How to Achieve a Security Culture. Physical Security Best Practices.

The only way to achieve safe and effective physical security is through careful planning, effort, and investment into threat-focused solutions.

Physical security is a very broad concept that covers everything of importance and value to an organization; This includes employees, assets, and infrastructure and the lesser-known assets like goodwill, intellectual property, cyber assets, adjacent communities, and resources.

Therefore, there is a need to cover all bases and find a solution that works best for your situation. Using our SloanSecure™ process, we help create the ideal perimeter security solution for your unique facility.

What is Physical Security, and Why is it Important?

Physical security is defined as the state of being secure from threats of a physical nature. The only way to achieve this secure state is accomplished through careful planning, effort, and investment into physical security solutions.

It is often thought that Physical security is created through guards and alarm systems but there is a tremendous range of solutions deployed to protect critical assets. Physical security solutions are as diverse as the assets they protect and the solutions for protecting the same asset will vary by region, culture, investment, and organization. Due to this wide range of requirements and situations, it's not wise to assume that there is only one solution.

Deter, Detect, Delay, and Deny

When it comes to perimeter security principles, we focus on deterring, detecting, delaying, and denying as a foundation to success. To build your physical security, the goal is to delay the occurrence of a security risk. A significant factor is to consider the risk tolerance, threat assessment, and access to technology when evaluating a solution. Typically, security cameras can be a good deterrence preventing a security threat from following through. It is also important to detect the threat, and this can be as simple as using a CPTED model (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design), or other intrusion detection technology solutions. Another principle to effective perimeter security is to put in measures to delay a threat. Anti-cut and anti-climb fencing, and gates can help delay threats of intrusion long enough to allow for response. Lastly, creating a physical final denial can be built with security fences, automatic gates, crash-rated bollards, or pop-up wedge barriers.

Where to Start

To deploy new effective physical security or to enhance existing security, it begins at the perimeter. The perimeter is the point where the general public interacts with the edge of your private domain. The perimeter is where all the access points are located to your facility, property, assets, or entity. It is the point where an intrusion, trespass, crime, or theft begins and is, therefore, a key component of overall physical security success.

Before looking for a solution, understand what you are trying to protect and where the threat might occur. Try looking past the general vicinity of your perimeter, these threats may include pedestrians, vehicles, and drones. Begin looking at different possible scenarios that could interfere with the security of your asset. After deciding on the main goal of physical security, there many different solutions that can be installed, such as bollards, gates, gate arms, and fences. It is best to work with a security designer and integrator to find out which product is best to install for the different types of threats.

Security Culture

After creating a secure state for your space, it is important to look within the company to see how you can raise awareness for security and ways you can make the workplace safer.

Begin by implementing new security policies that may include the pre-employment vetting of employees, screening of visitors, ongoing training of employees, and inspections of products and services. Other procedures that can be added include background checks for employees, credit checks, cyber security training, teaching security behaviors, and access control training. By creating a security culture, you are ensuring the safety of your employees and your workplace.

About Sloan Security Group, Inc. Sloan is quickly becoming the global leader in safe and effective perimeter security for distinctive brands and institutions such as Facebook, DoD, and DoS. Sloan specializes in crash-rated barriers, access control, and intrusion detection.

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