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Fire Safety and Egress Points

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Today we’d like to talk about fire safety and egress points, specifically doors with magnetic locks. Mag lock doors are (usually)  exterior doors that have magnetic locking hardware, whereby an electromagnetic current is passed between the device on the door and that on the door frame, thus creating a locking action.

Mag locks don’t interact with the levers or knobs on a door, which means that if the magnetic lock is active, pushing a door strike or turning a door knob will not open the door. This is why Life Safety Code requires that any door with a mag lock also needs distinct additional ways to break the power (and thus open the door) in the event of an emergency. These include:

 

  • a passive infrared motion sensor (drops power to the magnetic lock whenever motion is observed)
  • an egress button (a button that can be pushed to immediately break power to the magnetic lock in an emergency)
  • a fire alarm relay ( if a fire alarm is triggered the relay will drop power to the magnetic lock)

The National Fire Protection Association instructs facility managers or those people in charge of security that the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) is the final authority on whether your fire, life, and electrical safety programs are up to code. The AHJ differs by state, area, type of facility, etc. and may be your local fire chief, labor department, state department, or other organization, office, or individual responsible for enforcing the requirements of a code or standard, or for approving equipment, materials, an installation, or a procedure.

Mag locks are great security measures; with that said, it’s important that if you have them in your facility, that you have redundant measures that allow for free egress in an emergency.

 

Critical Infrastructure

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Today we thought we’d have a little educational session about critical infrastructure and the NIPP. What on earth is the NIPP, you ask? It’s the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, of course!

Critical infrastructure is defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as those assets, systems, and networks that underpin American society. Because our nation’s safety rests on the foundation of these critical infrastructures, the DHS created a plan (the NIPP) to manage the risks from significant threats and hazards to them. The DHS has identified the following as critical infrastructure:

  • chemical
  • commercial facilities
  • communications
  • critical manufacturing
  • dams
  • defense industrial base
  • emergency services
  • energy
  • financial services
  • food and agriculture
  • government facilities
  • healthcare and public health
  • information technology
  • nuclear reactors, materials, and waste
  • water and wastewater systems

There is a great deal of dependencies between the various critical infrastructures, so the safety of one sector helps with the safety of the others. The image below comes from the Water Sector-Specific Plan: An Annex to the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and shows some of the interconnectedness the water and wastewater sector has with other sectors. For example, the water sector uses electricity from the electric power sector for maintenance, repair, the functioning of their SCADA systems, and the functioning of their treatment, lift, and pump stations. In turn, the electric power sector uses water from the water sector for things like cooling.

In fact, the water sector shares dependencies with most of the other critical infrastructure sectors, principally chemical, energy, food and agriculture, public health, transportation, dams, information technology, and emergency services. What this means is that a breach in the water sector could have negative consequences for any or all of these other critical sectors and vice versa. If a successful attack were carried out on the energy sector, the water sector would be unable to receive energy and thus lose their ability to carry out their operations and water treatment. A breach in the water sector would cause problems in the food and agriculture sector (which uses water for their own operations and functioning), and ultimately the consumer who depends on the food and agriculture sector for their food.

The NIPP is a detailed plan with numerous sector-specific plans; we get it that this may not be the mot interesting information you’ve come across on the Invictus Consulting blog. That’s okay! If you’ve made it this far in this post, consider yourself a bit more informed about our nation’s security.

After School Emergency Planning

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We talk a lot about risks, threats, and preparedness at schools on the Invictus blog. If you’ve been around this blog for any length of time, you know that we think having an Emergency Operations Plan is a critical part of keeping faculty and students safe at school.

Today I’d like to talk about what happens if there is an emergency after school hours are over but when children and staff are still on campus. Lots of things go on after classes are dismissed for the day – sports teams practice, visitors come on campus to attend sporting events, school clubs meet, faculty meetings take place, teachers prep and plan, and students use the playground equipment. Your Emergency Operations plan should take these types of activities into account.

