Security Professionals and Their Role in Emergency Disaster - Essay Example

? SECURITY PROFESSIONALS A nation can be termed as developed if it has appropriate security measures put in place to take care of emergencies, disasters or predicted contingencies. This would imply that it should have resourceful and well skilled security professional to handle any eventuality that may occur at any given time. This paper seeks to distinguish the terms, an emergency, a disaster and a contingency explaining how security professionals are prepared in dealing with them. It also talks about how well a nation is prepared in mitigating emergencies, dealing with disasters and contingencies in terms of the equipment tools and resources to be used in case of any eventuality. It also explains the measures and techniques that the security professional use to handle different emergencies or disasters. An emergency refers to an unforeseen combination of circumstances whose resulting states of nature require immediate attention and actions. An emergency may be serious to the extent that if no immediate attention is provided, it can result to crucial and fatal situations. A contingency, on the other hand, refers to an event that has the possibility of either occurring or not occurring in the future as predicted. A disaster can occur if people live near hazardous areas like unstable slopes where landslides are most likely to happen active volcanoes or close to rivers that are likely to burst and flood any minute. Introduction Security professionals are a group of low voltage contractors, individuals, or firms that specialize in the installation of security systems (Fischer, 2008). These systems are installed either at homes, offices, business premises, military camps, or even sport centers and clubs. Security professional also engage in maintenance and servicing of the security systems installed at any given destination. The different types of security systems include fire alarms, burglar alarms, 24 hour emergency service, access control, internet and cellular monitoring, closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance systems, 24 hour UL monitoring system, home theatres and outdoor intrusion detectors. Security professionals ensure that they provide the necessary security system for all destinations. For example, in providing for home security, there are different systems that can be provided and they include fire alarm notification and detection, medical emergency notification, intrusion detection and carbon monoxide detection (Fischer, 2008). The installation of home security is vital for any home because it provides 24 hour security to an individual’s loved ones especially when one is absent. This is because it aids in watching over one’s valuable possessions while absent from the house at any given time of day. This kind of protection is necessary since it reduces chances of burglary and intrusion. To aid in home security, also available are both wireless and hard wired systems that have a battery backup which keeps the homes protected even if power goes off. Security camera systems and video surveillance have gained popularity in protecting business areas like banks and other retail stores. Security cameras and videos have aided in improving security of these facilities because they tend to attract huge numbers of people that frequent their premises on a daily account. Security professionals have also had an upper hand in improving security in travel depots like air strips, shipping and port security, and the road transport security. Air port security is of utmost importance because a lot of people travel by plane. Security professionals seek to ensure that no passengers board the plane with prohibited items that could cause a plane hijack or a staged bomb. This is done by ensuring that items like knives, pen knives, fire arms, scissors, box cutters, inflammable objects and other sharp objects are confiscated upon discovery at the checking points (Fischer, 2008). In road transport mainly operated by the buses, action plans are established at the departing terminals by the security professionals in order to improve security and safety transportation for the bus operations. This is done by promoting security vigilance through conducting of trainings and partnering with various law enforcement security agencies, protection of the transport infrastructure and preserving the bus industry as a strategy of transportation (Fischer, 2008). In port and shipping industry, security professionals ensure that security is beefed up because the port extends a nation to its international boundaries. This is important because a port, is one of the loading points of imported goods from other foreign countries. The security professionals ensure that there are measures put in place in order to identify high risk cargos containers so that they are screened at their point of shipment. Coast guard marshals are put in place to increase patrols at the ports and other waterways. Also, the coast guard marshals are also keen to ensure that protection is increased at the nation’s petroleum facilities and also thorough screening is conducted on the vessels arriving and departing the ports. Role of Security Professionals in Emergency, Contingency and Disaster Planning Security professionals in any nation play a key role in providing proper security