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Assessing responsibility

Just who is responsible for retail and shopping mall security? Is it the landlord, managing agents/facility managers, shopping centre management, tenants, business owners or the deployed security company. Is it one of them or a combination of all of them?

The right answer is all of them. They all have a vital role to play in ensuring that the security system is designed and operated in a manner that is effective, efficient and manageable, with clear lines of communication and areas of responsibility and one which addresses all identified environmental risk factors both internally and externally.

Who is responsible for what part of the security system is as vital a concern as to what security system is in place, for without this understanding, no security system can operate efficiently or be cost effective.

Therefore, the security risk assessment is a critical tool required to identify, understand, research and develop your security plan, as well as align your security plan to your overarching security strategy and budgetary constraints.

The security line item in the retail operational budget is a large item and therefore it is common practice to limit and/or curtail this expense as part of the management strategy of most landlords, managing agents and tenants. A quality independent security risk assessment takes these constraints into account and assists in ensuring that budget spent on security systems and deployment does not go to waste through incorrect assignment or redundancy. Security awareness training can more often than not save more money than the implementation of more measures.

Risk is defined as the probability or threat of damage, injury, liability, loss or any other negative occurrence that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities, and that may be avoided through preemptive action. (Reference: business directory.com.)

For forty years, crime has been approached in a reactive manner rather than proactively. The increase in crime as revealed by the SAPS crime statistics is a clear indicator that the current means used are no longer as effective as it may have been in the past. Criminals quickly adapt to our efforts to defend against their intentions, therefore we need to be constantly thinking, assessing our vulnerabilities and the opportunities we present to the criminal element, which place us in danger, threaten our lives, property and business enterprises.

As the current practice is to have the security company define the risk at no cost and propose and deploy solutions from their individual stock warehouses, it is not unreasonable to state that the retail sector does not take security seriously enough. It does not have its own security systems and deployed security protocols, policies, systems and personnel scrutinised by an independent security risk assessor, whose sole aim is to identify strengths and weaknesses, in alignment with the strategic intent of the various types of retail operations, as well as their own management.

Without an independent security risk assessment, what is a new or the current security system been designed according to?

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