Sporting events are a particular concern that probably require a specific Emergency Playbook within your Emergency Operations Plan. Sporting events are unique because you have numerous visitors on campus to watch the event and an away team on campus to participate in the event; money may change hands at the concession stand; vehicular traffic is increased on campus; staff on campus (e.g., coaches, guards) may be different than the school-day staff; and people may inadvertently wander into school buildings in search of a restroom. Simply put, sporting events pose challenges that are different from the challenges of a regular school day and therefore need to be planned for separately in your emergency planning.

Relaxing your security program once the dismissal bell has rung is poor policy. Teachers deserve to be kept safe even if there are no children left on campus. Athletes and club members and the faculty, staff, and coaches that work with these children deserve to be kept safe after the dismissal bell. Don’t forget to include after hours activities in your emergency planning, please!

Understanding OSHA

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We frequently talk about OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) here on the Invictus Consulting blog; OSHA is the government agency (under the Department of Labor) charged with ensuring the employers provide a safe and healthy work environment for their employees.

We thought it would be a good idea to give a brief overview of OSHA since we refer to the organization often around here. (Click on the picture below to access the All About OSHA guide.)

OSHA requires that employers:

  • follow all relevant OSHA standards
  • find and correct health and safety hazards
  • inform their employees about chemical hazards
  • provide personal protective equipment to employees

Under the law that created OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Act), employees have the right to:

  • working conditions that do not pose a risk of serious harm
  • receive information and training on hazards present in the workplace
  • receive information and training on relevant OSHA standards
  • file a complaint to OSHA (without retaliation from their employer) if they believe there is a serious hazard at their workplace

The top 10 most frequently OSHA standards that are cited during an OSHA audit (i.e., the most frequently violated standards) are:

  1. Fall Protection
  2. Hazard Communication
  3. Scaffolding (Construction Standard)
  4. Respiratory Protection
  5. Lockout/Tagout
  6. Powered Industrial Trucks
  7. Ladders (Construction Standard)
  8. Electrical, Wiring Methods
  9. Machine Guarding
  10. Electrical, General Requirements

OSHA is an important resource when it comes to safety in the workplace, so don’t be afraid to poke around on their website so that you can understand your right to a safe and healthy workplace.

Tornado Preparedness

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We are currently in the midst of tornado season here in the southeastern United States. Most tornadoes occur between March and June in the United States, although they can and do occur at other times during the year as well.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2017 tornado season is off to an active start, with over 570 tornadoes reported through the end of April.

In terms of preparedness, it is important to remember that tornadoes can disrupt transportation, power, water, gas, communications; cause flash flooding; and of course destroy houses and other buildings. Preparedness is critical both at your home and at your workplace.

As a reminder, a tornado watch indicates that an area is experiencing severe weather that may be capable of producing a tornado; a tornado warning indicates that a tornado has been sighted. Look to see if your community or county or state has a text or email alerting system for emergency notifications.

FEMA’s ready.gov website has a section about tornado preparedness that can help you with personal preparedness in your home. They suggest things as having an emergency kit at your home, creating a family communications plan, and practicing seeking appropriate shelter. You can download their pdf How to Prepare for a Tornado guide for more details. The American Red Cross also has a preparedness checklist that you can download and use.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is a good resource for tornado preparedness in the workplace, since OSHA is tasked with making sure that employers provide a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. At a minimum, workplaces should:

  • create an Emergency Action Plan
  • identify shelter locations in the workplace
  • train employees on how and where to seek shelter in the workplace
  • establish a system to warn employees of a tornado watch or warning
  • establish a system to know who is in the building in the event of an emergency

Personal preparedness is a good place to start to make sure you’re safe in your place of work. If you’re prepared and know what to do at your home, you’ll be better prepared to know what to do if a tornado strikes while you’re at work.

 

Common Security Issues at Private Schools – A New White Paper by Invictus Consulting

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Open campus – two of the most important words when independent schools advertise to prospective new families. “Come, join our school family and you can visit your child on campus at any time of day, pop in on their classrooms, have lunch with them, and let them leave campus if they’re seniors.” How inviting and appealing to prospective families!

Here at Invictus Consulting we are absolutely in favor of the things that open campuses foster – parent involvement, increased accountability and openness, increased community in the school, and freedom for older students. We think those things are positive and create great schools. With that said, an open campus is a security liability, and the aspects an open campus foster can be achieved while at the same time maintaining a safe learning and working environment.