to its citizens. This is done by gauging how quick they respond to emergencies, contingencies and disasters and how far they are willing to go in minimizing the associated risks that may arise in case of an emergency or disaster (Hinders, 2009). As a result of the abrupt nature of contingencies and disasters, there must be some specific measures and quick responses that the security men and women have in place so as to minimize the rate at which fatal accidents can occur. Disasters can either be natural or man made and so are emergencies and contingencies. Whichever the occurrence, the security professionals should be quick to respond to any kind of emergencies. A disaster can take place if the following conditions occur at the same time and they include; if people live near hazardous areas like unstable slopes where landslides are most likely to happen, active volcanoes or close to rivers that are likely to burst and flood any minute. Disasters that occur as a result of natural phenomena are likely to hit an area exceedingly hard and cause massive damages if they are not properly taken care of. When disasters occur in an area, they are likely to affect several human activities both social and economic or even harm the natural environment by upsetting the ecosystem. An emergency refers to an unforeseen combination of circumstances whose resulting states of nature require immediate attention and actions (Wedar, 2001). An emergency may be extremely serious to an extent that if no immediate attention is provided, it can result to crucial and fatal situations. Due to their sudden and unexpected occurrences, emergencies may cause injuries, loss of lives, property damages and may also interfere with normal activities of people. A contingency, on the other hand, refers to an event that has the possibility of either occurring or not occurring in the future as predicted (Hinders, 2009). A contingency can also be a future event or any kind of circumstance that is possible to occur but its prediction of occurrence may fail to occur with certainty. An example of a contingency could be a predicted hailstorm, earthquake, tsunami or a hurricane wind that could occur or fail to occur as per the prediction. If these predictions are announced, security professionals have to ensure that necessary measures are put in place to minimize any emergencies or injuries that may result from the contingency. A contingency can result in either a disaster or emergencies. Emergency planning refers to substantial plans that have been put into place in order to take care of emergencies that are likely to occur (Wedar, 2001). Planning for an emergency is particularly to any nation because it makes the people prepared to handle any emergencies through provision of basic trainings on how people should conduct themselves in case of an emergency. Also, planning for an emergency is advantageous because one gets to discover any flaws or deficiencies associated with the equipment to be used in handling an emergency. This could be in terms of lack of basic resources, unskilled personnel or enough supplies. If proper planning is done, then the faulty items can be rectified so as to remain effective during an emergency. Having an appropriate emergency plan shows an organization’s commitment of providing a safe environment to its workers. Any organization with no proper plan may end up having many casualties and loss of lives or multiple properties once an emergency occurs which may lead to the collapse of the whole organization (Wedar, 2001). If emergencies are well taken care of through a proper plan, it will help reduce the likely hood of a disaster occurring, and this is done with the following objectives in mind; prevention of fatalities and injuries, reduction of damages on buildings and equipment, speeding up the resumption of normal operations once an emergency has occurred. Emergency planning can be performed through the conducting of a vulnerability assessment where hazards that are likely to pose threats to any enterprise are first identified. With this identification, information can be obtained from past experiences and records concerning the magnitude and impact of such an emergency. Since emergencies are uncertain in nature, planning for them may involve consulting insurance companies, fire department, government department and engineering consultants. The information acquired from theses agencies may provide an organization with guidelines on how to conduct themselves incase of an emergency. Occurrence of emergencies is usually uncertain. Therefore, most people may have the attitude that it can never happen here or I may not be present when such an emergency occurs. With this, people may not be willing to take time and effort to examine the seriousness of problems that may arise in case of an emergency. Since emergencies are likely to occur at any given time, then a proper planning should be done in order to prevent the emergency from turning in to a disaster. An emergency plan includes a list of all possible emergencies, consequences, written procedures, actions required and the resources available to handle an emergency (Fischer, 2008). There should also be a list of all personnel that can provide help in case of an emergency plus their reachable phone numbers. There should also be a detailed map of all the evacuation routes and service