May 26, 2008

SECURITY MANAGEMENT SERVICES INTERNATIONAL, INC. OFFERS A UNIQUE APPROACH TO SECURITY CONSULTATION SERVICES.

Security Management Services International, Inc. (dba SMSI Inc.) (http://www.smsiinc.com/) continues to provide security management expertise to businesses and healthcare enterprises. These services include threat and vulnerability assessments, security design and project management, and the establishment of employee involved security awareness programs. These services are provided by Board Certified Protection Professionals (CPP) certified in security management. All members of the SMSI Inc. team have more than 20 years experience in diversified security management. The essential mission is to develop programs that effectively protect persons as well as assets.
 
The President of SMSI Inc. is William Nesbitt, CPP, a security professional with more than 30 years of diverse experience. Bill is an experienced security manager having managed security operations across a broad spectrum of industries. He has provided his expertise to numerous hospitals, shopping malls, the biotech industry, and the lodging industry, to name just a few. He has testified as a forensic security expert in more than 500 litigations covering 46 states.
 
A novel and unique service offered by Security Management Services International, Inc. is their Security Management Support program: http://www.smsiinc.com/services/support.html Their Security Management Support program (SMS) provides SMSI’s clients with a high level of security management expertise on a continual basis without the accompanying payroll burden. Every business enterprise needs qualified security expertise, but some enterprises may not have needs on a daily bases. SMSI steps into this void by providing Security Management Support for existing security programs. By outsourcing security management, clients will enjoy the benefits of seasoned expertise without the expense of a high-paid in house professional.
 
How does this program work?
 
Security Management Support is initiated after completion of thorough security assessment. Once the needs of the enterprise have been established, SMSI will recommend cost effective changes and modifications. From this point forward SMSI will stand with their client by helping to improve and modify the existing security program with an eye to keeping that program relevant and effective into the future. A key element, SMSI will provide a web-based incident tracking and management system and will monitor that system so that rapid responses can be applied to ever emerging trends. SMSI’s Security Management Support program will provide experienced expertise to your security program without the addition of significant payroll burden.
 
Security Management is a dynamic enterprise.
 
This means that security programs must continually evolve. The security management team must constantly be sensitive to the early warning signs of emerging threats and vulnerabilities. This requires that every security program must establish and implement the backbone of a comprehensive computer-based security incident tracking system. This system must be designed to meet the specific needs each business or healthcare enterprise. The system, which is broadly defined as incident tracking, must have the capability of not only documenting and tracking security incidents; it must also have the capacity to track those security activities that are generally affirmative. Affirmative activities are usually documented in Daily Security Logs or Daily Activity Reports. The system must also facilitate the morphing of any Incident Report into an Investigation Report. SMSI Inc. will provide this web-based capability to its Security Management Support clients in order to ensure that the security program remains contemporary and reflective of the metrics generated by the web-based system. Both the client and SMSI will have access to this system.
 
All of the aforementioned services are available to, but not limited to the following businesses:
Ø Hospitals
Ø Hotels
Ø Office Buildings
Ø Biotech Companies
Ø Manufacturing Operation
Ø Construction Companies
Ø The Lodging Industry
Ø Shopping Centers
Ø Apartment Complexes & HOAs
Ø Sports & Entertainment Venues
 
For more information contact Bill Nesbitt, CPP at: bill@smsiinc.com or call at 805-499-3800.

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security, Hotel Security, Mall Security, Office Buildings, School Security, Security & Liability by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

May 15, 2008

JCAHO Proposed Combining of Safety & Security Under New EC Standards A Mistake

The Joint Commission’s proposal to combine the disciplines of Safety and Security within a consolidated Environment of Care Standard is clearly a mistake that is fraught with potential unintended consequences.  
Here is the proposal:  Current EC.2.10 (managing security risks) has been consolidated with current EC.1.10 (managing safety risks) into revised EC.2.01.0 (managing safety and security risks). The field has indicated that because the safety and security requirements are closely related, it would be appropriate to consolidate both sets of requirements under one standard.
 
