Kevin Ian Schmidt

When companies secure security guard services, they have a picture in mind of what their contract security force should look like, but too often what they end up with is not what they wanted. What is often the case is that while the security guard company may have the capability to meet the expectations, what they are often lacking is proper corporate security management. A site security manager provided by the contract security company, will be in charge of managing the security guards to the contract standards, but they are accountable to the contract security company at the end of the day. Employing a corporate security manager, there will be someone who is looking out for the company’s interests, and managing security through ongoing quality control reviews, as well as keeping the physical security procedures up to date.

Security guard companies are different from any other vendor that a company usually employs. If you hire a painter, you can see whether or not they are doing their jobs by looking at the walls. But when you hire a security guard company, how often can you see whether the guard company is doing their job which includes running background checks and drug screenings, providing good training for the guards, and effectively monitoring and supervising the guards. In most instances they probably are, but it is important to implement a system of verification and quality control of physical security management. A solid base for monitoring security guard services is a ensuring you have essential security policies in place. When you have that accomplished, you next need to follow the following 5 steps to improve your security guard services.

How to Improve Your Security Guard Services in 5 steps

1) Screen Your Guards Qualifications

In many states, security guards are mandated to have a specified amount of training before they can begin working as security guards. If your state is one of these states, ensure that your security guard company is compliant, do not just accept their word, ask for copies of the certificates.

If you are in a state where there are no state requirements for guard certification, then investigate the type of training that is being provided by your security company and ask yourself does it seem adequate. Doing this step during the contract negotiation means, if you find the security guard training inadequate, you can ask for more training or find a company that provides the level of security you are seeking.

Additionally, is your security guard company performing background and drug screenings on all your guards BEFORE they send them to your property? If they are, they should be providing you with verification. If not, why?

2) Assess Guard Training

Although most security guard companies have a very thorough orientation that introduces each guard to their company, in many cases the guard’s orientation to his assigned property is not as complete. We call the orientation for the assigned property “Site Specific Training”. Find out what your site specific training looks like:

• Does it occur at your property?
  • Who does the training?
  • How long is each new officer trained?
  • How long does the security company double bank? (Double banking is the process of having a veteran guard working at the same time as the new guard.)
  • How thoroughly are your post orders explained?

Corporate security management would be the ideal position to conduct this “Site Specific Training”, as they know the physical security procedures of the site, as well as the security policy.

Unsure of how to assess your guard training? Check out this post on Security Company Resource Center to help you better understand it.

3) Review Your Guard’s Supervision

Guard supervision is one of the more important factors of good security guard service. When security companies provide poor supervision, there is not enough emphasis placed on preventing mistakes, problems, and complaints. Lack of supervision also removes the opportunity for the guard to learn and better understand their duties. If the guards are not being supervised, they begin to feel that their work is not important and they begin to see themselves as less of a part of the security team. When guards do not feel like part of your team it typically leads to unacceptable practices such as unprofessional behavior, tardiness, and even theft.

Depending on the structure of your contract, on-site supervisors may not be included. If your contract does not require on-site supervision, how does your security guard company remotely supervise its guards? Outside of the normal security company field supervisor spot checks, the two methods of remote supervision that prove most successful are:

1. Officer Tour Tracking Systems
2. Officer Check-Ins

If your guards are required to make rounds of your property, then a system for tracking them while on duty is essential. This can be accomplished with a physical security checklist, whether on paper or done electronically.

4) Inspect Your Guards

After hours inspections of your guards are always great ways of finding out exactly what is happening with your security while you are not there. During these inspections, make sure to ask your security guards questions about their duties and responsibilities to ensure that they understand their jobs. In fact, we suggest having your security guards audited regularly, formally (i.e. post inspection) and informally (i.e. secret shopped) by a licensed security consultant as part of your ongoing security program.

