What a Threat is Likely to Do in Your Facility

First, it’s critical to understand that an actual development of a plan is impossible! Why? Because its impossible to know for certain, in advance, what a potential threat is going to do. As a result, its impossible to develop a plan that will be completely certain to work under all circumstances. Think about this – we can spend hours inside of a room developing a plan for an “active shooter” utilizing numerous people within that room. We could practice, discuss, speculate, etc. We could work it to perfection! Then, a real incident initiates and one tiny little detail of what we expected to happen, doesn’t happen, or something changes ever so slightly and now the entire plan we worked so long and hard to perfect suddenly just doesn’t work. So static plans likely will not work.

So what can we do?

We can develop thinkers. We can give our employees and clients the skills to be able to develop their own plans based on the circumstances that they will be facing at the time that they are facing them. We can give them the educational resources to be able to constantly be re-evaluating, updating, and perfecting their plans as they move from room-to-room, and as highly dynamic situations change.

Have you developed the skills within your employees to adapt to highly dynamic incidents while under extreme stress? Have you developed “Thinkers”


If yes, what tools or training have you used to accomplish this?


The Path of Least Resistance

Understanding and determining a threat’s “path of least resistance” is a critical aspect of not only determining what a threat is likely to do once inside your facility, but also in controlling it. We have found this highly critical, yet extremely necessary step to be commonly overlooked. Before we can begin to develop any type of plan for our employees, and before we can develop reality-based policy and procedure, we must first know what a threat is likely to do once inside of each specific building. In most organizations, this is a rarely-taken step as it’s a currently an unrecognized or unknown step. As a result, what a threat is likely to do is completely “left-to-chance”. Unfortunately, leaving this to chance and/or not considering it, will contribute significantly to the challenges that will be faced by our clients and employees if and/or when an incident develops and therefore must be addressed very early in any true safety and security system.

Have you made efforts to determine what a potential threat is “likely” to do upon entry into each of your facilities?


If yes, please describe the process for doing so.


Have you determined a threat’s likely “path-of-least-resistance”?


If this process has been completed, have you tested your assumptions, and what was the process for this testing?


If this process has been completed, were you able to reveal conclusions that were used to change current policy, procedure, of site security features?


How do we determine what a threat is likely to do? By conducting “Experimentation Drills”. By using actors, whom have never been inside of your facility and therefore don’t know that building payout or where their intended victim might be, creating some stress, and ultimately watching what they do, we can get a solid understanding of what a real threat might do.

How to Determine Path-of-Least Resistance and What to do With It?First, put yourself in the position of the “bad guy” or “threat”. If you walk into any building there is a natural way that the layout of the building would cause you to go if you were looking for the most people as quickly as possible. This “path of least resistance” is going to likely be the same for most people, including a threat. Once this is established upon entry into your facility, start to walk its path until you come to another area where there is another multi-directional choice that can be made. Find the path of least resistance from this point exactly as you did upon entering your building and proceed until the next point. Continue until you have covered the entire facility.

As you determine this “path of least resistance” within your building what you are looking for is ways to create resistance for a potential threat which, in turn, creates time for your employees to act and get to safety. In many cases its as simple as closing a door and securing it. In other cases its as simple as adding a door.

Policy/Procedure on Act of Violence

General Issues

When, and how often, do your employees read your policy and procedure?


Good, effective, and practical safety and security policy and procedure are critical to true safety and security. Unfortunately, we see far too many policies and procedures that are little more than “they look good on paper”, however, when reality strike’s we quickly find that they simply will not work so well and, in some cases, they will not work at all. Therefore, it’s absolutely critical, if you are truly concerned about employee and client safety and security, that you ensure that your policies and procedures will work if, and when, reality strikes.

