Step Up Your Building Security Game
From active shooters to bomb threats, stories highlighting compromised commercial buildings have dominated the airwaves in recent months. Yet many buildings still don’t have plans on how to respond to security incidents and natural disasters, reports Randy Cone, who leads Transwestern’s facility management services in Dallas.
In light of recent events in places like Paris, San Bernardino and Colorado Springs, building owners and managers need to be cognizant that incidents requiring evacuation or sheltering in place could be a possibility, Randy says. A good building preparedness plan begins with not only working with the occupants, but emergency response teams, including local, state and federal police, as well as fire departments. All stakeholders should know what’s in the plan, who's in the building and what the intents are if there’s a security issue, he says.
Police and fire departments should visit the building to understand the layout and the roof, and learn who the building contacts are in case of an emergency. Randy notes that his building teams hold tabletop review sessions with key stakeholders to practice all scenarios. It’s not an evacuation or shelter-in-place drill, he explains, but an opportunity for everyone to know what’s expected and what their roles will be if an emergency arises. Among the topics covered are where people should convene and who the emergency contacts are. Responders also learn about different levels of building access—for instance, if there’s a weather incident, a building may be shut down, but they'll know which management individuals are pre-authorized to access certain parts of the building.
From a tenant standpoint, appoint liaisons between occupants and building management who represent their companies’ interests, Randy notes. Not only can they relay critical information to their employees, but also inform building management and emergency teams of particular needs; for instance, there might be a visually or hearing-impaired employee, or perhaps a person in a wheelchair who may need different evacuation or shelter-in-place accommodations. (Above, tenants evacuate from a building in Ottawa, Canada, during an earthquake.) Many buildings also have loudspeaker P/A systems to communicate with tenants via pre-recorded messages that can be overridden by a live broadcast for different types of emergencies, he says. “It’s a customized approach to each building and scenario.”
If you don’t have a building plan, there are many third-party providers that can help you build one, Randy says. For instance, the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department works with one company that provides a record of building plans in the cloud, allowing the fire chief on scene to have immediate access. “Most of the larger property management companies, like Transwestern, have those capabilities in-house, but you can also reach out to organizations like BOMA, IREM and IFMA, all of which have knowledge on how to develop a comprehensive security plan,” he recommends. (Above, Massey Disaster Planning's Curtis Massey discussed building safety plans at BOMA's Annual Conference & Expo in Los Angeles in June.)
