Maintaining confidence in your building's reputation by keeping amenities in top performance

A tenant who rents space in your building expects all of its amenities to be in top operational performance: revolving doors, elevators, HVAC and lighting. The tenant further expects clean and maintained floors, carpeting, windows and stairwells. The building management office often hears from the tenants about conditions that fall short of satisfaction and, hopefully, respond to the client in a timely manner. The tenant also believes that when his employees come to work in your building that they are in a safe environment. They have every right to expect that, and employees like to think that when they come to work they are in a "safe haven." It is the building owner's and property manager's ultimate responsibility to assure that their tenants are safe and secure. Tenant safety and security must be the top priority in all commercial properties today. Tenant confidence in your building's safety and security go a long way and build and maintain its stellar reputation For the most part, commercial buildings offer public access as well as the ease with which an intruder can gain access to a building and its floor space. The entering of a lobby during peak hours is often unchallenged. Once in the lobby, access to an elevator bank is also often unchallenged. Subsequent entry to a floor during normal business hours is virtually available to anyone including well-dressed strangers with malicious or larcenous intentions. An intruder determined to commit a crime will know in advance which of those tenant spaces have easy access. Tenants must be reminded to be diligent in securing their space. Free access to a building by loiterers, intruders or even stalkers can lead to a workplace violence incident. Out-of-control individuals or labor disputes can also lead to violence. Perimeter protection commonly referred to as "target hardening" is the first step in the protection of people, property and assets. The trend in this direction for the past several years has been unobtrusive physical barriers in the form of optical turnstiles. Pedestrian entries that require a tenant's badge/credential or a visitor's issued temporary access credential to gain access to an elevator bank. These optical, decorative turnstiles are often designed to match the lobby décor so they blend in nicely and yet provide the security to prevent unauthorized intruders into the building. Many building owners who do not want the presence of metal barrier bars can have pure optical turnstiles which use beams of light to detect unauthorized intrusion or they can have swing-glass barriers which are virtually invisible yet are a visible deterrent to the stranger who wishes to enter the building with mal-intent. A further advantage to optical turnstiles is the reduction of security staff previously needed to screen pedestrian traffic into the property. With regard to your building's safety and security preparedness, we then migrate to addressing the potential danger of fire, explosion, floods and weather related damage that pose unpredictable threats to tenant's safety. And we never know when there will be a bomb threat or a medical emergency in the building. With the warmer weather upon us there is a tendency to leave doors and windows propped open. It's even nice to leave the building at lunchtime or at break time to take a walk outside. The shrubs are now fuller, obscuring visibility. We may even wish to work a little later because of the longer daylight. Safety considerations must be addressed for this seasonal change and people's habits, the tenant's, and those bent on crime. The best defense is a good offense when trying to maintain your building's management reputation. Building owners and property managers that are proactive in an endeavor to provide safety and security for their tenants should have periodic audits of security and safety measures by qualified, independent, certified security consultants. Your security consultant can also assist with reviewing your existing crisis and emergency plan, or generating a new one. This plan must define a crisis and emergency team with its building management team leader, its tenant coordinator, floor monitors, medical coordinator, stairwell and elevator monitors and evacuation coordinator. All participating parties must approve the crisis and emergency plan. The contents of the plan should be all inclusive to include procedures that address any crisis, emergency and contingency that can occur. One of the more important and most critical procedures is the building's evacuation procedure. Minutes and seconds can save lives. An orderly evacuation can save lives. Another most critical issue with regard to the crisis and emergency plan is the need to train building staff on its contents and to train the staff on the implementation of the procedures. It is strongly recommended that periodic, random drills be performed on all procedures in the plan throughout the year. Nothing in the world can take the place of a genuine feeling of safety and security. Your reputation depends upon your being proactive here. In our daily lives, we rely on many to support this feeling. In the public sector, our communities provide dedicated civil servants for this task. In the private sector, at work, the task lies with the building owners and property managers. Safeguards International, Inc., is available to assist all building owners and property managers in safety and security assessments of your properties that will result in "customized" crisis and emergency procedure manuals and the training of staff on the procedures. Allan Schwartz, CPP is president and CEO of Safeguards International, Inc., Yonkers, N.Y.