Further, policy and procedure are a critical part of your business. They have been established for extremely important reason; and there has been considerable thought, effort, and

investment in creating them. As a result, it’s critical that your employees are intimately familiar with, and understand, each and every one of them. Utilizing a system that continuously feeds your policy and procedure to your employees, all year long, and combining a process for ensuring and proving understanding and retention is critical when considering true safety and security and organizational liability.

Do you have a system for ensuring that each employee knows, understands, and retains your policy and procedure on a regular basis throughout the course of each year?

(If yes, please explain how that is accomplished)


Have you reviewed your policies and procedures to ensure that they are based on reality and that your employees will be able to do what is expected of them under the circumstances in which they will be presented with?


Policy and procedure must be based on reality, rather than simply “looking good on paper”. As we work with clients in virtually all business types and professions, we find policy and procedure that look great on paper but simply will not work when reality strikes. As a result, its critical to review your policy and procedure in this light to ensure that they are reality based and accomplishable by your employees under the circumstances that they will face at the time of need. If you find such a problem it is something that must be corrected immediately.

Restraining or Protection Orders

Does your policy and procedure address employees whom are the subject of, or involved in, a Restraining or Protection Order?


Workplace violence is the number one cause of death in the workplace for females, and the number two cause of death in males. Of the causes that contribute to these statistics there are two that that of primary concern – domestic situations and terminations. Most organizations have not considered policy on restraining or protection orders in which their employees may be

subject of, or involved in. The policy consideration? Do you require employees whom are subject of a restraining order to report it to your organization? The significance of such a policy is both safety and security of employees and customers/members as well as organizational liability. While having such a policy doesn’t guarantee adherence, from a liability prospective, having a policy that requires it can increase safety and security and well as reduce potential vulnerability to liability. It is important that you consult with your attorney on the best way to manage this.

Termination Procedures

Please describe, in as much detail as possible, the process of termination to include location of termination, who does the termination, and what is provided to the employee upon termination. If possible, please provide a photo of the area/office and, if you have a planned process for seating the subject of termination within this area, please describe where it is in relation to the person conducting the termination procedure.


Employee terminations are one of two primary factors in in workplace acts-of-violence, the second being domestic-related situations. Terminations can be a significant factor in the creation of an immediate threat, and worse, threats that are not known until days, weeks, months, and even years later. There have been numerous instances where completely normal-appearing terminations have turned deadly. In some cases, even the terminated have been completely ok at the time of termination and it wasn’t until later, following a string of events that led to disaster in their lives, that they traced the starting point of their situation back to the termination. Therefore, the process of termination, and what happens internally following a termination, must be carefully considered in order to provide for the safest possible environment both immediately upon termination and in following days, weeks, months and years.

Please describe, in detail, policy and procedure for any situations that raise concerns. Things that may raise concern may be a threat by the terminated employee, comments that might raise concern, actions that might raise concern, etc.


Following the termination of an employee, who within your organization is notified and how quickly are they notified?


It is extremely common, following an employee termination, that only certain people are aware of the termination, typically supervisors or administrative level employees. One of the dangers of termination is the terminated employee returning to not only their specific facility but to the corporate office, where they may not be known. As a result, who is notified, what information they are notified with, and how quickly they are notified becomes critical.

Upon termination, are badges immediately taken from the terminated employee and disabled?


Upon an employee suspension or leave, are badges taken from the employee and disabled while on leave?


We have seen numerous cases where suspension has ultimately resulted in termination. Of further concern is when employees on suspension retain credential to enter the building. Our recommendation is to always confiscate and disable the badges of those on suspension or leave to ensure that they cannot enter the building while on leave or suspension.

How to React to Suspicious Activity, Suspicious Persons or

Persons-of-Concern

Do you have a policy/procedure that guides employees and managers on exactly what to do in the case of a suspicious person or person-of-concern and have they been trained to actual look for, and recognize these things?


