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Situation management

Fail to prepare? Then prepare to fail.

Every day, security teams face a variety of challenges from the mundane to the truly bizarre, These teams are vital to the smooth operation of facilities that they are trusted to keep safe and secure, from city centres, sports stadiums, casinos, ports, harbours and airports, to warehouses and vast transport networks. To be effective they need to be kept abreast of every incident no matter how small it may at first appear, and be ready and able to deliver a consistent, appropriate and effective level of response.

For several years situation management systems, otherwise known as PSIM (physical security information management) has been heralded as the future of incident and operational management.

Put simply, these systems pull together all of the information feeds entering the security control room (CCTV, smoke and fire alarms, motion sensors, access control, perimeter detection etc) and give operators, supervisors and managers a clear consolidated view of what is going on and where across the entire site/s. When an alert is raised through the system the operator is automatically provided with clear step-by-step onscreen instructions in real-time, with regard to what needs to happen, when and what order. Meanwhile, all actions are automatically documented for future training, scenario reconstruction and compliance purposes.

“What you want people to do is use good judgement, that is the power of being a human. But what we also want to do is make sure we do not miss any steps,” was a comment made by Ed Merkle, the security director at the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) in the US, an organisation that has been a trailblazer in the use of situation management, since it implemented such a system in late 2007.

To give an insight into how the technology can be used, here are some common and not so common incidents that maritime ports and airports can be presented with, and how a fully integrated situation management system can aid in both proactive and reactive response planning and action.

Severe weather conditions

A severe storm is forecast to arrive at the port a few days from now. The system automatically alerts managers and simultaneously launches a series of procedures that personnel need to follow to make preparations such as evacuation plans, instructions to store and protect equipment, or direct vessels/planes to an alternate destination.

Should a port need to handle an overspill of vessels/planes making an unscheduled stop (for example due to severe weather at its intended destination) it will be ideally placed to do so. Pre-defined workflows can be created to automatically instruct the manager on the appropriate course of action, such as directing the vessel/plane to a specific secure area, while appropriate personnel are notified of its location and what procedures each should follow and in what order. In response to an emergency landing the system can be used to orchestrate the entire operation.

Fire

Should one or more smoke/fire detectors be triggered the system can raise an on-screen alert on a security operator’s desktop console. The operator would be presented with a GIS referenced map onscreen displaying the location of the fire with relevant surveillance cameras imaged. Presented alongside are on-screen instructions advising the operator what to do next e.g. evacuate the area and alert first responders. Because they can view the exact location of the incident on the map, managers can quickly implement contingency to ensure continuity of operations while the incident is being handled.

A small unidentified vessel enters the port and is detected by radar (uncommon but not unheard of and therefore such a situation must be prepared for in advance). The system triggers an immediate alert in the control room and sets a number of pre-defined procedures into action, while simultaneously transmitting information to a nearby port police vessel.

These are just four potential scenarios, but take a few minutes to count the number of incidents that can and do occur at your facility, both those that you already have contingency for and those that you have not. I suspect you will arrive at a figure in the hundreds in no time at all.

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Louisiana is the primary evacuation hub for the city in the event of a hurricane. In most parts of the world this is an infrequent occurrence but when one strikes and in 2005 hurricane Katrina did just that, the airport and the entire team needs to be immediately able to respond to the incident like clockwork. But it is not just the big incidents that the airport needs to cope with. In fact, the airport receives up to four medical emergencies each day and last year 19 000 incidents required safety or security personnel to be dispatched.

Prior to using situation management the data feeds entering its control room where segregated in separate silos, however, this has now changed and today the airport has successfully integrated all of the 400 surveillance cameras, 200 access control points, 4000 fire alarm detectors across a 1900 acre site. Using the technology the security team is able to have a clear unified picture of what is going on at the airport at any time, using two instead of 12 screens.

This year the Russian rail operator, AeroExpress, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Portugal’s largest private bank, Millennium bcp, have all announced the introduction of situation management.

The organisations around the world that have already deployed situation management have proven that it is possible to successfully implement and strictly manage their incident plans from a single system. Situation management provides a solid foundation from which to improve risk management, minimise vulnerability and comply with security regulations governing their respective facilities, such as the customer trade partnership against terrorism regulations.

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