conduits. A good emergency plan should have clear objectives outlined as they summarize the purpose of inventing one and a clear outline of the staff and their reporting chain of command. This would help limit confusion of who gives orders or whose orders are to be followed when an emergency occurs In terms of organizational structures, the key personnel should have delegated duties assigned to them such as; reporting an emergency, alerting staff, ordering the evacuation, emergency plan activation, alerting external agencies, requesting for external aid or even advising relatives of casualties. External agencies that may provide assistance include the fire department, police department, mobile rescue squads, hospitals, ambulance services, telephone companies or even utility companies (Haddow, Jane and Damon, 2008). All these agents work hand in hand to provide support and aid during any emergency. For an emergency plan to work effectively, it should be carefully reviewed from time to time in order to update the plan on any new or upcoming methods, techniques or measures that can be used to mitigate an emergency. Disaster planning refers to a plan on how the organization chooses to deal with disasters and how quickly they respond to them. Natural disasters include rain and storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods. Man-made disasters include wars and terrorism, explosions, fire outbreaks, power failures, liquid chemicals spills and building deficiencies (Rothstein, 2007). Though natural disasters cannot be prevented, there are several measures that can be put in place in order to minimize their effects and hence the need for disaster planning. While planning to handle a disaster, security professionals should be in a position to undertake the following duties; hazard mapping, preparation of building guidelines, disaster risk assessment and mapping, prediction and forecasting and assessing gaps and filling them in. Planning for a disaster involves identification of various areas that are prone to hazards, providing technical guidelines for hazard resistance construction of buildings, conducting a vulnerability and risk assessment on buildings. A good disaster plan ensures that national policies on disaster management are well adhered to and possible addition funding is allocated to take care of post disaster relief and rehabilitation under a crisis. There should also be awareness creation programs through the media and school education and other well established networks that can make people prepared for any disaster. Security professionals should also conduct micro zone surveys in urban areas falling in the disaster prone regions especially for the disasters like earthquakes that usually cause a lot of damages in the cities with sky scrapers. When designing a plan it should be made mandatory that disaster resistant codes and guidelines related to disaster resistance construction are used (Rothstein, 2007). The study of natural disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness, should be taught in schools as it gives students and pupils great knowledge of how well to conduct themselves should a disaster occur. A disaster plan may be conducted in four phases and they include prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (Hinders, 2009). In prevention, a building inspection can be carried out in order to ensure that all potential hazardous areas are well monitored. There should also be an automatic installation of fire alarm systems and extinguishing systems also precautions should be taken in risky areas that involve renovating of buildings. In preparedness, the equipment and supplies to be used during a disaster should be well maintained and proper training of security personnel to aid in managing a disaster (Hinders, 2009). Copies of insurance policies should be put in place and also any salvage procedures should be carefully reviewed. In responding to a disaster established procedures of raising alarms, executing, an evacuation and making of a disaster safe site should be followed. Damaged materials should be photographed in order to aid in insurance claims. Disasters can strike at any day of time due to their unpredictable nature, and they give no warnings. Recovering from one can be very stressful, time consuming and expensive especially where total loss experienced (Rothstein, 2007). This happens especially where people did not take time to think that such possibilities could occur. When a disaster strikes, those who would have prepared for the disaster by initiating a recovery plan may suffer minimal losses. The recovery process is aimed at ensuring that everything goes back to normal. A programme should be established in order to restore the damaged materials and site back to normalcy. This may also involve contacting insurance companies in order to seek claims for the damaged properties (Rothstein, 2007). A disaster recovery plan may also refer to a business continuity plan that explains how an organization can deal with disasters. Since a disaster is an event that makes the continuity of normal business functions impossible, a disaster recovery plan may consist of the necessary precautions that are to be taken so as to minimize its deadly effects. Disaster Recovery Planning is the factor that explains the difference between the organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost and effort and maximum speed and those organizations that are left picking up the pieces of what that can be salvaged out of the entire damage (Rothstein, 2007). This forces the individual firms to make hasty decisions out of desperation and initiate a recovery plan. This hastily made decision may be costly and may fail to be effective in recovery and business continuity. Contingency planning refers to activities undertaken in order to ensure that the management and employees follow up proper steps that can be used in an emergency. The main objectives are to ensure that any damages, injuries or loss of property are contained and that there is continuity in the operations of the organization. When planning for a contingency like fire, there has to be several fire fighting tools and equipment set to put out any degree of fire. These tools include; fire extinguishers, foam carbon dioxide tank pump, carbon dioxide gas under pressure and solution of aluminum sulphate and bi carbonate of soda plain water, gas cartridge and also water that is expelled by carbon dioxide gas (Hughes, 2006). In planning for a fire contingency one should be able to distinguish the different classes of fire and have the necessary equipment to handle any kind of fire. Different classes of fire have different causes. They include Class A which is caused by ordinary combustibles like paper, wood and cloth, Class B caused by flammable liquids like grease and gasoline, Class C caused by electrical equipment, motors and switches, Class D combustible metals and lastly class K caused by cooking oils and gas (Fischer, 2008). When planning for a contingency brought about by fire, the organization should make sure that they have all the resources relevant to fight any class of fire. The security department must be able to identify the risky areas of an organization and determine the types of fire that are most likely to occur. This is very crucial because the security department should be in a position to know the types of fire extinguishers to assign to deal with any class of fire. The choice of fire extinguishers may be made easy if the types of risks that the fire may likely to cause are well identified and defined. In choosing a fire extinguisher there are certain considerations put in place: What type of fire is anticipated? How compatible is the fire extinguisher in relation to the operating employee and the environment in which it would be used? Are there enough personnel to handle the fire? Is the fire extinguishing agent likely to put out the fire or cause more fire? The dry chemicals should be assigned to Class B and C fires, multipurpose dry chemical designed for class A, B and C fires, and dry powder is used for class D fires (Fischer, 2008). While planning for a fire contingency, there should also be fire signaling systems since they help in early notification of fires which help to minimize greater losses. This is important because if fire is discovered in its early stages it can be extinguished with a minimal amount of extinguishing agents and personnel. It has been rather noted that delays in fire detection and notification of the fire alarms and signals have been the major causes of loss of lives, property and mass destruction of valuable items. Contingency planning is important when handling fires because there are various items that an organization has to acquire to fight any fires and they include; sensors which may be used to detect smoke, flames and heat (Hughes, 2006). These sensors are important because they are responsible for activating the fire alarm system which may trigger a good evacuation procedure. A fire alarm system may also trigger a sprinkler system that can easily put fire out once detected. There should also be signaling devices that will send signals to the control unit which triggers the fire alarm and as a result, quick responses are made towards handling the fire. A recent fire that occurred on a commercial building was well contained by the fire department. The security professional did their very best in containing the fire so as to minimize huge losses and property destruction. The management of the Brookside building in which there was a fire outbreak in its top most floors had had a really good plan for dealing with emergencies. The emergency team was alerted in time, and so was their response. The security professionals worked hand in hand with the external agencies like the ambulance and hospital first aid team. The police department also appeared in time to give directions on how the evacuation were to take place (Haddow, Jane and Damon, 2008). During the emergency that was brought about by the fire, it was also observed that the security professional had obtained enough training concerning how to give first aid to casualties before the arrival of the ambulance and hospital team. This helped to minimize the increment in loss of lives and any fatal incidents. There was a good chain of command because the staff knew how to follow orders and relate to their immediate supervisors upon undertaking any duty. The staff clearly understood their roles and knew whom to report to in case of an eventuality (Walle, Murray and Starr, 2009). With this, it was clear that the management of Brookside Company had a good emergency plan in place to take care of any emergency that was likely to occur in their