Protective Security for Businesses
There are several steps you can take to protect your employees and business from the threat of terrorism. Examples include appointing a security officer or manager to support management in the implementation of policies and procedures in relation to areas such as access control, alarms, CCTV, information technology and evacuation procedures, amongst others. It’s also worth asking your staff and any others who use your premises to familiarise themselves with the guidance on Staying Safe from Firearms/Weapons Attack, and complete the ACT E-Learning and SCaN for All Staff, as described below.
The Royal Gibraltar Police works alongside a range of local and overseas partners, including the UK’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) and the UK Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), which is the UK National technical authority for physical and personnel protective security advice. CPNI’s role is to protect National security by helping to reduce the vulnerability of the National infrastructure to terrorism and other threats, by working with partners in Government, Police, industry and academia. The CPNI website hosts excellent resources under various themes, including:
Managing My Asset
Security Planning / Protecting My Asset / Leadership in Security
Threats
National Security Threats / Threat Scenarios & Advice
Advice
Personnel & People Security / Physical Security / Cyber Security
ACT Awareness – eLearning
ACT (Action Counters Terrorism) Awareness E-Learning is a counter terrorism product designed for all UK based companies/organisations, and has now also been extended to Gibraltar. The product aims to protect buildings, business areas and their surrounding neighbourhoods from the threat of terrorism.
Free to use, the course can be divided into short sections, however, it takes just 45 minutes in total to complete – 45 minutes that could save lives.
The digital format is proving popular with shopping, entertainment and sports venues with more companies applying to take part every day. If you’re a member of the general public or from a major organisation, you can access the course here.
See, Check and Notify (SCaN) for All Staff.
See – understand what hostile reconnaissance is and how to spot it
Check – know what to do if you suspect hostile reconnaissance or identify suspicious activity
Notify – who you should tell and what should you tell them
Created by the CPNI and the National Project Servator Team, the See, Check and Notify (SCaN) for All Staff awareness film, is available to all members of staff working at an organisation, venue or event. The film covers topics on what hostile reconnaissance is, what suspicious activity looks like and how to spot it, what you can do to engage with visitors and what you should do if you see something that does not feel right.
The film is available to view as an individual, or as a group using a facilitator (your organisation may already have a security manager, or trainer/instructor and you may prefer to deliver this session as a group), in a 30 minute or 60 minute interactive session. For the group session with a facilitator, there is an awareness pack you can download that provides notes, guidance and suggested questions to the group to aid discussion.
The film covers four main areas:
1. Hostile reconnaissance – What is it?
2. See – What does suspicious activity look like?
3. Check – The power of hello
4. Notify – What to report and who to
Click here to get started with SCaN for All Staff.
Areas to consider for effective security in post and parcel delivery
1. Establish a delivery policy for post and packages
For example, some organisations do not allow personal deliveries for staff. In multi-occupancy buildings, tenants may be required to use the same suppliers for some items to reduce the number of deliveries made. You may decide to pre-screen all deliveries off-site before delivering them to their destination.
2. Consider the location of your delivery room
If possible, locate the loading bay / delivery room in an area away from any business-critical parts of the building such as: server rooms, gas utility inlets, air conditioning outlets / inlets with its own or no air conditioning. An assessment should be made to see what is around the immediate vicinity of the delivery areas and actions taken to minimise any potential blast or spread of lethal powders. However, it may not be possible to locate the delivery room this way: in older buildings limited options only are available. British standard PAS 97 discusses this further.
3. Put security in place for the loading bay / post room
The loading bay / post room should have an access control system that only allows authorised personnel to enter, where possible, backed up with CCTV to give a full audit trail of who goes where and when.
4. Have a single point of entry for all deliveries
Deliveries in most buildings are carried out through the loading bay, however in a lot of cases the delivery of smaller items are accepted at the reception area thus circumnavigating any security checks in the loading bay area.
5. Train all staff dealing with post and parcels in suspect package recognition
All staff dealing with post and packages should attend a recognised accredited course for the recognition of suspect packages. This training should be carried out regularly so that the staffs are kept up to date with the latest devices and methodologies.
6. Consider implementing a hand sort – identifying the tell-tale signs that could make a package suspicious
Where possible, mail and parcels can initially be sorted by hand in able to identify any of the key signs for identifying a suspicious package. Whether you implement this for all deliveries will depend on a number of factors including your risk assessment and how much mail you get: there needs to be a balance between security and business needs.
The hand sort should check for one or more of these signs:
· Shape of package: IEDs or incendiary devices can contain irregular shapes such as power supplies, detonators and trigger switches which would give the package an unbalanced look, feel and weight. If you are suspicious of a package, then handle carefully.
· Post mark and stamps: Be suspicious of excessive use of stamps in comparison to the weight of the package. Also, be vigilant as to where the package has originated from (it may be from a high-risk country).
· Smell: Certain explosives have a distinctive aroma like almonds that can be sweet and pleasing to the nose; this smell can also be masked by perfumes / aftershaves, coffee etc. Any strong smell should be viewed suspiciously.
· Oily marks: Explosives can sweat with temperature differences thus leaving greasy or oily marks on the envelopes / packages. Be suspicious of any such like marks.
· Seal: Powdered envelopes such as anthrax, Ricin and caustic soda are generally heavily sealed with tape to prevent the escape of powder during the postal process. Also be suspicious of postal tubes that are heavily taped up just at one end, as human nature would tell you to open it at the end that isn’t heavily taped up, which could be the trigger for an IED.
Always check with the person it is addressed to see if they are expecting anything that matches the postmark and size of package you are holding.
7. Consider the use of an effective x-ray machine for the scanning of parcels and letters
The nature and size of your business may justify the use of an x-ray machine to check all incoming deliveries to assess whether each parcel / letter is safe or suspect. Of course, not every location or company can warrant the initial cost or maintenance, staffing costs involved with an x-ray machine or indeed have a place to put a machine. It should be noted that older x-ray machines can degrade over a period of time so a regular assessment on the effectiveness of your x-ray machine should be carried out.
X-ray machines have a number of enhancement tools designed to give the user more detail when interrogating an image. Unfortunately, the training on the use of the x-ray machines is normally carried out by a senior person and as a result gets diluted over time. Official user and refresher training by the service provider should be carried out every 12 months to avoid this happening.
8. Establish an action plan for dealing with a suspect package
A full written action plan should be known by all staff for the discovery of explosives and powders. These procedures should be practiced at all levels.
9. Review
All equipment and procedures around the way parcels / letters enter the building and the action on discovery plans need to be reviewed on an annual basis.
This list is not exhaustive. The processes, procedures and equipment you put in place will depend on your business operation and your risk assessment. But a comprehensive approach to post and parcel delivery is a crucial part of the security of your organisation.
Visit the CPNI website for further information on CPNI Mail Screening & Security Campaign: https://www.cpni.gov.uk/mail-screening-matters-0