5) Meet with your Security Guard Company Regularly

The fifth and easiest step is to regularly meet with your security company. Without providing regular feedback to your security guard company, property managers are missing out on opportunities to achieve incremental increases in efficiency. Topics such as tenant feedback, guard attrition, feedback from any remote supervisory systems, and any security audits should be discussed during these meetings.

Make sure your security policies are set up correctly.

For a professional corporate security manager, these 5 tips should seem commonplace, but many companies overlook them, and just keep switching contract security companies, hoping the next company, will provide solid security management.

Employing the services of an independent security consultant possesses several advantages: an unbiased point of view; a fresh viewpoint on old issues; as well as innovative views and solutions produced from an extensive record of experiences.

However, just like any significant security and safety decision, its best to conduct extensive research as well as to make inquiries beforehand. At first glance, using the services of a security and safety consultant for institutions and businesses to develop your current security plans and methods while reducing your security threats and vulnerabilities may look like a somewhat simple decision process for a business. However basic this project may look like, consideration needs to be shown when selecting a security and safety consultant.

These questions are important to ask, once you have decided to hire a security consultant. Check out this post to decide if you need the services of an independent security consultant.

Check out the Guidelines for hiring a security consultant

Listed below are some fundamental questions that we recommend for you to ask about your business and regarding the security consultant you plan to seek the services of:

1. Is my organization really willing to make changes?
   Your security consultant may ultimately recommend some significant changes in equipment, personnel, or procedures. Do you have commitment from your executive and/or lay leadership to spend the time and money needed to make changes? Will they back you up long term, especially when difficulties arise, such as employee resistance to change or challenges from shareholders? Will they follow-through?
2. Does this consultant know my industry and particularly the needs of my community?
   Analyzing threats for your particular organization or institution may be very different from evaluating dangers at other facilities and organizations. For example, violent, often deadly attacks are being perpetuated against the Jewish community, including children. The dangers posed to synagogues and other Jewish institutions are a matter of record. Therefore, while there may be some common issues with many religious institutions, there are enough significant differences that specialized experience and knowledge are crucial, particularly knowledge of anti-terrorism vs. crime prevention as well as an understanding of the special concerns of the Jewish community.
3. Are there competing or conflicting interests at work?
   Some consultants are truly independent, representing neither a particular company nor a particular technology solution. Others, however, may be using their consulting services as a door opener to sell particular products and services you may or may not need but for which a consultant may collect commissions or other fees.
4. Will you be independent or dependent when the project ends, meaning with the assessment process include justification and rationale for the recommended security changes?
   The ideal consultant will not only help you solve the current problem but also equip you with skills and knowledge to begin to tackle the next one. You may not be able to solve all future problems on your own, but you should know enough to begin preparing ideas.
5. Will the consultant’s services include training seminars, materials, or other extras to use with the staff?
   No doubt you’ll need to educate others within your organization about your new security procedures and changes. The consultant should have the skills and abilities to conduct implementation and follow-on training as required.
6. How comprehensive is the consultant’s knowledge and approach?
   In some cases, you’re hiring a consultant to solve a specific problem. Using a consultant that has a broader perspective, however, means possibly identifying and solving problems you may not have considered before.
7. Who’s on the case?
   You might have a highly experienced, senior consultant make the pitch to get your business. But will you ever see that expert again after you’ve signed on the dotted line or will your job be relegated to junior staff? Make sure you get the experience you pay for.
8. What are the steps in the evaluation, planning, and implementation process the consultant will use?
   Is it a cookie-cutter approach or are the consultant’s methodologies customized to your organization? For example, some security consultants use a cookbook checklist originally designed for another application, which is now relegated to being a catchall assessment used for every facility.
9. How does the security consultant meet reporting requirements?
   Make sure that you discuss exactly what it is you require from the consultant as a reporting deliverable (or series of deliverables) for your security assessment. For example, do you want the consultant to deliver the final report in a written form that may be discoverable through the Freedom of Information Act? Or would your requirements be better served by having the consultant give you an oral presentation of your vulnerabilities? Make sure these requirements are settled at the start of the project.
10. Can the security consultant offer advice on implementation and training?
    To ensure consistency in the transition from mediation recommendations to security systems implementation, it is best to ensure that your security consultant will be able to provide technical training for new security policies, procedures, and systems implemented as a result of your facility risk and vulnerability assessment. After you’ve gone through this “deceptively simple, yet endlessly complicated” process – from hiring a competent security contractor to implementing the contractor’s recommendations – the most important question remaining is, when do I start this process all over again? As your security consultant can tell you, the answer to that question is right away.

