While high levels of security are required and expected at certain jobs, recently even the most ordinary, uneventful workplaces are striving to develop comprehensive security programs. "Since September 11, we have felt very vulnerable. People are now thinking about how quickly they can evacuate a building, who is allowed in the building and whether the air intakes are safe. Tenants are demanding a secure building," says Richard Maurer, a senior associate at Kroll Inc.

Legal responsibility for building safety is often defined by contract, but in multi-tenant buildings, public or semi-public areas are usually the responsibility of the building owner or manager and individual offices are the responsibility of individual tenants, says Maurer.

Maurer, who is also co-chairman of the physical security counsel of the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), says there are three types of security that must be coordinated to effectively create a secure office environment: natural security, organized security and mechanical security. Natural security includes forms of access control. Organized security involves security guards and lobby attendants and mechanical security consists of hardware such as cameras, card access devices and emergency call boxes.

A security program also involves some level of education for all employees who work in a building. "I've reviewed facilities that had cameras, card access controls and security officers, but they still had estranged husbands of employees get into the building and get to the employee's desk multiple times. No one had ever put the whole program together. No one ever told employees, 'Don't let folks in the back doors,'" Maurer explains.

At The Workplace

One of the most common workplace problems is the "office creeper." Maurer says these people wander into offices and steal laptop computers or purses because they have easy access to the facilities in a building. These people tend to commit crimes at the start of the day and at lunchtime because their trespass is easier when they blend in with crowds. Information theft is also a problem, especially with the popularity of laptop computers, Maurer says.

One means of minimizing theft is to employ access controls, which vary greatly in sophistication. A receptionist acts as a form of access control, as do biometric systems that read fingerprints before granting access to a building or room. Access controls should operate at various levels, starting with the building's entry points. In multi-tenant buildings, each office or floor containing different tenants should have its own access control, either at the elevator lobby or the door of the office.

At the building's entrance, lobby attendants should be attentive. They should make eye contact with people entering the building and offer verbal greetings. This is a psychological defense, says Maurer, explaining that people are less likely to commit crimes when they fear they will be identified.

At the individual office level, access control can be as simple as a lock on the door, according to Maurer. Where fire codes do not allow for locked doors, Maurer suggests having a loud beep sound when the door is opened so employees will at least know when someone has entered. If the door is not used as a general entryway, he suggests alarming the door and placing a sign on the door warning that an alarm will sound.

Some buildings also have delayed egress doors, if fire codes allow for them. These doors, usually used only for emergency exits, can be opened only by pushing a panic bar for 15 to 20 seconds, during which time an alarm sounds and the person exiting is not only delayed but can be videotaped and seen on a security monitor.

It is also important to train employees how to deal with strangers or visitors. "The average American is very uncomfortable approaching an individual and asking, 'What are you doing in my work area?' Most Americans don't like to get involved in conflict," Maurer notes. Employees should offer to help, he says, suggesting they say, "Excuse me, you look lost. Do you need help finding something?" This approach stops a potential criminal, but does not offend a legitimate customer. Company identification cards are also a way to encourage employees to question strangers. "People feel more comfortable approaching someone lacking ID," Maurer says, even if the ID card is not used with an access control device. Picture ID cards are even more effective, he adds, because they are less likely to be used by unauthorized people.

Companies should establish an orientation process to train employees how to deal with strangers, how to report and replace lost identification or access cards and how to receive packages, especially suspicious packages. Orientation is particularly important in companies that have a high turnover rate. Companies should also have clear guidelines on bringing visitors to the office and taking company equipment, such as laptops, out of the office.

The building itself should have limited entries. Unobserved doorways should not be left open. Smoking areas present problems in some facilities where smokers prop open a back door, giving easy access to anyone. Additionally, Maurer says security posts should have good surveillance; for example, they should not be hidden behind elevators.

Personal assaults and theft from vehicles can be problems in company parking lots. "Appropriate lighting, emergency call boxes and security patrols help solve these problems," says Maurer. People walking from the office to the parking areas should be able to see a fair distance; there should not be walls or bushes behind which unsafe individuals can hide. Also, Maurer stresses that sometimes security measures are as simple as replacing blown light bulbs in the parking area.

A Security Review

Part of Maurer's job is evaluating security risk at various facilities. Sometimes this involves dressing like the average employee and pretending to have lost his access card to see who will let him in the building. Sometimes he wanders around a facility to see how long it takes for someone to stop him or at least question his presence. Security reviews also involve a great deal of research.

