Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
While some facilities rarely see clients or customers because they have no need to come to the site, other buildings for public agencies and private sector companies get a lot of foot traffic. It’s important to set up zones of access based on the need to control how nonemployees go to certain places inside the […]
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At most facilities, janitorial crews are often neither seen nor heard, starting their work shifts after most employees have gone home. This level of freedom has the potential to cause security problems related to more than just incidents of theft. Workers in these jobs may be poorly screened or not background-checked by the firms who […]
On average, the United States Postal Service processes and delivers over 493 million pieces of mail (letters and packages) per day. That does not include the additional millions of packages per day handled by other shipping companies such as United Parcel Service or Fed-Ex. On an average day, all of this goes off without a […]
Drug use among employees is a broad concern for any organization, and with wide acceptance of medical marijuana and the legalization or decriminalization of recreational marijuana in many states, facility managers, along with HR and security personnel can have difficulty navigating these changes. While public attitudes regarding marijuana use are shifting, serious concerns remain about […]
On January 18, 2019, President Trump signed a bill providing another 15 months of funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program (CFATS). Trump signed the bill the day after the program was set to expire. News of the extension provides a moment to examine one of the more unusual […]
Mass notification systems utilize a number of integrated communication devices and software to alert building occupants about a potentially dangerous situation and facilitate the proper action and response. They represent a very beneficial added layer of life safety protection.
One chilling realization stemming from the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks was the inability for the first responders across all disciplines—police, fire, and paramedics—to communicate with each other using the same radio frequencies. Are private sector security practitioners any better at reaching or talking to each other in routine conditions and serious emergencies?
Dangerous chemicals necessitate adequate security to mitigate risks. If you are a facility with a chemical designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a chemical of interest (COI), you may only have 60 days after taking possession of the COI to initiate a security screening process under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards […]
The security concept known as CPTED—or Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design—started back in the 1970s with the publication of architect Oscar Newman’s book, Defensible Spaces. His thinking has influenced building designers, facility maintenance directors, security consultants, and even police agencies since that time. The question today is, does it still work?