When a business hasn’t experienced a significant security incident for a while, C-suite executives typically become complacent and begin to question if all of the security procedures, systems and jobs currently set up are needed. However, complacency isn’t the right reason to reduce the security budget, particularly in a recession when crime usually increases. It is the responsibility of a security manager to make sure the organization always remembers the importance of physical security programs.

To avoid an upswing in security incidents, security management should conduct a physical security audit of their facilities. Evaluating current physical security procedures will reveal areas where security might need to be increased to protect the company’s assets, including facilities and employees.

To design a cost-effective security program, you need to carefully consider developing a well-balanced program. While designing a well-balanced security program, you will need to take note of the 3 fundamental components of physical security strategy.

Types of Physical Security

• Organizational (security staff and procedures as well as organizational security): Covering the involvement in the security programs by management, security staff, tenants and employees.
• Mechanical (electronic systems): Covering the use of security hardware including access control, Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), door locks, monitoring systems, emergency call boxes and intrusion alarms.
• Natural (architectural elements): Covering basic security philosophies involving property definition, natural surveillance and access control. Also known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), you are utilizing psychological techniques to reduce risk.

Unfortunately, countless security professionals concentrate too closely on just one of the three security concepts. A number of facilities depend too much on security guards who will be able to only protect a entrances or handle a limited number of people entering the building. Utilizing a massive security team is a sizable, long-term cost. Many other facilities concentrate on mechanical security, leaving their security team and tenants untrained and uninvolved in the security process. While other facilities go without the utilization of mechanical and organizational security, dependent upon the goodwill of others or simply the psychological effect of signage.

Establishing a security program that utilizes a balance of all the above physical security strategies, will keep the program flexible and ready to handle potential risks that may develop.

A physical security audit is the first step to proper design of a comprehensive physical security program. The following steps will walk you through the initial steps of conducting a physical security audit:

Check Out: Risk Assessment Guidelines

Examine Your Risks

Before you develop your security program, you must first determine the level of risk to your facility. The higher the risk, the greater need for physical security and planning. There are three forms of risk:

• Terrorism (International and Domestic)
• Criminal (Crimes against people and property)
• Environmental (Risk from nature or manmade incidents)

First, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have neighbors who might attract unsafe individuals to your neighborhood for either terrorist or criminal activity?
• Does your facility contain individuals or activity that might bring risk to your doorstep?
• How well known is your facility on a local, national or international basis?
• Is your facility near railroad tracks, major freeways or a toxic manufacturing/storage facility?
• Are you near a university or college?
• Is your facility near a public park or government facility?
• Do any of the tenants in your building have negative media or internet exposure?
• Are there certain organizations that are not thrilled with the existence of one of the tenants in your building?
• What is the crime rate in your neighborhood?

The responses to these particular questions are going to determine the measure of risk for your facility. That is, an office building full of proctologists almost certainly carries a lower chance of terrorist attack compared to an office building containing a Federal Government Agency. A property positioned adjacent to an abortion clinic almost certainly carries a greater risk of becoming affected by safeguards or various other harmful events. A lot more Us office buildings have been evacuated as a result of toxic fumes from derailed trains and overturned trucks as compared to terrorist activities.

Check Out: Physical Security Risk Assessment: 9 tips to secure your workplace

Creating a Balanced Physical Security Program

Utilizing the aspects of organizational, natural and mechanical security you can develop layers of physical security around your facility.