The first step of a security review is to evaluate the location of a facility. "We go out literally 3 miles in all directions around a facility and we do a complete demographic study of the neighborhood. We look at census information -- how many people are unemployed in that area -- and insurance claims in the immediate area. We drive around and we look," says Maurer.

Security reviews include assessment of a company's hiring process. Maurer interviews human resources departments to see if they do background investigations, credit checks and psychological reviews on job candidates. "Before worrying about physical security hardware, companies should worry about who they hire to work in a facility," Maurer explains. Even cleaning crews that work at night should be subject to background investigations, he says.

The security reviews also evaluate access to high-risk areas such as computer and storage rooms that contain valuable company information. Access to outside generators is also important, as is access to air conditioning intake units, through which someone could easily fill a building with pepper spray or carbon monoxide. Even the means by which utilities enter buildings is a matter of concern. For example, when the pole holding a telephone box is located in the parking lot, it is easy for someone to take out the phone lines, even accidentally, by hitting the pole with a car.

Security reviews are not only for existing buildings. "A fair amount of our work is done with developers," says Maurer. "It is a lot easier [to add security measures] when you're dealing with ink on paper than when you have a solid mass of building in front of you. Also, installation costs are much lower when you are building than when you try to retro-build." After evaluating the neighborhood for the planned facility, Maurer says he looks at plans and offers suggestions to improve security through design, landscaping and even lighting.

The Newest Technology

Companies rely more and more on mechanical security to bolster their existing security programs. While the closed circuit televisions (CCTVs) of 5 years ago have not disappeared, the technology behind them is quickly improving. Digitally enhanced CCTVs, one of the new forms of mechanical security, allows for improved security in two ways. They can be programmed to monitor a certain area and to sound an alarm or alert security guards if anything in the area changes. They can also be used by security guards who monitor a card access system. In this case, each person granted an access card has a digital picture on file that appears on a computer screen when the card is used at the reader. A camera monitoring the door also sends a picture to the computer screen, which a guard is watching. As Maurer explains, the guards know there is a problem "if little Miss Jones, who is a 5-foot tall Asian lady, has been replace by a 6-foot tall white male."

In situations where access controls are not feasible, convenience stores for example, someone at another location can monitor the area through video. A switch signaling an alarm causes the video camera to start filming, which causes an off-site attendant to see the picture. The attendant can call the police and give a description of any criminals, and, in some cases, can use a speaker at the location to urge the criminals to leave the scene.

Currently, facial recognition systems are the biggest thing in the industry, says Maurer, who expects to see them in major airports within a year. These biometric systems are advanced video systems that measure some 80 points on a person's face, converting the picture to a digital set of numbers. The numbers are compared to a database, and the system can identify people who are not in the database and deny them access. The system can also identify people in the database as known criminals. Maurer points out that these systems help to avoid racial profiling.

Some companies are also employing anti-theft devices like those used by department stores, where devices on items like laptops sound an alarm if someone tries to leave with the item. In terms of information theft, Maurer says information kept in central servers should be protected by an information technology security program. "These programs should be able to track not only who has had access to these areas but who has attempted access as well," he adds.

Using Local Law Enforcement

Maurer also encourages building managers to contact local law enforcement agencies to inquire about community policing programs. "It is actually the most effective law enforcement program in the last 40 years. It does lower crime," he says. Growing out of neighborhood watch programs, community policing programs involve law enforcement agencies working in neighborhoods where there are problems. The agencies make people aware of problems and help them with solutions.

"For community policing to work, the agency has to know what is going on in every neighborhood. They have to be able to track criminal problems. And they have to make that information easily available to the public," Maurer states. He describes agencies in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Tampa, Florida, as having model programs to inform the community. One Virginia Beach agency keeps all the crime statistics at the local library. The information is organized by block and broken down by year and month. A Tampa agency has a Web site where people can look up crime statistics by zone.

Of course, Maurer says he has come across some agencies that ask for a court order when he requests crime statistics, which are in the public domain. Often, these agencies are trying to hide problems, he says. At any rate, he believes building managers should attempt to disseminate as much information about local crime as possible to tenants and employees. When managers are aware of specific problems, such as assaults in nearby parking lots, the managers can offer solutions, such as security escorts to the parking lots or at least encourage people to leave the building in groups.

©2002 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.