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Feeling Secure
With a smart security manager standing in reception and a couple of CCTV cameras around the building, a company is safe and secure, right? Wrong! A poor security company can create a false sense of security while endangering your business.
When Securiplan, the UK’s 7th largest manned security company, started conducting security reviews on all new client sites, their team of consultants found some astonishing gaps in the existing security arrangements. Perimeter gates with broken padlocks, CCTV cameras with broken lenses, stacks of material against fences (practically inviting intruders to climb over them), and lazy security guards with predictable patrol routes, to name but a few. One company was issuing pass cards to visitors and contractors with an almost illegible visit date, making it almost impossible for the security team to check its validity from one day to the next – a loophole which was easily and cheaply closed.
Securiplan’s security consultants are former police chief inspectors and CID and Home Office trainers. Before commencing their inspections, they meet with senior management and facilities management personnel to identify the various security issues affecting the company, as well as consulting with the local police to identify any relevant crime trends.
The auditors conduct unannounced site penetration tests and then undertake a systematic security audit of each of the company’s sites, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing arrangements. They will assess every aspect of the physical security of the sites and look for points of vulnerability and ineffective protocols. They are on the lookout for bad security habits, where an intruder could take advantage of easily observed laxity, and they will not hesitate to suggest cost-effective improvements.
Securiplan’s auditors interview the on-site security officers to assess their competency, including the amount and relevance of the training they have received, their attitude and skills. A comprehensive security review will look at the quality and use of CCTV systems, checking that the clarity of the images generated would be admissible as evidence. They can also investigate the security of the company’s IT systems, both equipment and data, and the usage of basic security aids such as passwords.
Security managers are often pleased to have a comprehensive independent report to take to their directors, to demonstrate why security provision needs to be improved throughout the organisation. Securiplan then works closely with its client to implement the changes recommended in the report, while striving to reduce costs in any way that does not compromise security.
Caroline Demoulpied, Securiplan Group Sales & Marketing Director, explains. “Security reviews have become an integral part of our offering to clients because, by entering into a partnership to protect their property and personnel, we see ourselves as sharing some of the risks. We believe that the company’s insurers will take note of the fact that a security review has been carried out and its recommendations implemented, and recognise that we are helping to reduce all kinds of risks, in close partnership with our client.”
Find out more about Securiplan plc at www.securiplan.co.uk or contact Caroline Demoulpied on 0.
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