Organizational Security

To begin with, who may be allowed in the building? The following recommendations come under the organizational method of physical security. In the event that your company is the solitary tenant of the building, what sort of background checks do you happen to be performing on new staff members or contractors? Are you able to know if the new personnel coming through the door is a legal resident of the United States of America? Does this new staff member have a record of violence, drug use or theft? In the event that they are handling cash, have you performed a credit check? Are you permitting undocumented associates of the cleaning staff to enjoy open access to every office in the facility at night? The expense of a background investigation for every new employee are dwarfed beside the losses you could possibly experience should you allow a violent person into your work site. In the event of contract companies providing staff to the facility, does the contract require the companies to perform background investigations of their staff, and can you at any time audit this process?
Do your tenants and staff members obtain some type of security and safety orientation? Will they be familiar with who to contact in an emergency? Do they understand who needs to have access to their work space? Do they know the emergency evacuation routes, and do they understand exactly where they need to meet once they evacuate the building so a headcount may be conducted? Is the lone emergency meeting location you have chosen in close proximity to any kind of potential neighborhood problems like a railroad track?

Do you have contact with community law enforcement representatives to know what is happening in your neighborhood? Do you have meetings with your neighboring businesses to discuss the issues they are facing? Could your company be impacted by a strike next door? Is one of your neighbors being threatened? Have any of your neighbors experienced an upswing in criminal activity? Do you have a clear communication method to pass this information to your tenants, employees, or neighbors?

More robust physical security controls, for instance physical security training as well as more effective background investigations, may have averted many of these attacks. Physical security controls consist of taking preventive measures to stop unauthorized physical access to restricted areas in addition to preventing physical theft. Insider threats to physical security may come from current or perhaps previous staff, contractors, or even respected business associates, which includes custodial personnel or security guards. Employees granted open access must be comprehensively vetted. As an example, custodial employees as well as security guards must submit to the exact same background investigation just like all the other insiders. Staff with this kind of access should likewise undergo regular security awareness training due to the fact their jobs cause them to become popular prey for social engineering attacks.

Natural Security

Now consider your facility perimeter utilizing natural security aspects. Look at your facility as a stranger might from the outside. Are your property boundaries clearly defined? Would a stranger know if he or she were walking or driving from public to private property? Is this clearly defined by signage or architectural design? Does the signage define the rules of your property? Are the rules enforced? Is your property given the appearance of being well maintained? Is graffiti quickly removed or covered? Are bushes trimmed low so they cannot be used for hiding? Is the lawn maintained? If you answered no to one or more of these questions, you will give the unsafe stranger the impression that you don’t care about your facility’s appearance and probably also do not care about security.

At night, is the area around your property dark and foreboding or well illuminated? Do your employees or tenants feel apprehension when they walk from your building to the parking lot or parking deck at night? Could they see danger at a distance or are there shadowy hiding areas where unsafe individuals could be lurking?

If you have a large parking lot or a parking deck, do you provide your employees, visitors or tenants emergency call boxes? Such call stations reduce the fear of isolation and distance. Are these boxes well illuminated and marked? Are they easily seen from all areas of the parking facility? Are the call boxes regularly checked to make sure they are working? Is there someone always ready to answer an emergency call from the call box? If the call comes in, will the person answering know where the call is coming from if the person making the call cannot speak?

Mechanical Security

The use of security hardware can greatly enhance your security program if there is a high risk to your property. How many entrances are there to your building? Are these entrances monitored? When we say monitored we could mean a lobby receptionist, a CCTV camera or an employee that can observe the entrance from his or her desk. Could an office creeper or stalker enter your facility without ever being seen or recorded by anyone or any system? Don’t forget about the back doors and the loading dock. These back doors can be a problem when they are left propped open by smokers. Limit the number of access points to your building and use some form of natural or mechanical surveillance so that those approaching and entering the facility have the feeling they are being monitored. You want to make the unsafe individual feel uncomfortable.