(If yes, please provide wording from this section of your policy and an explanation of your corresponding training)


Why this is critical? True, encouraged, and mandated employee awareness can play a significant role in true safety and security. In fact, it can be the number one deterrent. If a potential threat’s number one criterion for choosing a victim, whether it be an individual or an organization, is one that is not paying attention, any individual or organization that is will have a far less chance of becoming a victim than a person or organization that is paying attention may be.

Have your employees been trained to look for, and recognize, suspicious activity?


While training your employees, and providing tools designed to create a habit of being ultra-aware and ultra-vigilant, and actually looking for a potential threat is critical, it is just as critical to train them what suspicious people and situations look like. Everyone agrees that a key to true safety and security lies in “See Something, Say Something”. Providing educational tools that develop “habits” becomes critical to not only individual, but organizational security. It also plays a significant role in developing the culture of safety and security that is so critical to a programs success.

Granting access to facility outside of normal business hours

How does your policy and procedure address communicating with clients, or allowing access to clients, outside of normal business hours?


This is another area of safety and security where we find that, in spite of policy and procedure, significant, and potentially dangerous flaws exist. If an employee must open a door to communicate with a potential client or visitor, every security measure established is immediately rendered ineffective and useless. In most cases we have found that this needs to be tested to ensure compliance. We have also found that it requires direct attention and training so that employees know exactly why such a breach of policy is highly dangerous.

Communication

In the event of an incident of violence, do you have a method, policy/procedure for immediately notifying others, both inside and outside of the facility, of the problem? If so, please describe the system in as much detail as possible.


Surviving an act-of-violence is all about time, decision-making, and distance. Should an incident of violence ever materialize, it is imperative that you have a covert, and immediate method of communicating the details of the threat to as many people as possible – both inside and outside of the facility. This means that employees who are not in harm’s way need to stay clear of the danger. This solution must be “activatable” during an incident, rather than after an incident, as is the case with generally accepted safety and security practices. We must be able to alert both employees and law enforcement before an incident can turn violent or deadly. If you don’t have a practical and effective solution that addresses these capabilities in real-time, it is imperative that you pursue one.

Established Protocol and Actions During an Incident of Violence?

Have your employees been trained regarding the safest areas within your building, the safest areas within those areas, and how to set-up the area to give them the absolute best chance of surviving an incident of violence?


Lockdown vs Evacuation

In general, have you taught your employees about the differences between lockdown and evacuation and which of the two, if either, you prefer for them to do during an incident of violence?


Can you explain why you chose, or emphasize, one vs the other?


Lockdown vs Evacuation is truly a debate. Which one is right, however, ultimately depends on the circumstances of the individual having to make this decision at the time that it has to be

made. There should never be an established protocol that says either lockdown or evacuation. As is the case with plan development, the lockdown vs evacuation decision must be made

based on circumstances that cannot be determined in advance. This makes it even more important that the skills necessary to develop “thinkers” are provided to employees in advance of a time when such decision may need to be made under highly stressful circumstances.

Physical Site Security Features

So, how does a secure facility play a role in creating a “culture of true safety and security”? Culture creation requires that your organization take safety and security seriously; and this must be completely clear and visible to those whom you are trying to “culturize”. Securing your facility and correspondingly developing policy and procedure based on a secure facility will be the first, and most visible step towards your goal of “Creating a Culture of True Safety and Security”. Employees will really see the beginning of a process that will ultimately provide them with the resources and tools to keep them safe.

Effective assessments of your physical site require photo support. Providing us with as many photos as possible assists us in providing you with the highest of quality results. The following, in addition to previously requested photos, will help us accomplish the high goals established.

Please supply the following photographs:

Main entry door from outside in parking lot

Main entry door to the Inside of the building

Lobby to the main entry door from inside

Lobby area

Reception Area from multiple angles. Please supply pics while sitting in the position of the Receptionist

Any entryways where employees and/or clients enter/exit your facility from

Please describe each photo in as much detail as possible so that we will be able to provide accurate information

Building Surveillance/Anti-Surveillance

Do employees have a good, open view from the inside of your building to the outside?