organization. In dealing with emergencies, there was also a recent grenade bomb scare that occurred in a sport club where thousands of people had gathered to cheer up their teams. It was estimated that a huge number if people would perish, not from the bomb’s damage, but rather from the stampede. The security professionals around the sport centre immediately guided the fans to a safe destination through a well-organized evacuation procedure using the different emergency exit doors. The few fans that were caught up in the stampede were immediately attended to with the medical officers that were present at the sport center. There were also ambulances that were parked outside the sport venue that were meant to take care of any injured player. They came in handy during that moment (Haddow, Jane and Damon, 2008). The nation had recently received some international news concerning a tsunami that was likely to hit the country. The disaster plan and recovery team were immediately alerted and so was the geographical department in order to give proper directions on how serious losses would be prevented from the tsunami that was expected to occur. The news about the occurrence of the possible tsunami had been sent to the nation weather department and it was said to kickoff in the next 48 hours. This was ample time to help in planning for any emergencies that may likely to occur (Walle, Murray and Starr, 2009). Among the risks expected were, massive loss of lives especially for the individuals residing along the coastal lines, fire outbreaks were also expected to occur due to the interaction of sea water and other power supply points, disease outbreaks which included water bone and air bone diseases. The tsunami was going to be massive to an extent that all flights had to be cancelled. Various measures had to be put in place and they included, evacuating people along the beaches or any proximal areas to the seas and oceans to safer sides. This was necessary because most casualties are usually caught unaware when they are busy taking some relaxation at the beach. Fire department was alerted. They had to keep their tools and equipment ready to fight off any class of fire that was likely to occur after the tsunami (Walle, Murray and Starr, 2009). The paramedics were also alerted in due time in order to take care of any emergencies and casualties that were likely to occur during the tsunami. The flying doctors squads and mobile rescue team were also alerted in order to take care of the risks that the tsunami was likely to cause upon its occurrence. Planning for contingencies is beneficial because one gets to have adequate time to reorganize their resources and make sure that they are effective enough to deal with any contingency. Planning enables a nation to reduce the number of casualties or deaths that are likely to arise in case of an emergency or a disaster. The tsunami that hit the nation had been expected and true to its earlier plan to mitigate the disaster it was reasonable for the nation because there were only few casualties that emerged. Conclusion Although emergencies, disasters and contingencies are eventualities that occur in an unexpected nature, planning for them are considered significant for any organization (Hinders, 2009). An emergency may occur at its least expected time and fatal accidents and incidences are likely to occur. This can be minimized if clear procedures and measures were put in place right from the initial stages to deal with any eventualities. These include having right security personnel to deal with any emergencies like the paramedics, first aiders, fire fighters, ambulances, police and law enforcement. Disasters are usually unforeseen at all times unless there was an alert on its occurrence. It can lead to massive destruction of property, loss of lives and loss of viable human activities. If preventive measures are not taken into account, then lots of damages may occur that would make it impossible to salvage anything or even make any recoveries (Rothstein, 2007). Security professionals are resourceful personnel to every nation because their nature of profession makes them well equipped with proper trainings on how to deal with any kind of emergencies. They say that prevention is better than cure, it's therefore, essential to plan on ways of mitigating emergencies, disasters and contingencies at initial stages than to wait for them to actually occur at the end and cause serious damages and losses. References Fischer, R. (2008). Introduction to Security. Amsterdam: Macmillan. Print. Haddow, A. Jane, A. and Damon, P. ( 2008). Introduction to Emergency Management. 3rd ed. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. Print. Hiles, A. (2008). Business Continuity Management. London: West Press. Print. Hinders, S. (2009). Contingency Planning and Mitigation. Retrieved on April 21, 2012, from Disaster Control: http://www.tremors.com Hughes, T. (2006). Contingency Control. Managing and handling contingencies, 30-45. Print. Rothstein, P. J. (2007). Disaster Recovery Testing- Exercising your Contingency Plan. Chicago: Probus Publishers. Print. Walle, B. Murray, T. and Starr, R. (2009). Information Systems For Emergency Management (Advances in Management Information Systems). London: M E Sharpe Inc. Print. Wedar, M. (2001). Earthquake and Tremors Emergencies. Illinois: Longhorn. Print. Read More