When using mechanical security systems, such as CCTV, look for systems that will give you the best bang for your buck. Which would be more helpful, a CCTV system that records individuals walking down a hallway at three in the morning or a system that records and alerts your monitoring station that someone is walking down that hallway and advising them what action may need to be taken? Make sure you are using all the features available in your security systems or that you purchase a system that meets your needs.

Access control systems provide a positive confirmation that the persons entering your facility or a particular strategic area are authorized. In very high-risk buildings or areas, the use access cards, combined with Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) key pad or a biometric reader will confirm a stolen access card is not being used to gain access.

Depending on the level of risk at your facility, you may want to introduce an inspection layer in your lobby. You may want to install signage that indicates you plan to randomly inspect packages carried in by visitors. You may have visitors walk through a magnetometer. Again, this will be defined by the potential threats to your facility.

One other access point is your air intake vents. This is not about a disgruntled ex-employee entering the facility through the vent, but instead introducing some toxic substances to your building to disrupt your operations. Are your air vents on the roof or at ground level? Many of these vents are in buildings built in the 1960’s, in the loading dock area where a badly positioned vehicle could introduce exhaust into the HVAC system. Are your ground-level air intakes monitored?

How quickly can you turn off your HVAC system in the event a foreign substance might be introduced to your system? Remember that question asked earlier about being near a railroad track, freeway or toxic manufacturing plant? If a toxic cloud were floating in the immediate area of your facility, how quickly could you turn off your HVAC system so the cloud is not sucked into the building? Before you say your HVAC system is automatically turned off when you sound the fire alarm, remember that audible fire alarm is also telling your employees and tenants to head outside into the toxic cloud when it might be safer to keep them inside your airtight building until the cloud disperses.

Levels of Response

Now that you created a balanced security program for your facility you have one additional concern. What will your security levels of response be? What we have described so far are the layers of security planned for your building on the average workday. What if your facility comes under some form of alert? The alert may come from some form of specific or general threat directed towards your building, company, tenant, area, city or country.

You need to develop a plan for additional layers of security in the event of such threats. It is important to pre-plan this higher level of security and have your staff pre-trained on the increased response. Don’t try to handle it on the fly. Will you add security staff? Will you shut down some access points? Will you increase access control? Will you start or increase package inspections? By having an increased security plan already in place with your staff trained in their new duties, when a threat comes around, you are ready.

As you can see, planning the security of your facility comes from using layers of organizational, mechanical and natural security. By using all these aspects of physical security, you can develop a physical security program that is both effective and COST effective.

As a physical security professional, you must know how what it takes to secure your workplace, for the safety of your coworkers, as well as for the security of the facility, this is accomplished with a proper physical security risk assessment. These days, companies need to address and prepare for security threats which are more substantial and diverse than any other time. With every technological advancement that enables innovative, effective business strategies, brings a security risk which is just as innovative and equally effective.
Every physical security risk assessment of a company security system must start with the specific security requirements along with the effects they are going to have on your business overall. You may want a facility secure enough for UL 2050 certification or perhaps you will simply have to ensure the staff safety before and after business working hours.

9 Tips for a Proper Physical Security Risk Assessment

.Effective Communication: Above all is communicating information to and between employees. A lot of companies utilize e-mail alerts to notify staff concerning would-be hackers. Likewise, make sure that staff remain informed on procedures and prospective site visitors. By letting staff understand what and who to be expecting, they will be better prepared to identify suspicious activities or people. So that you can prevent complacency, make sure to utilize a single way to obtain information that becomes a part of an employee’s habit. This can be a daily server broadcast or informational email. No matter what the source, it needs to be short, practical, and incorporate positive news along with precautionary information.

Key Control: Designate the commitment of locking or unlocking the workplace to as few people as is possible. Eliminating the “first in, last out” approach helps to ensure that all access points are properly secured on a regular basis. Develop a procedure for all those in charge of opening or closing your office which includes taking a look at washrooms, closets, and wherever an individual could possibly hide. Hard keys need to be numbered as well as assigned to specific people. staff assigned keys will need to be regularly be requested to produce their keys to validate against a master registry.