Do potentials threats have a good view from the outside of the building to the inside?


The ability to be able to see outside of the branch can be a significantly positive factor is both safety and security, but deterrence as well. The more your employees can see of the outside, the better the level of safety and security. The key to success, however, is in training and policy and procedure that mandates surveillance efforts. As with other areas of policy and procedure effectiveness, providing an understanding of the importance of the reasons is critical to policy adherence and effectiveness. Again, “see something, say something” is a critical element of true safety and security. If you don’t “see something” first, there will be little warning of a potential threat until it’s too late to formulate an effective response.

This goes the other way as well. A potential threats ability to easily surveil the internals of the branch provides them with a significant advantage. This can be an advantage that we must eliminate.

Have you had a physical site security assessment completed on each of your facilities?


If yes, what type of organization did you partner with (security company, law enforcement, etc.) to complete these and what types of things were focused on during the assessment?


If yes, how long again, and/or how often are these done?


Traditional physical site security assessments focus on “hard systems” or security features which are technology based. Such features include cameras, door security, alarm systems, skimmers, bush-trimming, etc. While this type of security assessment is the most common and generally accepted type of assessment, it will not play a major role in true safety and security. So, it’s critical that your facilities are assessed from a far more practical, and reality-based standpoint. The goal of a reality-based assessment is significantly enhancing safety and security utilizing current resources with a goal of spending little-to-nothing to achieve it. If you have not conducted a reality-based security assessment, its critical that you do so. Again, this is necessary step prior to any effective planning or policy and procedure development

Can a potential threat conduct surveillance of your facility from outside and from a distance?


If a potential threat can easily see the inner-workings of you branch, it provides for an ideal potential target. The question becomes – “If employees need a good opportunity to see as much of the outside of the facility, how do we balance that with taking away the potential threats ability to see inside?”. If you have not looked at the options available to effectively deal with this potential problem, its critical that you do.

Reception/Gatekeeper Area General Protocol

Has your Receptionist been trained in how to respond to a potentially dangerous situation?


Please ask your receptionist the following question and record their response in as much detail as possible:

If someone were to walk up to you, point a gun, and demand that you get the Human Resources Manager, what would you do and how would you respond?


For the best results, please do not discuss this with you receptionist. Allow them to answer truthfully and record their answer

Have they been trained in Recognizing Signs of Violence and De-Escalation Skills?


Does your Receptionist, or Gatekeeper, have a calendar that tells them who is expected in the building each day?


Corporate offices many times have few, if any, reasons to allow free and open access to the building during normal business hours. Typically, those who might have need to enter, beyond employees, have appointments with someone inside the building and, as a result, access can and should be controlled by your Receptionist whom must have a means of communicating with a visitor, and verifying their need to be there, prior to granting access.

Does your Receptionist have a “covert” and immediate means of communicating a problem to the rest of the building? If yes, please explain how this happens.


Do you have a policy and procedure that guides the process on how to react to a problem at in the main entry area? If yes, please describe in as much detail as possible.


Does your Receptionist have a fast and efficient “means of escape to safety”? If yes, please provide photo support of the Reception area and this means of escape.


Corporate office Main entry, or Reception areas are absolutely critical to review from numerous different aspects as this is where a problem is likely to initiate. This unfortunately makes your Receptionist both “the most important person in the building, but conversely the most vulnerable person in the building”. Therefore, its critical that they have a covert, simple yet effective means of communication, an escape route, and plan in advance of a problem.

Door Gaps

Do you have gaps between doors that can allow for easy manipulation of locks and are your doors tight fitting?


This is another commonly experienced problem in bank branches. Its critical, therefore, to make certain that there is no access available for manipulation of your door locks. Typically, the problem is in gaps between doors and/or frames that easily allow enough access for tools or thin objects like credit cards, knives, or screwdrivers to “pop” locks. In many cases the solution is the simple installation of a plate that eliminates such access. In other cases, doors are not tight-fitting and allow for enough manipulation to be able gain access to the locking mechanism.

