The essentials of building safety and security - revisited

As loyal readers of my safety and security articles in this journal, you are aware that the essentials of building safety and security are to protect building occupants, building management, operational staff, visitors and contractors, as well as assets. The essence of building safety and security is an exercise in emergency preparedness planning where we should not have to ask, at the moment of crisis, "What do we do now?" Above and beyond the ever present issues of natural and man-made threats, basic safety and security measures should be addressed by all building owners and managers. These include positive building access control methods and procedures to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to the premises, i.e., "target hardening", sufficient security staff and video surveillance to be enable observation of all activity at all access points to the property. You should have the necessary alarm points to provide early warning alerts of intrusion violations, fire or smoke conditions and HVAC critical conditions. Security policies must include periodic, documented audits of the alarm systems. In our endeavor to achieve the ultimate in safety and security, with the recommended employment of back-up generators, emergency building lighting, back-up cellular phone service, reserve oil tanks as applicable and even remote-site data centers, it is important for building owners and managers to specifically address life safety preparations. There are minimum necessities that are suggested to assure that tenants, staff and visitors to your property have the life safety tools available when emergency conditions occur. If there is a serious smoke condition and you need to evacuate building occupants, the availability of smoke hoods, or respiratory aided devices, can save lives. These easy to put on devices will provide the wearer more time to exit from a life-threatening smoke condition by filtering dangerous toxic gases. As commonplace as fire extinguishers are, it is highly recommended that fire extinguisher maintenance procedures be reviewed, maintenance logs be checked and training procedures on the use of portable fire extinguishers for building occupants be examined to assure they at least exist and are easily understandable. In the event of any type of emergency, it is imperative that communications are not lost. It is recommended that emergency call stations be strategically located throughout the facility using cellular back-up technology. If building occupants can communicate to describe their locations and what the existing emergency conditions are in their areas, the first responders will be in a better position to help save lives. When an emergency occurs, we generally think of evacuating the property. There may be conditions where a "shelter-in-place" policy is advisable. If a "shelter-in place" plan is implemented, it is necessary that "shelter-in-place" provisioning has been planned for. A minimum list of such provisions would include potable drinking water, packaged foods, paper or plastic plates and utensils, first aid kits, sanitary facilities, flashlights and/or candles, batteries for flashlights and cell phones. It is further recommended that a list of occupants, and their essential prescription medications, be compiled. There is an increase in the utilization of Automated External Defibrillators, commonly referred to as AEDs. These battery operated, portable devices can be used by anyone with a minimum of training to help save a life of someone suffering from cardiac arrest. The AED automatically analyzes the condition of the person apparently in need of assistance and either applies, or does not apply, the necessary defibrillation. AEDs save lives when defibrillation is administered in time. Any supplier of these devices will be more than pleased to provide sufficient in-house training. Emergency provisions should be made to evacuate disabled persons. A common form of such an emergency provision is an evacuation assisting device in the form of an evacuation chair. Evacuation chair staging stations should be set up at areas of known disabled persons as well as at stairwell locations. What is most necessary for all properties are well written and tested emergency action plans, training of personnel in the administration of the emergency plans, early warning alarm and notification systems for fire, smoke, floods and air quality sensing. It is equally important that drills and simulated exercises by management be conducted periodically, to reinforce responsible preparedness. Evaluations of all tested, written emergency procedures and the periodic drills on these procedures, must be performed and documented. You may contact Safeguards International, Inc. for complete risk and vulnerability assessments of your properties, safety and security audits and evaluations, and the preparation of customized emergency plans necessary to assure the safety of lives and the minimization of risk in times of need. Allan Schwartz, CPP, CHS-III is president and CEO of Safeguards International, Inc., Yonkers, N.Y.