How To Keep Intruders Top-Of-Mind

Dec 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By THOMAS LEO

           

We have been under internal attack for years, by people who have been allowed — through our society's permissiveness, our lack of control, or not caring — to enter our workplaces. If a stranger enters our workplace, and if he is attired in the dress and displays the demeanor normally acceptable in a business environment, we are inclined not to challenge him. But why? If we were to encounter a stranger in our home, would we not challenge him?

Are we any less susceptible to attack or assault at work than we are at home? Witness the increase in school violence, the dramatic increase in workplace violence, and domestic violence that carries over into the business environment. Witness the organized theft of laptop computers in major cities, carried out by brazen people who walk into buildings, posing as employees, as service, maintenance and contract personnel, and walk out with proprietary information.

Since Sept. 11, many firms have awakened to the potential problems and are seeking help. Employers are required by law to provide their employees a safe place within which to work. Here are some suggestions and basic questions to consider:

• Is your facility, property, business or workplace properly posted as Private Property? It is your first line of legal defense.

• Can an unauthorized intruder gain access to your facility? By what means?

(There exists no requirement to turn your workplace into a ‘fortress’, but you are expected to take reasonable precautionary steps to protect your people. When faced with an unplanned, unexpected lawsuit, it is too late to institute adequate policies and procedures. No doubt your internal security department has had them available and ready for implementation.)

Were I to walk out of an elevator, in a business suit (or other culturally acceptable attire), carrying a briefcase, acting as though I worked within your facility, would your receptionist — assuming you have one — stop me and verify my identification?

• Does your receptionist have a panic/duress alarm available to summon help if needed? Are proper response procedures in place? Tested? Rehearsed?

• Has the receptionist received any security-related training — especially about what to do if verbally attacked?

• If the receptionist is absent, are there physical or electronic devices in place to prevent unauthorized individuals from entering your workplace?

• Are all employees and visitors required to wear/display some form of ID so that personnel within the facility can ascertain whether the individual belongs? Are company employees required to use card access to indicate that their employment has not been terminated — even though they may be recognized by receptionists and security personnel?

• Is yours one of the firms — unfortunately typical — that secures the front door, while neglecting the back door? In other words, do you have controls at the main entrance, while the delivery entrance, the employee entrance, and the loading docks stand open, unprotected, unsecured?

• Do you control internal access to such critical locations as your machine/server rooms, your telephone/data interchanges, your ‘frame rooms’?

A graduate of West Point, Thomas Leo, CPP, is a life member of ASIS International and served two terms on the Board of Directors.

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