Door or Directional Signs

Do you have signs in your lobby area, or anywhere in the building in which their purpose is to direct visitors to specific areas of your business? Signs such as Human Resources, Administration, Executive Offices. etc.?


Do you have placards identifying employees on office doors or cubicles?


Signs that present a “roadmap” to their potential victim, or victim area, should be removed immediately. Think about placards that identify employee offices:

You employees will all know who is in each office and, in the case of signs in the lobby area, they will know where Human Resources, Administrative Offices, etc. are. Why present a roadmap to a potential threat that doesn’t know where to find whom, or what they are looking for. If you have either of these you should seriously consider removing them.

Piggybacking

Do you have a policy and procedure that addresses, and prohibits, piggybacking? If yes, please explain, in as much detail as possible, how your policy addresses this issue. If possible, please provide us with exact wording of this policy.


Piggybacking is a very common violation of safety and security policy and procedure. Piggybacking happens when, in spite of policy/procedure that prohibits such action, an employee holds the door for another employee who might be entering the facility simultaneously. In most organizations where door badging is required of each employee entering the facility, there are regular violations of this policy. One of the reasons is based on “our nature to be polite” or “our assumption that everyone who is entering the facility has credential to do so. The best way to alleviate our nature to be polite is having a policy/procedure that mandates that “piggybacking” is not allowed. By doing so, policy will override politeness and make it much easier for employees to adhere to policy in this area. One of the dangers of a violation of this policy is terminated employees. If an employee is terminated, and others are not aware of a termination fairly quickly, allowance into the facility, without appropriate credentials, can create a significant safety risk to the organization. This is a policy that must be adhered to by every employee.

Do you utilize employee badges that are required to be seen on all employees at all times?


Do you utilize a badge system for visitors that are required to be seen at all times?


In corporate office environments, one aspect of true safety and security is that the implements of them must be visible and create for easily knowing that everyone inside of the building “has been accounted for and therefore has a reason to be there”. The best way to accomplish this is through the use of a badge system. Employees should be required to have their badges visible at all times, as should visitors. The bottom line is that it must be immediately and clearly obvious to everyone within a corporate office building that they have been accounted for and, if not, policy and procedure should dictate an action that must be taken, by any employee who recognizes the problem, to remedy the situation. There are numerous factors to consider including contractors, delivery companies, etc.

Do you use color-coded badges to designate exactly what part of your building a visitor is supposed to be in?


Using color coded badges that are designed to immediately inform others exactly where a visitor should be while within our building can be extremely beneficial not only from a safety and security perspective, but from a customer service prospective. As an example, if an employee sees a visitor with a badge color that shows that they should be in the Human Resources officer area, and they are not there, it gives employees an to quickly recognize a potential problem, but by addressing the potential problem it will appear as though the employee is being highly customer-friendly while creating for an elevated level of safety and security.

Are the main entry doors to your corporate headquarters open or secured during normal business hours?


Executive Protection

What steps have you taken, as an organization, to secure your company executives both while at work, and while away from work?


Executives of any company are at an elevated level of risk for violence, kidnapping, hostages, etc. Few companies, however, take steps to secure their executives, while they are at, or away from, work. In fact, they are at higher risk while away from work than they are while at work. Training executives must also be a priority. If you haven’t taken steps to protect, and train your executives, it’s critical that you consider starting a process for this as quickly as feasibly possible.

Project Summary

Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. It is our hope that, through this process, you enhanced your professional skills by creating a detailed understanding of the questions and providing you with an explanation of the solutions.

Please submit your completed Questionnaire to [email protected]. We will follow-up shortly to schedule a date and time to learn more and review and discuss our thoughts.

In the meantime, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or immediate concerns. We are always happy to help.

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