8 Tips for Facility Security During the Holidays and All Year Long

The holiday season brings a festive atmosphere to many workplaces, but the relaxed attitude can create unique challenges in terms of facility security. In today’s post I’ll share some tips to help you keep your workplace safe—during the holidays and all year long.

Related on MHA: Creating a Continuity Culture: How Your Organization Can Make Business Continuity a Habit

TODDLING DOWN THE STREET

The other day I went walking with my toddler grandson, and I was impressed by the way he waved to every person (and bird) we saw on the street. His openness and friendliness were fun to see, but what kept his trust of strangers from being potentially dangerous was that I was there keeping an eye on him.

THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

During the holidays, a similar spirit of trust and relaxation can come into the workplace. At the same time, the holidays can be especially busy in terms of delivery people coming and going with flowers and gifts, and office parties bringing in many people we might not know.

Unfortunately, not all of the outsiders who might try to gain access to your facility at this time of year are as innocent as my grandson. Some might take advantage of the opportunity to take things, snoop around, or worse.

As you see, the holidays can pose special challenges when it comes to facility security.

BEING THE GRINCH

Who wants to be the person who tells that smiling stranger who comes up behind you that they can’t follow you through the door but must use their own badge to gain admittance? Talk about being a Grinch!

But just as I kept my grandson safe during our walk by being vigilant and realistic, business continuity management (BCM) practitioners can help keep their companies and colleagues safe by being mindful of the needs of facility security, at the holidays and all year round.

THE BCM PRACTITIONER’S ROLE IN FACILITY SECURITY

The BCM person’s role would be to ask questions about these matters, to encourage the people directly responsible to take care of them. The BCM professional has standing to talk about facility security because it is their responsibility to prevent disruptions to the business, including those that might arise from intrusions from outside.

8 Tips for Keeping Your Facility Safe

With all that in mind, I thought this would be a good time to share my 8 Tips for Keeping Your Facility Safe, During the Holidays and All Year Long:

1. Devise and implement appropriate building security and visitor procedures. These typically include some combination of locked doors, badge access, the signing in and out of visitors, the escorting of visitors to and from their destinations, and policies prohibiting the propping open of doors that should be kept closed and locked. The exact needs vary with the facility and industry. A small pharmaceutical company with drugs on the premises will likely require tighter physical security controls than a small accounting firm.
2. Devise and implement appropriate evacuation procedures and diagrams. Create different evacuation plans for fires (and similar dangers) and for incidents of workplace violence. The two situations have very different profiles and requirements. If you lack the in-house expertise needed to devise such plans, consult your local first responders for help. (You might also ask them for guidance on how the staff can best work with them if and when they are called to the facility in an emergency.)
3. Ensure that all staff members understand and follow the procedures for visitor access. These might include escorting authorized visitors to and from building entrances or preventing strangers from “tailgating” after you when passing through a badge-controlled door. (Yes, this might make you feel like the Grinch. No, it will not harm you or the average, well-meaning visitor—but it might prevent an unauthorized person from gaining access and causing problems.)
4. Encourage your staff to take a proactive attitude toward unescorted visitors who are not familiar to them. Staff should be encouraged to politely ask unescorted visitors such questions as “Can I help you?” and “Do you need anything?” This is especially important when such people seem lost or out of place. Such questions have a way of uncovering and discouraging ill-meaning people, who are generally wary of being noticed and addressed.
5. Make sure that critical equipment and files are kept behind locked doors. The ideal place for private employee and customer data is in locked cabinets inside locked rooms.
6. These barriers should always be closed and locked, not merely capable of being locked.
7. Devise and enforce a policy regarding the carrying of weapons into the facility. This should be appropriate to your state, your organizational culture, and the service or products you provide.
8. Incorporate workplace violence prevention training into your overall employee training. This should be a regular aspect of the training of new hires.
9. Devise and implement policies for handling people who are physically and emotionally out of control. This refers to people who are upset, visibly emotional, and so on. They might be throwing things or running around uncontrollably. Such people can lack a conscious aggressive intent but still be a danger to themselves, others, and the facility.
10. Think like a bad guy. Take some time to imagine that you are an outsider who wishes to gain unauthorized access to your facility. Could you do it? How? In other words, identify the weak points in your facility security program—and then see how those can be hardened.

HAVE YOUR FRUITCAKE AND EAT IT, TOO

Anyone who has ever spent time with a toddler knows that their innocence is one of the most enchanting things about them.

And it’s great that at the holidays we can all relax a little and connect with each other as human beings, instead of just as worker bees or masters of the universe.

By following the 8 tips given above, you can have your fruitcake and eat it, too. You can enjoy the warm and fuzzy aspects of the holidays and still be safe, at the holidays and all year long.

FURTHER READING

For more information on this and other hot topics in business continuity and disaster recovery, check out these recent posts on MHA Consulting and BCMMETRICS:

• Shark Attacks vs. Sunburn: Preparing for the Most Likely Problems
• The Neglected Side of Business Continuity: Problems Not Related to IT
• Become a Master of Disaster: Educate Yourself With These Key BC Resources
• Creating a Continuity Culture: How Your Organization Can Make Business Continuity a Habit