All staff, non-security and security alike should have some security awareness training, even if it’s only 10 minutes at induction, says a counter-terrorism and explosives trainer.
Duty of care and due diligence are the words Prof Al Hatcher uses to make the case for security training. Prof Hatcher, who five years ago set up the International School for Search and Explosives Engineers in Wiltshire, adds: “When you go to chief executives and say, ‘security’, they say ‘it’s a non-productive part of our bottom line’.” He speaks of a chief exec’s duty of care requirements. If someone opens a parcel in the postroom and it goes bang, you could face a huge lawsuit. It need only take 10 minutes to give a new employee security awareness training, Prof Hatcher says; that does not make the member of staff an expert, but it does build on what he calls ‘the British mind-set’, built up over the last 30 years the UK has faced Irish-related terrorism. When he speaks abroad, this British mindset, that Americans and others have not had to learn, is what he holds up. In practical terms, if you or I saw a suitcase on the ground at Waterloo station, we would report it to a security or police officer.
Suicide bombers
Yet as the peace process holds, the young may not have such a mindset. Complacency may set in. Have the ‘new’ terrorists, suicide and vehicle bombers, changed the rules of counter-terror? Professional Security asked. Security awareness still applies, according to Prof Hatcher. One of the problems, he suggests, is that end users buy this and that high-tec equipment, which however is only as good as the person operating it. Terrorists, he goes on, will use a low-tec solution, because it is easier (and cheaper). Prof Hatcher questions whether the buyers of such equipment know how to use it tactically. He points to the United States’ Transportation Security Administration (www.tsa.gov) that has spent billions of dollars on anti-terrorism. Yes, there has not been an outrage since 9-11; but at what a financial cost!
Architecture
How does bomb protection and counter-terror differ by building type – between say a Royal Mail warehouse, a museum and art gallery and a Canary Wharf office? A building should have a blast mitigation survey, to see whether a building may collapse in the event of an Oklahoma-style bomb, or whether only the windows will break. That is a matter of architecture, for the architects to work with explosives engineers, so the architect knows what to draw up and what not to do. What of a building’s function, whether a tourist attraction or office or warehouse? In that case the question to ask is: why would the terrorist attack? Hence there should be a threat analysis. Such an analysis should also take into account the building next door – you might not be a terror target, but your neighbour might be. Then there might be a secondary attack or a deflection, that affects you the near-neighbour.
What to do
What should the typical security manager do in this field? Prof Hatcher suggests a security manager should have clear, written SOPs (standard operating procedures). The manager should be walking around.talking to employees, checking intelligence briefings. And such information need not be from MI5 but from any number of media outlets such as Reuters, CNN or BBC. Security managers should check: are members of staff trained properly? do they understand what their role is? and then test it. Run an exercise, even if only on a desk. And security set-ups, he suggests, should be validated externally. Too many security managers, Prof Hatcher adds, are ex-SAS or ex-police and are wary of people coming in from the outside to see what they are doing. The worry is that such outside verifiers could get the manager the sack. Not so, Prof Hatcher says. The security manager does need to make sure that he too is up to speed; is he relying on the fact he was a police chief inspector 20 years ago? Is the manager still taking training courses, attending seminars? And besides looking to himself and downward in the organisational chain, the security manager needs to look upwards too – and have a reporting chain to the chief executive or executive management. Are the execs paying mere lip service to security requirements? Are they locking their laptops, are they aware of cyber-security?! Is there a business continuity plan, that security should be a part of? Is there an evacuation plan?
Architecture
On that question, how does a bomb evacuation differ from a fire alarm? Prof Hatcher takes the point, speaking of cases where someone’s bomb evacuation plan is simply the fire evacuation plan with ‘fire’ crossed out and ‘bomb’ added. What if, however, the evacuation plan involves staff using stairs or a lift where a device is? Or, having evacuated everyone onto a car park, what if terrorists have planted a second device, knowing people will gather there – as the IRA have done, and as happened at Bali? Hence, if possible, building users should evacuate onto a green space, Prof Hatcher advises.
CPD
Prof Hatcher is a self-admitted soapbox man with opinions on security and training, arguing for instance for continuing professional development (CPD) for security staff, and as something for security employers to embrace. With training courses, security staff can develop, rise in responsibility. Speaking to him one gets the feeling of how the Security Industry Authority is acting as a catalyst in all kinds of security training fields, towards a virtuous circle of agreed (and rising) standards, giving staff skills, and more feelings of self-worth; and giving clients a better service. Prof Hatcher says: “I think there is a requirement for academic reward, because I think it shows ability. When people get a certificate at the end of a course, and have passed an exam – it is quite exhilarating; all that work was worth it. But we have to make that certificate mean something.” The ISSEE has gone for accreditation with City and Guilds.
About ISSEE
The ISSEE is based at Tidworth,a former Army site now a Salisbury College campus. The school also has training areas on nearby Salisbury Plain licensed from the Ministry of Defence. The ISSEE also does training at the former RAF Chilmark store.
For details visit the the International School for Search and Explosives Engineers website;
