Industry Pitfalls

Have you ever thought of how a security incident occurred (procedural or physical)? The following security pitfalls normally are listed as Causes and Effects that are very often interrelated:

Causes (normally numerous):

Failure to gain Management Support

Failure to identify all organizational operating environments

Failure to identify existing security issues

Failure to identify all Security Requirements

Dependency on a Single Security Vendor (Sole Source)

Inexperienced Project Manager

Non-Cohesive Project Team

Incomplete Master Schedule

No developed Construction Security Plan or Integration Plan.

Under qualified Prime Contractor

Non-Qualified Subcontractor(s)

Poor Security Designs

No true Security Design Review Process

Too many Security Project Changes after design approval

Non-Documented Project Changes

Failure to identify Security Management Skill Sets

Rushed Procurement Process

Low Bid Selection (not technically sound)

No Operating and Maintenance Plan

No documented or incomplete Security ‘As Builts’

No equipment Life Cycle Replacement Plan in Place

Effects

  1.  Failure to meet OSH Act requirements – Employers do not provide a safe workplace (Citation fines vary) Does your organization operate in an industry that inherits high security risks; or provide goods/services that increase employee risks to crime? If so, CTCH Security Consultants can help you identify and mitigate organizational vulnerabilities to help meet OSH Act requirements to “Provide a safe working environment” for employees.

  2. Employee Lawsuits – Ineffective/Overzealous security measures (Judgments over $1 Million) As a stakeholder have you evaluated your security practices to see if they are providing ‘true’ security for your employees or if they are too intrusive? CTCH’s Security Consultants can evaluate your current security posture to ensure protection in-depth exists that provide balanced protection.

  3. Client/Customer/Visitor Lawsuits – Premise Security Liability (Judgments over $1 Million) Do the goods/services that you provide attract a high flow of clients/customers/visitors? Have you ensured that minimum security standards are in place to protect these patrons? CTCH’s Security Consultants can help you conduct spatial and temporal analysis to help you identify high risk organizational areas that your patrons frequent.

  4. Asset Exposure – Due to Design Flaw ($10K or greater value) Has your Physical Protection System (People, Procedures and Components) been evaluated to see if it runs parallel to organizational mission goals? CTCH’s Security Consultants can help you implement a Physical Protection System that eliminates security system design flaws.

  5. Shrinkage/Pilferage – High Frequency/Low Impact or Low Frequency/High Impact (at least $2K weekly) Does your organization have a high/low occurrence of shrinkage/pilferage? Has a lost dollar value been assigned to this shrinkage/pilferage? CTCH’s Security Consultants can help you identify if you are receiving a Return on Security Investments and can help mitigate the vulnerabilities associated with asset loss.

  6. Unnecessary Component Installation – Based on profit/commission (Component installation $500 to $5000) Has a formal security study been conducted prior to the security retrofit of an existing security system or the new construction of a physical/electronic security system? Who do you rely on to conduct these studies? CTCH’s Security Consultants are experts in security design and can help you design security systems that are based on true site requirements.

  7. Security Personnel (Employee/Contractor) – Misapplied Skill Sets (Payroll > $20K annually) If dedicated security personnel are part of your organization have they been properly trained? Has this training been measured against Security Plan Objectives/Response Time Objectives? CTCH’s Security Consultants can help you evaluate your security personnel through functional and operational testing.

  8. Conflicts between personnel, procedures and components – Intangible Costs Have you identified if all levels of your security posture support each other? CTCH’s Security Consultants can conduct comprehensive Risk Assessments and Physical Security Assessments that help identify shortfalls that may exists within the organizations security posture.

  9. Security Project Oversight – Unidentified Scope Requirements (>$5K per project) Do you have a prospective project on the horizon that encompasses multiple security disciplines? Does your current security project seem to be off track? CTCH’s security consultants can help you identify unique security scope requirements during the planning process and can help stakeholders identify project bottle necks that are keeping your security project from moving forward.

If your organization witnesses some/all of these pitfalls it could be exposed to high levels of security risks. To obtain an informal snapshot of your current security risk complete the electronic Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool (VSAT) that is located on the Services Provided page of this website.

Security Program Management