 

Continue reading our new white paper about common issues we find at private and independent schools.

 

Classroom Barricade Devices

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Classroom barricade devices are gadgets that can be put on the inside of a classroom door during an active shooter event in order to quickly and easily barricade the door.

Here at Invictus Consulting we frequently talk about Avoid Deny Defend as the best way to deal with an active shooter. Barricades play a part in the Deny part of the process, whereby you deny the shooter access to your location. In other words, once you’ve found a place to hide, do everything you can so that he can’t get into the room or space where you’re hiding. We usually teach people to use traditional barricade measures such as desks, chairs, bookcases, and other heavy objects. The reason we don’t typically teach people to use barricade devices is that there are many devices on the market and you never know if the room has a device, let alone which particular device it has. Moreover, the best barricade devices should be designed so that use does not need special knowledge or training to use the device.

 

 

 

In fact, there has been some debate recently about the advantages versus the disadvantages of the barricade devices that are flooding the market these days. It appears that many of the gadgets on the market do not comply with state safety codes. While different states adhere to different safety codes, in general it is important that an egress point:

  • can be unlocked with only one operation (in other words, if the barricade device requires two or more operations to be released, it doesn’t meet code)
  • can be unlocked without a key or tool (in other words, if the device requires a ket, tool, or secondary device to release the latch, it doesn’t meet code)
  • can be unlocked without any special knowledge or training (in other words, if the device requires detailed training before a user can work the device, it doesn’t meet code)
  • can be unlocked without special effort (in other words, if the device requires more than moderate strength or effort, it doesn’t meet code)
  • can be unlocked from outside the door so that responding agencies can get into the room (in other words, if they device can only be released from inside the room, it doesn’t meet code)

Again, different states have different codes, but it’s important that the people tasked with school safety (e.g., administrators, teachers, security guards) are aware of both the pros and cons associated with classroom barricade devices.

Code compliance isn’t just about complying with local codes – safety codes are put in place because experts have weighed the pros, cons, evidence, usability, and various other factors of a policy, procedure, device, or whatever it is that is codified. Safety codes improve safety – that is their purpose. So if your school is thinking about purchasing classroom barricade devices, make sure you look at your local codes and use devices that meet the code.

Training of Security Guards

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Here at Invictus Consulting we are big believers in training and drilling.

We believe that all staff / employees should go through active shooter training. We’ve talked about CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events) training before on the Invictus blog. What often gets overlooked as organizations coordinate training for their people is the training of third party security guards or off-duty police officers. While the assumption is that any security guards you hire are already well trained, we have frequently found that they are rarely trained on an organization’s specific emergency procedures. Training your staff on your Emergency Operations Plan is important, but if you don’t include security guards, you run the risk of confusion during an emergency where people may rely on security guards to handle the situation but the security guards are unaware of the organization’s policies and procedures about handling a situation.

We also think that the appropriate staff / employees at your organization should be properly trained on the functionality of any security management systems like cameras, electronic access control, burglar alarms, door prop alarms, and mass notification. What we have found at many facilities is that third party security guards are stationed at the main entrance or tasked with roving the facility and grounds but do not directly operate security management systems. Instead, it is secretaries or front desk staff (not security staff) that have been tasked with direct operation of the security management systems. The mismatch between those tasked with security and those tasked with operating the security systems often leads to confusion about who is watching CCTV video, who is in charge of alarm annunciation, and who is presiding over other security-related issues.

The point we’d like to make here is that it’s important you don’t forget your third party security personnel or off-duty police officers when training your people and when drilling your emergency plans. These people are important cogs in the machinery of emergency operations, and we urge you to include them to the appropriate degree in your emergency preparedness. The appropriate degree of inclusion of third party personnel in your organization’s procedures varies with the size of organization, type of organization, type of facility, and any other number of factors. We are not here to tell you to what degree you should incorporate outside security personnel into your planning (or to what degree they should have access to your security management systems); we just don’t want you to forget their presence as you train and drill your staff.

 

New Trend in Terror

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The recent incidents of vehicle-ramming attacks around the world have many people worried. These incidents from the past nine months have killed over 100 people and injured nearly 300.