Site-Wide Policies: Something as fundamental as a “clean-desk” policy, training all employees to clear and secure their office desks of valuable equipment or information before departing for the day, significantly decreases potential theft. Mandating staff to possess and display ID badges or access cards all the time enhances the awareness of any unauthorized individuals. Don’t include things like job titles on any directory available to the public as a lot of criminals tend to use a name and title to validate their presence in restricted locations. Finally, be sure to maintain a “chain of possession.” All deliveries need to be given to a person rather then placed in a hallway or even on an unattended desk.

Check out this post on Risk Assessment Guidelines to better understand the process, if you need to.

Small Investments: All computers, laptops in particular, need to be properly secured with cable or plate locks to prevent “walk-off.” Docking stations are rather inexpensive ways to protect electronic devices while not being used. Take into consideration high risk targets such as state-of-the-art equipment, postage meters, check writers, and business checkbooks. Strengthen entry doors by installing peepholes as well as keypads. Implement 2 secured entry doors surrounding a small lobby or foyer. This sort of “airlock” method minimizes piggybacking; a technique intruders utilize to obtain entry by catching a locked door when an employee leaves.

Lights, Camera, Layout: Take note of “dark spots” either inside or outside the office. Put up ample lighting in parking lots and outdoor break areas for staff safety, prevent blind spots in stairwells, and organize hallways and offices to eliminate all areas in which an individual may conceal himself or stolen items. Lacking CCTV, highlighted below, it may be worthwhile to install recording security cameras at key areas like loading bays and access points like after-hours entrances.

Reception: Among the most complete solutions is to utilize one or more full-time receptionists. From a security process perspective, this person enables close examination of credentials and id and funnels security information by means of a single point. When it is impractical to have every site visitor greeted and checked-in by someone, look at a dedicated phone line in the lobby or at the front door that goes directly to a designated person. This process, along with a sign-in station, often is an economical strategy for a lot of offices.

Access Control System: Certainly one of the issues with hard keys is reacting whenever one is lost or stolen. With an access control system, businesses can easily issue access cards to staff while maintaining complete control over what each individual card can open. Additionally, access control systems reduce risk by permitting just enough access to accomplish a job. As a result, employees, contractors, or visitors will be restricted by area or time of day. A couple of things are important with access control systems. First, enable “total access” to as few people as is possible. This will directly clarify who is approved to be where and thereby enable staff to identify and report infractions. Second, maintain a record of the usage of every card. By reviewing card activity, it is possible to ascertain who requires having access to where and at which times, streamlining routines and defining access.

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV): For more advanced security system needs, CCTV is among the most effective method of protection. Using restricted broadcast, every camera is able to be monitored by means of a single user interface. Subject to the specifics of the system, footage may be monitored by a staff member or digitally recorded. Position cameras strategically to achieve the maximum coverage for a single unit. Additionally, cameras or corresponding signs which are visible to visitors and staff will be effective deterrents and create a secure environment. It is essential to keep in mind, however, that as effective as CCTV is, it must be utilized efficiently as well as in tandem with other preventive measures. As an example, installing a unit in an entry with an “airlock” door system enables extended recording of a person (s) entering or exiting the property.

Proper Training: Most of all, make sure that every one of your staff members is properly trained to utilize security equipment and follow procedures. Investment and planning in the ideal security system is going to have minimal effect if people are unclear on preventative measure and intervention. This can be as fundamental as ensuring staff keep doorways and windows secure or safeguard their personal belongings, but usually involves specific training on identifying and responding to suspicious items, persons, or events.

Hopefully you found these tips beneficial in conducting a physical security risk assessment of your facility and understanding the physical security needs of your location. Being able to clearly understand these tips and explain them to others for training or securing CAP-ex, is what will make you a successful physical security professional.