SECURITY IN A RECESSION

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8th Febuary 2010

Effective security is at least as important in a recession as it is at any other time, yet Facilities Managers are more likely to find that their budget for security has been cut rather than increased. Fortunately there are ways of getting more for less, as Leon Barwell, Commercial Director of VSG, explains.

There’s no doubt that in recent years facilities managers have seen a general upward trend in the cost of providing security, driven by influences such as the Working Time Directive, increases in the minimum wage and the introduction of compulsory licensing for all security staff. Now the recession is compounding the problem by making it harder than ever to secure the budget needed to meet security costs.

At the same time, threat levels – both from common criminals and from terrorists – remain high, so relaxing security as a means of saving money is most definitely not a viable option. What is the solution? The answer is to adopt a holistic approach to security for a site or building, and to carry out a detailed risk assessment so that security measures can be tailored to match the real risk factors.

Let’s take a look at the core elements in the process of developing cost-effective security on this basis. The first step is cost benchmarking, where the present costs at the site under consideration are compared with the costs at other similar sites. This provides a good indication of the level of savings that might be possible, as well as allowing targets to be set by referring to industry-best figures.

For sites where staffed security measures are in use, it is important to ensure that staff time is utilised effectively throughout the whole of the day and night. To achieve this, resource mapping – which plots the utilisation of staff hours at each location against time – is used.

It is equally important, of course, to ensure that the best use is being made of electronic and physical security measures – such as CCTV installations and things as simple as barriers and window guards – and that these are appropriate and adequate for the task in hand. A comprehensive systems audit will address these issues.

Another essential ingredient is risk profiling. In the case of VSG, this involves the use of risk-based models to provide a score and ranking for each location on the site. This enables costs to be measured and assessed objectively against the profile of each individual area of risk.

The logical complement to risk profiling is a site survey, which looks in detail at local issues and the current security model, as well as assessing the security measures already in place and the rationale behind them.

As part of the risk-based holistic approach, the site’s incident history needs to be taken into account to ensure that staffing levels are adequate, and that the skill set within the security team is appropriate. A sound knowledge of incident history also aids the development of better operating procedures and preventative measures.

The final ingredient is an investigation of local agency involvement, which considers the wider operating environment and looks particularly at relationships with the police and the other emergency services.

The information provided by the procedures described provides a sound platform for planning security measures that are effective yet affordable, but what sorts of opportunities for cost savings are likely to be identified?

Although there is, of course, a big variation between sites, there are many cases where security measures have in the past been deployed blanket fashion across the whole site, with little regard for variations in risk and requirements from area to area. The result is typically that security staff spend unnecessary time patrolling areas where there is little or no risk, which is not only wasteful of money and resources, but is also extremely tedious for the staff involved.

Addressing issues of this type means that staff can be deployed more effectively and, in many cases, working procedures can be modified and enhanced to give them more interesting and stimulating roles, a move that invariably increases motivation, efficiency and performance.

Another frequent finding is that modern electronic security systems can reduce the need for costly staffed guarding. Modern CCTV systems, for example, provide sharp detailed pictures even in difficult lighting conditions and at night. They are also capable of automatically analysing the content of the pictures they capture, and alerting the operator to anything that seems untoward or unusual.

These advances make possible remote monitoring, where the CCTV images from many sites are monitored at a central location by a specialist company. When a security problem is noted, this company can respond in many ways.  It may, for example, warn miscreants via an audio link to the site that they are being watched or, for more serious situations, it could despatch private guards to the site and/or alert the local police.

In many cases, a remotely monitored CCTV installation means that there is no need for a staffed security presence on the site being protected, especially outside normal working hours. This can make possible very large savings.

Clearly, the holistic approach to security has the potential to offer FMs many benefits in terms of increased effectiveness of their security operations and of cost reductions. Nevertheless to maximise these benefits they must exercise a degree of care when choosing a security service provider, since many are not able to offer a complete portfolio of electronic and staffed security options. Not surprisingly, therefore, their proposals are likely to be skewed in favour of the options that they do offer, which might not be those most appropriate for the project in hand.

The key to getting the best value for money from your security spend in these difficult times is, therefore, to seek out a service provider that not only supports the holistic approach, but also has the resources and the full range of services needed to implement such a strategy effectively without being constrained by commercial considerations.

For further information please telephone VSG on 01604 744014 or E: sales@vsg.co.uk