Using a car as a means of attack is not really a new trend in terror – attackers have long used cars by driving a vehicle with a bomb into a target area, hiding a bomb in a target’s vehicle, and using a vehicle as a  battering ram. With that said, the recent spate of this type of attack is certainly perturbing.

One thing that facilities can do to protect their people is installing bollards. Bollards made of steel and placed at strategic location can go a long way towards protecting pedestrians from being hit by a vehicle, whether the driver is out to cause damage or is simply driving carelessly (i.e., premeditated attacks or simple accidents).

We have assessed many facilities that leave themselves completely open to vehicle-ramming attacks. Lack of fences, gates, visitor management, and bollards leave countless facilities without security measures against serious injury to pedestrians from vehicles. Bollards are a relatively inexpensive way to improve safety and keep your people (whether employees, students, visitors, or customers) protected.

(Also, while regularly unreported in the news here in the United States, vehicle-ramming attacks are somewhat common in Israel.)

Mobile Devices During a Crisis

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In honor of Earth Day this coming weekend (April 22, 2017), we’d like to talk about reducing your paper footprint and going digital with your emergency planning.

We’ve talked here on the Invictus Consulting blog about the pros and cons of mobile devices during an emergency. Although there are certainly numerous dangers of cell phones and emergencies (e.g., spread of false information; missing of lifesaving directions if an individual is on their phone; overloading of phone lines; impeding lockdown procedures and reunification procedures), we are under no illusion that mobile devices will be banned from schools or corporate environments.

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!”

Because mobile devices are here to stay and they are increasingly prevalent in our lives, we think it wise to include the use of mobile devices in your organization’s emergency planning and preparedness. What this looks like will be different for each organization, and we are not here to advocate for any particular product, but it is worth exploring the idea of mobile devices and emergency planning.

There are many benefits that can be derived from including mobile devices in your emergency planning. These include:

  • Online emergency plan –  many emergency planning apps allow you to upload your Emergency Operations Plan to the cloud; this is a great way to make sure that the plan doesn’t get lost or filed away in some filing cabinet in someone’s office without anyone actually reading the plan; it’s also a great way to make sure that everyone concerned actually has access to the plan (with that said, making sure everyone involved has the plan does not ensure that they have all read the plan and understand their roles in an emergency – for that you will need to drill the plan)
  • Instant update of emergency plan – by having your Emergency Operations Plan in the cloud, any updates made to the plan can be seen by users immediately; this is obviously preferable to an executive team making changes to the plan only for the updated plan to be filed away without being distributed to anyone (sadly we’ve seen this scenario many times)
  • Instant communication with your team – hopefully your Emergency Operations Plan has been drilled by your Crisis Management Team and everyone knows their role and exactly what to do in various emergency scenarios, but incorporating mobile devices into your emergency planning adds an extra layer of communication during an emergency, allowing you to coordinate with your Crisis Response Team in real time; in fact, using communication via mobile devices should be included in your drilling
  • Real-time updates during an emergency – many emergency planning apps allow you to update users in real time; the benefit here is that the Crisis Management Team can spread correct information before people potentially spread the wrong information (during a crisis, when people are scared and panicked, mis-information can spread quickly – even if the mis-information is not intentionally incorrect information)
  • Mass notification – mass notification via mobile devices is often the best way to get information to people; after all, most people have their mobile device with them (or near them) throughout the day
  • Crisis Management Team – we have come across many instances where an organization has a Crisis Management Team in place, but the only people who know about the team are those individuals on the team; incorporating mobile devices into your emergency planning can give people a way to know who is on their Crisis Management Team and give them a way to contact the team if necessary
  • Contact list – this point is similar to the one above – namely that incorporating mobile devices into your emergency planning can give users a list of emergency numbers right at their fingertips
  • Online building layouts – many emergency planning apps allow you to upload site layouts to the cloud; while nothing can replace having emergency exit maps located throughout your building(s) and drilling evacuation procedures, allowing users to have a map of their building at their fingertips can be helpful during an evacuation

Undoubtedly there are more arguments for incorporating mobile devices into your organization’s emergency planning. Whether or not you choose to make the transition, please send some time annually updating your Emergency Operations Plan.