Office of the Fire Marshal Emergency Building Measures A Guide to Strengthen Emergency Management of High-Rise and High-Risk Buildings

4. Security Measures

How important is security in deterring illegal acts?

Preventing unauthorized entry of persons is one step in reducing the risk of illegal acts. Features can include fencing, locked doors, electro-magnetic locking devices, video surveillance equipment, check points and trained on-site security personnel.

The security measures introduced must be balanced with safety and must never interfere with building features designed to assist escape during an emergency. Similarly, once a building has been evacuated, procedures must be in place to control the re-entry of building occupants so that security can be maintained.

The degree of security provided is primarily based upon the nature of the building occupancy, its design and associated needs and risks. Professionals familiar with security measures should be consulted.

The following information identifies a variety of security components that can be improved, utilized or adopted.

Access control: Access control measures can range from simply having locked areas to having security at entry points and using one or more of the many types of card-readers, chip-readers, and electronic locks that read information encoded on the cards, disks, or keys carried by employees. Common systems incorporate insertion - or swipe-readers that interpret magnetic-stripe cards, or proximity-readers that do not require physical contact with the cards they read. Other components may include the software for managing the distribution and encoding of cards and the processing of transactions, as well as the strikes, contacts, and releases that operate doors. Some more sophisticated systems incorporate biometric devices based on fingerprints, voiceprints, retinal patterns and the like, to allow or forbid access to restricted areas.

Intrusion detection: A variety of alarms are available. Although infrared motion sensors are mostly used to protect interior spaces, there are also motion detectors available for exterior use. Other devices detect the shattering of glass, or the opening of windows and doors. Video motion detectors that detect movement on video signals transmitted from closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras are also available.

Lighting: One of the most basic and cheapest security components. Carefully designed and coordinated interior and exterior lighting systems can have a significant deterrent effect.

Monitoring and surveillance: Includes simple and sophisticated CCTV cameras and the monitors and security command centres they serve.

Vehicular traffic and parking control: These components can also often play a role in building security. Not allowing the public access to underground parking garages and (spacing) keeping vehicles a safe distance away from the building reduces the potential for terrorists to use a car bomb to attack the building.

Perimeter control: Includes elements such as fences, walls, and landscaped berms that protect a facility's potential access ways.

Managers must ensure that the building occupants understand the purpose of the various security features and how they will benefit from the increased security. They will then be more likely to follow proper security procedures.

For additional information see:

Seniors Guidebook to Safety and Security (RCMP)
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/ccaps-spcca/seniors-aines-eng.htm

Home Security Audit Guide
http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/police_serv/HomeSecurityAuditGuide/home_security.html

Cooper, Walter and DeGrazio, Robert, Building Security: An Architect's Guide
http://cryptome.org/archsec.htm

Harmonized Guide to Threat and Risk Assessment Methodology (RCMP)
http://www.cse-cst.gc.ca/documents/publications/tra-emr/tra-emr-1-e.pdf

Canadian Security Association
http://www.canasa.org/