We're still vulnerable: It's October of 2007 - Have you satisfactorily complied with the law?

We just observed the 6th anniversary of the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. Most of us remembered where we were in New York on that fateful day. Many of us offer prayers as we remembered those who were lost. As you read this article, the world situation appears to be unstable. America is being threatened by radical terrorist groups and even sovereign nations determined to destroy us. Each day, as a result of real or implied threats to our beloved city of New York, property owners and managers have taken to investigate what measures they can implement to protect their properties, tenants, management staff and their most valuable real estate assets. The NYPD and the NYFD continuously publish bulletins and newsletters to assist the owners and managers as to what necessary steps must be taken to prevent or mitigate terrorist attacks as well as natural disasters. Many building and property owners and managers are extremely proactive in addressing the issues of potential attacks. Please be aware that while the threat of a potential terrorist attack can come in the form of a radiological, biological or chemical attack, these threats can also come from non-terrorist sources such as a truck spills or spills in nearby buildings, if not from within your building. It wasn't very long ago that an underground steam pipe burst at a very busy intersection in mid-town Manhattan causing a crater that swallowed a tow truck. The ensuing, billowing steam that blasted upwards over the tops of nearby office buildings was feared to contain asbestos or other toxic materials. There is always the potential threat of the introduction of contaminants into a buildings' air supply. It is essential to protect against tampering with air intakes, air circulation units and air filtration compartments. Mechanical rooms must be secure at all times with an audit trail as to who gains access to these limited access rooms. Your organization must have dedicated staff addressing the issues of safety and security who can prepare contingency plans for any, I repeat, any eventuality including explosions, natural disasters, floods, and/or power outages. The basic mission of an emergency action or crisis management team is to prepare policies and procedures which will guide and direct the entire operation as to what to do before, during and after an incident of any proportion. A critical and most important part of any emergency plan is that portion that deals with evacuation. Evacuation is critical to life safety, the single most important objective of any planning process. In fact, the evacuation process, which can be accomplished in many ways, shelter-in-place, in-building relocation to another part of the facility (invacuation), partial evacuation or full evacuation is now mandated by New York City law in the form of the recently passed NYFD Local Law 26. Local Law 26 which kicked-in in 2006 applies to all commercial buildings in the city of New York. The mandate states that all commercial buildings in New York must comply by submitting an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for non-fire related incidents by August, October or December 2006, depending upon the height of the building. It's October 2007, have you satisfactorily complied with the law? Your evacuation plan must be exercised. Periodic, random drills must be conducted to assure everyone's working knowledge of the plan. Building occupants, visitors and contractors should be part of the testing and drill program on a periodic basis. While the premise of this article is being prepared for a potential terrorist attack, if you have a well written, comprehensive, tested plan you can prepare a listing of all possible or potential contingencies ranging from fires, floods, explosions, blackouts, telephone outages, power outages and weather related emergencies, such as wind and storm damage, to violence and crime in the workplace and medical emergencies. You can further list the contingencies related to computer downtime or the total loss of a computer or data facility. An emergency plan will have many sections, one to cover all of the contingencies previously mentioned. I would strongly suggest that you revisit your emergency planning activities and include as many contingency plans as there are contingencies. You never know. While some threats are real and some threats are likely, and some threats are probable, still they are all threats. When the meteorologists predict a category 5 hurricane to hit New York and inundate the city under 10-20 ft. of water, who takes them seriously? I think we all should, just as we should take the saber rattling by those radical extremists seriously. We're still vulnerable; we can do more. Safeguards International, an emergency planning consultant and an emergency action plan provider, is prepared to assist all property owners with their EAPs as well as assisting owners and managers by performing the necessary disaster preparedness evaluations and reviews of your properties which will result in 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.