DOWNTOWN SECURITY, UPTOWN TECHNOLOGIES

May 1, 2004 12:00 PM, by MICHAEL FICKES

Gregg Popkin is haunted by the fear that the next terrorist attack might hit one of the 110 buildings in his property management portfolio. “I don't let down my guard for a minute,” says Popkin, who is a senior managing director with the Los Angeles-based property management firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Inc. Popkin's responsibilities encompass CBRE assignments in New York City and throughout the surrounding region. “Security is more than a selling feature. It is something I genuinely believe in. If the people that work for me don't believe in it, then they don't have to work for me.”

Popkin isn't alone. In the three years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, security directors for central business district buildings in major cities across the country have reviewed and upgraded their security planning, staffing and technology in an effort to meet downtown's new security challenges.

Then again, the lessons of Sept. 11 are not being universally applied. “I think we're way behind; there are lots of landlords and developers not paying attention to the threats,” says Howard Safir, former New York City police and fire commissioner and CEO and Chairman of Safir Rosetti Inc., a security consulting, investigative and business intelligence firm with offices in Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington.

Landlords that are paying attention have substantially enhanced their security programs, beginning with security budget increases. “Some of our clients have probably tripled their security staffing costs and spent $300,000 to $1.5 million on capital improvements related to security,” says Henry Garcia, a vice president with Kroll, Schiff & Associates, a Chicago-based security consultant. Popkin estimates that office-building owners with major new security commitments may have doubled their overall security budgets and driven security's share of the rent as high as 50 cents per sq. ft.

Higher security budgets are paying for vulnerability and threat assessments, building upgrades, additional security technology, and vendor, staff, and tenant training programs.

The fear: Downtown office buildings are easy targets

Security professionals use the phrase “soft targets” to describe the vulnerability of downtown office buildings to a terrorist attack. The vernacular phrase allows comparisons between “soft” and “hard” targets, but doesn't describe the problem as well or as chillingly as the definition of a soft target — a target that is out in the open and easy to hit.

While no attacks on U.S. office buildings have followed Sept. 11, few assume that the danger has receded. “I think we have been extraordinarily fortunate,” Popkin says. “So do the experts I talk to; they all say it is not a question of if an attack will occur, but a question of when. And we've always considered office buildings as primary targets because they are so easy.”

Observers agree with Popkin's assessment, noting that soft targets may have become more attractive to terrorists as government facilities have tightened security and become more difficult to strike.

Overall, CBRE manages more than 2,200 buildings spanning 370 million sq. ft. nationwide. Each of these buildings, according to Popkin, has undergone a basic vulnerability assessment developed by CBRE and consulting security professionals. The assessments have designated properties as high, medium or low security risks. CBRE has developed standard security recommendations for medium and low security risks. For buildings designated as high risks, CBRE suggests a security consultant conduct a further analysis. To facilitate the extended assessments for clients, CBRE has formed an affiliation with Safir Rosetti.

Full-blown security assessments cover vulnerabilities and threats as well as security technology, services and training from a building's perimeter and parking facilities through sensitive internal spaces. The analyses also consider the risks that may follow particular tenants into a building. For example, landlords might worry if certain U.S. government agencies or foreign embassies are located in a building. Business tenants with connections to other countries, who have drawn fire from terrorists, might also suggest potential threats.

Hardening soft targets with building design and technology

In response to dire security assessments developed since Sept. 11, Class-A office buildings in major cities across the country have begun to secure their perimeters with well-known design elements such as concrete barriers and bollards.

Security-conscious owners have also added security technology to lobbies inside the front door. Chicago-based Trizec Properties Inc. now employs visitor management systems in a number of the company's 67 office properties, with an emphasis on downtown Class-A office buildings. “These systems are designed so that tenants can log into a building Web site and register guests for the next business day,” says Carlos Villarreal, the company's director of security and safety. “The security reception desks then access the building Web site, pull in information from the visitor information service and print a badge, sometimes with a barcode. When a visitor arrives, security officers verify the visitor's identity with a picture ID and provide the badge.”

While Villarreal has not standardized access control technology across the Trizec portfolio, many of the company's Class-A buildings use a Cardkey P2000 system supplied by Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls Inc. The P2000 handles both employee access control and visitor management.

