Be Informed
Terrorism Awareness for Corporations and Small Businesses
It is important for companies, public authorities, landlords, and neighborhoods to asses the threat level with regard to terrorist attacks.
Security Checklist
Answering the following questions may be helpful in assessing why your facility may be targeted or why your facility may be a 'soft' or easy target.
- Is your facility/company the target of a particular group or do you receive specific threats?
- Is your facility a landmark or "signature" tourist attraction?
- Is your company synonymous with American or New York culture/government?
- Are any of your employees or managers high profile individuals or controversial figures, such as actors, statesmen, news anchors?
- Does your facility house any important data, valuable art, valuable products, sensitive information, or raw material that is urgently wanted by an individual or group?
- Does your facility have a high traffic volume? Is that traffic volume primarily comprised of tourists?
- Is there a facility, company, individual, or agency within your building or in close proximity to your facility that would answer yes to any of the before-mentioned questions?
- Does your building have a commercial parking garage?
- Where in the building is the parking garage located?
- What level security is there at the parking garage?
- Does your building have a loading dock?
- Where is the dock located and is there adequate security at the dock?
- Does your building have a central entrance or multiple entrances?
- Who has access to the building and under what level of security?
- What are the physical attributes of your building?
- Is it old or new?
- Out of which materials is it built?
- How much glass is in the building?
- How tall is the building?
- How wide is the entrance?
- What type of doors/windows does the first level of your building have?
- Is it close to other buildings?
- What is the proximity of your building to the roads?
- What are the traffic patterns and traffic regulations around your building?
- Are there parking spaces outside your building and when can they be accessed and by what types of vehicles?
- Are there any secure barriers, Jersey barriers or steel/concrete bollards, along the perimeter of your building to prevent a vehicle from driving into or closer to your building?
- Does a subway line run under or adjacent to your building?
Are there any other tunnels or major utility lines that run under or close to your building's foundation? - Are there mailboxes, trashcans, and newspaper boxes outside your building?
- Are they of the reinforced, explosion-resilient quality?
- Are the areas around your building well lit at night?
- Do you have closed circuit television cameras monitoring inside and outside your building?
- Does someone monitor this coverage?
- Are there street vendors outside your building?
- If so, do the street vendors have permits and if so, are they stationed where they are relegated to be stationed?
- Do the street vendors have trucks with them or large mobile carts or boxes of goods?
- Does your building have roof access?
- Who has access to the roof?
- How reinforced is the access?
- Is the roof patrolled on a regular basis?
- Who works the security in your building if any?
- Have security personnel undergone background checks?
- Have other employees and maintenance personnel undergone background checks?
- Do all visitors to your building have to check in, and show ID?
- Are they positively matched with a person and destination?
- What is the access control at the entrance of your building?
- Do you have a metal detector?
- Do you scan your visitor and employee's bags?
- Who has access to the infrastructure of your building, i.e. the boiler room, the ventilation system, the electrical system, the water supply, elevator bays and freight elevator?
- How often is your emergency/security notification system checked and who maintains them?
- Is everyone working in your building required to wear identification (badges or uniform) at all times?
- Who supplies your uniforms?
- Do you have a good working relationship with that company?
- Does that company report thefts and surplus sales to you?
- Who makes your identification badges?
- What security features if any are incorporated into the badges?
- Where does your building/facility get its water and if applicable, its food?
- Is the catering or food services company an established vendor?
- What are current events?
- What is the international climate?
- What terrorist campaigns are currently being waged at home and abroad?
If you are a commercial or residential landlord, in addition to the previous questions:
- Are you familiar with all of your tenants?
- If the space in question is commercial, are you familiar with all of your tenants and their business?
If the space is residential, do you have any concerns about any of the residents, i.e. is there a resident who has strange smells emanating from his or her apartment, or does he or she receive unusual deliveries or visitors?
It is essential to evaluate the potential type of attack your business, facility, and employees may face. It is also critical to assess what your business or facility can do to decrease the likelihood of an attack and reduce the injury and destruction a possible attack could have on your staff and facility.
After reviewing what threats your company, facility, and staff may face, it is important to take measures to improve security and reduce the threats to your property and people.
It is also essential that you establish an emergency plan, make sure your staff is familiar with this plan, and practice the plan.
First, not all facilities will require the same approach to security. The needs of a restaurant will be very different from the needs of a large company's head quarters. Steps that can be taken to improve security at your facility thus making it more difficult to attack and rendering attacks less injurious and destructive are as follows, but are not limited to:
Outside the facility
- Traffic — Be aware of the traffic patterns and restrictions on the streets surrounding your building. Enforce those policies or inform law enforcement personnel about vehicles that break the imposed restrictions. Consider removing certain parking meters from streets close to your facility. Enforce no-stopping / no-parking rules on streets surrounding your building.
