How can you Protect your business, your employees and the public?

How can you Protect your business, your employees and the public?

The most effective means of preventing a threat getting to their intended target can be to have effective search and screening processes in place.  

Screening people and their belongings at entry points can help reduce the likelihood of explosive devices, weapons, and other hazardous or prohibited items or materials being brought into buildings or onto sites. Similarly, searching personnel as they exit can help reduce the risk of unauthorised removal of items and information. The implementation of robust screening measures may additionally serve as a significant deterrent.

Protect can help you understand the operational requirement methodology to develop an understanding of its needs for measures for screening people and their belongings (outer wear, pocket contents, carried items etc.) as part of its wider security regime.

A robust assessment of the risk to the organisation and site will help define the specific threat items that the screening process will need to detect in order for their ingress to be prevented. This may include threat items such as explosive devices, firearms and other weapons, but may also include other items such as electronic devices or protest materials. The list of target items is likely to contain some which are considered essential to detect, some that it is desirable to detect, and other items that are of interest but failure to detect can be tolerated.

Consideration should be given to the different groups of individuals entering the premises such as staff, visitors, contractors, or the public, and any different types of items they may wish to bring in. It may be considered appropriate, given differing risk profiles, for some individuals.

The operational requirement for the screening process will be informed by the risk assessment and should consider factors such as the desired throughput or flow of individuals and their belongings, space constraints and location (including consideration of possible queues), and integration with other security measures.

For some applications a screening approach that is largely or completely manual may be sufficient to meet the needs of the organisation. Only where it has been established that technology will add real value to screening processes should its use be considered. Whilst use of technology can add significant value in certain scenarios it can be expensive to purchase, take up a large amount of space and require considerable on-going investment for it to remain effective. 

With any screening approach that is adopted it is important to ensure that the process is specified and delivered in a way that addresses, and is proportionate to, the particular risks the site faces. All screening processes have limitations; these need to be properly understood, accepted and if necessary mitigated against. Recommendations for screening people and their belongings given here should be seen as just one element of a wider security strategy.

Protect Duty is coming. Are you ready?