Generally, these systems control access to office towers. Lower level retail shops and restaurants generally remain open to the public.

After passing through a building's initial screening system, employees and visitors encounter lobby and elevator security systems. Trizec buildings restrict elevator access with glass-door turnstiles. “We prefer barrier turnstiles today over optical turnstiles,” Villarreal says.

Turnstile barriers in elevator lobbies slow traffic and sometimes produce complaints from tenants. New lobby products have begun to address this problem. Rapor Inc., New Britain, Conn., for example, has introduced a rapid access portal that remains open most of the time. It closes only when an unauthorized person attempts to pass through.

Rapor doors can accommodate conventional access control readers, biometric readers and magnetometers. When an employee or visitor satisfies the access control protocol, he or she walks through the open Rapor door. When an unauthorized person approaches, the door closes and an audio recording tells the person to exit through a side door and to see a security officer. “Many clients like this kind of system because it is fast,” Safir says. “For authorized people, it is virtually invisible. It only stops exceptions.”

The system works best for employee entrances, which limit visitor access, and for high-stress buildings permitting access only to authorized personnel, Safir continues.

Safir has recommended Rapor systems to several clients, including the Connecticut Lottery Corp., which occupies a four-story building in New Britain, Conn. Several years ago, a disgruntled employee shot and killed four high-ranking Connecticut lottery officials. According to Safir, the Rapor door has allayed fears of a repeat incident among Lottery employees. “They are thrilled with it, because only authorized people can get in,” he says.

Most Class-A office buildings have installed lobby controls of some kind, says Kroll Schiff's Garcia. “While we're seeing more and more barrier applications, I would estimate that about 60 percent of downtown office buildings do not use barriers requiring positive identifications,” Garcia says. “These buildings still control lobbies with security officers. This can be costly, because you need to station a guard in each elevator vestibule.”

Class-A office owners have also begun to upgrade conventional closed circuit television (CCTV) systems. “There has been enormous growth in the numbers of cameras,” notes Popkin of CBRE. “In addition, owners are by and large upgrading to digital recording systems, which allow for faster retrieval of video during emergencies.”

The additional cameras expand coverage of building exteriors, parking facilities and lobbies, Popkin says. In addition, hidden cameras have extended video surveillance to mechanical rooms, elevators and freight docks.

Signature office buildings such as Chicago's Sears Tower have taken security precautions a step further and installed X-ray machines and magnetometers in lobbies to screen for weapons and bombs. While most Class-A office owners have not adopted these measures, many, according to Garcia, have incorporated weapon and bomb screening equipment into their planning. “Our clients are asking for contingency plans that can be implemented quickly if risks escalate,” he says.

If a bomb explodes in the lobby of a west coast building, Garcia explains, risk assessments will change in office buildings across the country and require immediate steps. To accommodate a sudden increase in security needs, owners are signing agreements with security guard companies to increase staffing. In some cases, owners are purchasing X-ray equipment and magnetometers and storing them for use when needed. “Owners don't want to apply these measures every day, but when risks escalate, their tenants want to make sure that employees will be willing to come to work.”

Vendor, staff and tenant training

Training has become another key to tighter office building security. Security directors have developed programs to improve the training of guard company personnel, teach general building staffs about security procedures and advise tenants on emergency procedures.

CBRE has tapped Safir Rosetti to help train security officers. “We require all our guard companies to provide a minimal level of training equal to a standard established by Safir Rosetti,” Popkin says.

When a guard company wins a CBRE bid, they must send their training personnel through a Safir Rosetti program, which covers topics such as threat assessments, life safety responses, communications, documentation, dealing with threats and confrontations, and assessing and monitoring situations. CBRE also requires management-level officers from guard companies to undergo background checks and have college educations.

Better-trained security officers command higher wages. Popkin says that wages today typically start at $12 per hour and go as high as $17 per hour, compared to about $10 per hour prior to Sept. 11. “Wages have gone up by 25-50 percent,” Popkin says.

CBRE also requires that all of its vendors — security concerns, cleaning firms, maintenance companies and others — conduct background investigations on all employees assigned to tenant buildings and certify their findings with a bond. “There has always been a bonding requirement related to the performance of the work,” Popkin says. “Now there is bonding to certify employees as well.”