Be aware of taxi, bus, limo, etc. drop-off and pick-up points. - Lighting — Review existing interior and exterior lighting systems. Ensure that exterior doors, ground floor windows, and garages/loading docks are all well lit. Ensure that you have a backup lighting system and your system's wiring is protected.
- Sidewalks — If appropriate, research the cost, feasibility, and benefit of installing jersey barriers, bollards, or removable bollards to prevent vehicles from driving up onto the sidewalk around your facility.
Research the options and alternatives for different types of trash cans, mail boxes, and newspaper/newsletter distribution boxes for the sidewalks outside your facility. Contact your local or city authorities about the possibility of replacing existing structures with the newer, explosive resistant variety? Also, review street furniture and street art and its locations.
Review the existing system of Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) or consider installing a CCTV system. Conduct a review of what is monitored, by whom, when, etc. to establish if their are security lapses in the existing system.
Be aware of the vendors who operate on your street, ensure that vendors have permits to set up outside your facility. Inform law enforcement personnel about vendors who 'set up shop' illegally.
Enforce good housekeeping - important both outside and inside your facility. Ensure that your facility is free from trash and other un-permitted items. For example, do not allow trash bags to wait on your curb on days other than those designated for trash pickup. Lock cabinets and store rooms when not in use. Only provide access to appropriate personnel when needed.
Assess landscaping around your facility. Are there any plantings that diminish the security of your facility?
For example, is there a tree close to the building that someone could climb to gain access to the roof or upper windows?
Inside the facility
- Entrances — Examine the quality and strength of your doors and entrances. Frame construction, hinges, locks, etc should all be inspected. Examine other openings to the facility; gates, skylights, manholes, roof hatches, ventilators or shafts, sidewalk gates, etc. Make sure locks are master-keyed, have interchangeable cores, are maintained, and changed when appropriate.
- Windows — All windows should have appropriate security devices, such as locks and bars, especially on the lower floors of the building or the floor reached by other means.
- Glaze your facility's windows — in the United Kingdom, the majority of casualties caused by terrorist attacks have resulted from flying glass caused by bombings. Windows can be replaced with specially designed windows or for a smaller cost, anti-shatter film or net curtains can be added to existing widows to reduce the effects of an explosion on glass.
Entrances
Streamline entrance to your facility through a couple of well monitored entrances. Place your security apparatus at the greatest perimeter possible, if that be outside or right when you come into the lobby.
Implement increased security at your facilities entrances. Consider bag inspections, metal detectors, x-ray machines. Strengthen identification systems for employees and visitors. Use picture identification, consider biometrics or facial imaging systems. Do not allow personnel without proper identification into the building.
Match visitors to those they are visiting. Do not allow visitors into the building without identification, confirmation of their destination within your facility, and escort by the individual who they are visiting.
Distinguish between public and private areas within your facility and provide appropriate levels of security controls respectively.
Elevators/Stairs
Implement controls and/or surveillance over elevators and stairwells especially in off hours.
Alarms
Consider installing radiation and/or chemical agent detection machines. Consider placing monitors in your ventilation and water intake systems. If feasible, consider having these detection devices hooked up directly to your security apparatus and perhaps to your local health and law enforcement departments.
Ensure that your other alarm systems are functioning on a regular basis. Create specific alerts for specific attack scenarios.
Communication Systems
Ensure that only cleared personnel have access to your facility's communications systems and make sure these systems are well protected.
Security Personnel
Security personnel should be posted at all entrances. Make sure all security personnel are well informed about security policies. Review security personnel performance to ensure that all personnel are strictly enforcing security policies. Run background checks on security personnel as well as maintenance, cleaning, and other service personnel. Make sure security personnel keep accurate logs and have patrol routines. Provide appropriate compensation and benefits to diminish the possibility that your staff will succumb to bribes.
Delivery Depots
Restrict deliveries to off hours and institute check points. Possibly, set up a system by which all packages are called into the loading dock personnel to help distinguish between an expected parcel and an unaccepted parcel. Consider accepting truck parcel drop offs only from established carriers with good security records. Consider requiring badge identification from delivery personnel prior to allowing their truck into your depot.
Make sure that the Delivery depot, private and public parking facilities are not adjacent to critical building systems.
Inspect parcels to ensure that they have not been tampered with.
Garages
Private and Public garages should have attendants at the entrances at all times. Private garages should require identification and proof of access to the facility by each vehicle. Public garages should have attendants who check each vehicle prior at the entrance. Under the car, the trunk, and the other areas of the vehicle should be checked thoroughly. Suspicious behavior should be reported and suspicious individuals should be reported to law enforcement and not allowed to park at the facility.
Personnel
Create a system of clearances that ensures that only approved individuals have access to secure areas.
Run background checks on your employees.
If you observe something suspicious, notify your local police!