Two Essential Books on Keeping the Workplace Safe and Terror Free
Soft Targets and Crisis Management, What Emergency Planners and Security Professionals Need to Know, by Dr. Michael J. Fagel and Dr. Jennifer Hesterman, CRC Press 2017
When did workplace violence, soft targets, crisis management and software breaches become the daily concern of industry leaders? For some, it's still "let the security/or the HR/or the software guys worry about it. I'll just keep my eye on production."
Unfortunately that narrowed focus won't keep businesses safe or hack-free. There are just too many bad guys out there to track them all. But as authors Drs. Fagel and Hesterman show us, we have some pretty powerful tools at hand to keep the vandals at bay.
Take a look at "The Common-sense Guide for the CEO Checklist," Not only does it cover the survival basics, but it also contains bullets on legal issues - including how to document and respond later to questions about a disaster. Score your self-assessment to learn where your organization ranks in risk and event avoidance.
Readers will also note a section on what to put into your Survival Kit. Post-Sept 11 many New York companies housed in skyscrapers offered each employee a "Go Kit," the basics to take with them should the worst again happen. The CEO's Survival Kit includes, however, additional protective clothing, and a two-way radio with extra batteries (not to be used if a bomb is suspected!).
What might have happened had terrorists targeted the US Open Tennis Tournament in NYC? Despite extra police presence and airport-type security measures, could more have been done to prevent terror events? Readers will appreciate the section on "Sport Venue Emergency Planning," including how to establish a command center, how to rehearse, and primary in everyone's mind, evacuation planning.
Chapters in Soft Targets sound like Brad Taylor thriller book themes, such as "Coordinated Terrorist Attacks and the Public Health System," including examples taken from worldwide terror attacks; "Hardening Tactics at Global Hotspots," "Soft Target Planning," "Infrastructure Protection," "Soft Target Cybersecurity," "Planning for Terrorism." Chapter 2, "The Psychology of Soft Targeting and Our Unique Vulnerability," including who becomes a terrorist, their motivations, behavior and effectiveness, is good reading for anyone questioning what's happening now globally.
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The Complete Guide to Physical Security, by Dr. Paul R. Baker and Dr. Daniel J. Benny CRC Press 2013
Workplace violence and domestic terrorism aren't going away. In fact, judging from recent headline events in New York, Minnesota, Florida, and France, they seem to be closer, more visible and unfortunately now a part of our formerly safe lives. But how many manufacturing leaders know specifically how to make their factories safe, and what systems and procedures should already be in place to meet or eliminate the threats?
Start with the authors "Vulnerability Assessments" to evaluate the safety of your entire site, from approach and parking facilities, to brick and mortar buildings, along with IT infrastructure. The assessments are a great place to start thinking about priorities - what areas must be protected?, what kinds of threats must we protect against?, and especially, what fallback recovery plans are in place?
"The key to a successful defense of any protected asset is the integration of people, procedures, and equipment into a system that protects the targets from the threat." As the FBI knows, along with Homeland Security, integration of previously separate systems with separate reporting and communications structures, remains an ongoing challenge.
Chapter 16, Data Center Protection, covers the ordinary system safeguards and procedures that, it turns out, make us more vulnerable than we ever expected. Take a look at issues such as gaps in security policies, rogue employees, and especially outsourced data center responsibilities. In fact, when asked, some of your own employees can offer hints on the problem areas.
Finally, "CCTV and IP Video," the surveillance tools that have become more and more important for major cities like New York and London, have now become part of every corporate security plan. These systems are expensive and technically subject to change. The authors recommend benchmarking the best surveillance operations to find reasonable and effective cost solutions, remembering that capabilities around lighting and data storage, as well as data transfer and compilation will accelerate.
The entire section on biometrics is an eye-opener, covering facial recognition, fingerprint, hand geometry, iris scanning and even vein pattern recognition. If this individualized scanning is the future of personal security, we can only learn more and more about these fascinating approaches.
Finally, the book offers detailed help to develop a Security Master Plan, along with an idea of how best to lead a security-focused organization. For manufacturing readers wondering how truly safe their operations are, or how safe they could be, this volume is a great starting point