At Trizec, Villarreal oversees security training for both security and building staffs. Both security and staff are trained to respond to changes in color-coded threat levels issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If the threat moves from yellow to orange, for example, Trizec buildings will add additional patrols outside of buildings, forbid vehicles from parking in front of buildings, communicate with local law enforcement agencies for details of specific threats in the region, communicate with tenants about evacuation procedures should evacuation become necessary and discuss procedures related to sheltering in place should a biological or chemical attack occur outside the building.

As a matter of course, Trizec conducts regular evacuation drills with tenants and discusses security responses to various scenarios in tabletop drills that include staff from building management and tenants. “If there is a fire, the property manager will serve as the emergency director,” Villarreal says. “An engineering person will have responsibility for managing the air handling system. Someone will be assigned to make sure the firepumps are running and verify that water is being released through the sprinkler system.

The security director would serve as the incident commander, whose responsibilities include determining whether or not to evacuate. If an evacuation is called for, housekeeping would help move tenants out.”

Housekeeping and other building staff also receive training in disaster recovery: extracting smoke and water and moving files, cabinets and furniture as necessary.

In Trizec mailrooms, employees are trained to screen mail and packages for biological and chemical threats. Engineering departments are taught to manage air-handling systems in the event of an incident. Security personnel receive training on identifying bombs and weapons imaged by X-ray machines, even if those machines are only used intermittently at times of elevated threats.

Medical training has expanded as well, according to Villarreal. “Where we used to teach manual CPR, we now train people to use automated external defibrillators,” he says.

Manufactured by companies such as Medtronic Physio-Control of Seattle and Royal Philips Electronics in the Netherlands, automated defibrillators cost about $30,000.

How much security is too much? Only a month after Sept. 11, Popkin reports receiving complaints that some buildings were overdoing security precautions. “They told us it was a pain in the neck,” Popkin recalls. “They didn't want to wait in line while we checked IDs. They didn't want their clients to have to wait in a line when visiting a building. In response, we've tried to be as polite as possible and explain the larger purpose.”

In Case of Disaster…

Developing a business resumption plan in the case of a disaster can pay off, especially in the case of major buildings. Following a disaster, it is critical that all businesses employ a safety professional to perform a hazard evaluation and assessment. The American Society of Safety Engineers (www.asse.org), Des Plaines, Ill., offers the following disaster safety checklist:

• Have the structural integrity of the building validated by professionals before anyone enters the facility.

• Contact the proper government agencies to get approval to resume occupancy of the building.

• Provide training in selection and use of Personal Protective Equipment, including eyewear, gloves and dust masks.

• Make sure the atmosphere in the workplace is tested for asbestos and other chemical/toxic agents.

• Have vents checked to ensure that water heaters and gas furnaces are clear and operable.

• Ensure that no wall or ceiling materials are in danger of falling.

• Ensure that fire and smoke alarms have been cleaned and tested.

• Check for safety of electrical systems, computer cables and telecommunications' equipment.

• Use start-up guidance materials provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency(www.fema.gov) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (www.cdc.gov/niosh).

• Inspect and test general facility sanitation systems to guard against potential employee exposure to toxic agents.

• Inspect furniture to ensure it withstands expected loads and usages.

• Make sure there are adequate illumination levels for employees.

• Ensure that there is a clear path of egress for emergency evacuation and that fire extinguishers are operable.

• Gather and dispose of broken glass, debris, or other materials with cutting edges.

• Check with local utilities for information on power, gas, water and sewer usage. Do not use fueled generators or heaters indoors.

• Check lines and cabling of chiller systems for the mainframe computer system to avoid chemical leakout.

• Create a new emergency plan and distribute it to employees.

• Inspect the condition of drain, fill, plumbing and hydraulic lines on processes and machines.

• Make sure flooring surfaces are acceptable and free from possible slips, trips and falls.

FOR THE RECORD

About the companies

For information, circle the Reader Service number (listed below) or visit securitysolutions.com

Johnson Controls Inc.	5
Kroll, Schiff & Assoc.	6
Medtronic Physio-Control	7
Rapor Inc.	8
Royal Philips Electronics	9
Safir Rosetti Inc.	10

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