The assumptions and philosophies the drive healthcare safety programs and those that drive hospital security programs are significantly differentiated from each other, and well they should be. Generally speaking, safety programs are driven by identifiable cause and effect assumptions. Safety policies related to errant needle sticks, universal precautions and blood borne pathogens, lifting injuries and hazardous materials are predicated on the knowledge that if well defined practices are not followed, patients and employees will surely suffer the consequences. The strategies for avoiding slip and fall mishaps or site mistakes in the surgical suite, differ very little from one hospital to another. A hazardous material spill in Bangor, Maine generally poses the same threat as a hazardous spill occurring in Topeka, Kansas. Of course there may be some circumstantial variances between one location and the other, but enlarge there are more similarities than differences.
 
These examples support the notion that hospital safety programs are well formatted and structured and they have evolved from the totality of the accumulative experiences of many hospitals. When safety breaches do occur it is usually not difficult to determine whether a reasonable standard of care was met. That is because the reasonable standards are well defined throughout the industry. When unsafe practices result in lawsuits, defining a reasonable standard of care is not an exercise abstract reasoning. Finally, that portion of the safety program that addresses patient’s safety within a clinical milieu can be very parsimonious and detail driven, while security is more of a big picture discipline. For example the avoidance of medication errors may require redundant behaviors and redundant and detailed documentation. The application of safety standards is generally the result of micromanagement oversight.
 
The disciplines and skill sets required of a healthcare safety expert are at the opposite end of the spectrum of that of a qualified healthcare security professional. The security program is generally the result of macro management techniques. Unlike safety, security is a situational discipline. That means that the efficacy and adequacy of the security program is subject to situational factors as opposed to universal guidelines.   The determination of the security needs of any hospital is predicated on a number of disparate factors. Factors to be considered include the socio-economic characteristics of the clientele the hospital serves, such as the percentage of indigent patients. The Crimecast (CAP Index) data and the capability of local law enforcement to respond will have a major impact on how the security program is structured. The security program needs to take into consideration the diversity of ethnicities the hospital serves. The number and proximity of potential targets of terrorism must also be factored into any effective security operation.
 
The behavioral paradigm between safety and security are different. Most safety beaches that result in harm to patients of staff are the result of carelessness and/or are accidental. On the other hand most security breaches and the ensuing criminal behavior that follows is mostly intentional and calculated. Security events result from the criminal behavior of outside interlopers as well as from the criminal acts of hospital’s employees against other employees, against visitors or against patients. In the case of property crimes the threat may be from within or from without. This means that an effective security manager must have creative thinking skills that allow him or her to anticipate problems and mitigate the threat.
 
On the liability front security driven lawsuits, for the most part, fall into the category of premises liability claims. Most cases involve criminal victimization of patients, visitors or staff by known and unknown third parties. A smaller number of lawsuits arise from intentional torts such as excessive use of force, false imprisonment and false arrest. We at SMSI have been retained as forensic security experts in well over 550 such lawsuits with over 90 cases in the healthcare environment. We know the territory. When compared to other industries such as shopping malls, apartment complexes, high rise office buildings or hotels, hospital security programs are held to the highest standard of care.
 
The security professional must understand how and when to apply security personnel, as well as how much. The security manager will need to know how and when to use integrated security technology such as access management systems, CCTV, lighting, alarms and CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design). All of these systems must be integrated with the use of security personnel. The effective security manager must be a prudent and discerning consumer of security equipment and services. The security director must also understand how and when to conduct investigations as a means of deterring future breaches. He or she must be conversant with the Management of Aggressive Behavior.
 
There is also a dimension of security that is under applied among most hospitals, the dimension of asset protection. That omission is likely to become even more obscured if safety and security are under the same banner. This means the potential to capture dollars and bring them to the bottom line, heretofore neglected by many hospitals, will be further diminished.
 
Both the security management function and the safety management function are anticipatory and preventative disciplines. With safety, the methodologies are more amenable to standardized approaches. On the other hand the panoply of security solutions that are applied to hospitals is unique to each and every facility.
 
When negative outcomes occur, there are some similarities between disciplines of security and safety. Whether a patient falls victim to a breach of safety or a breach of security, in addition to the liability exposure, the incident is likely to receive media attention. The financial cost as well as damage to the hospital’s reputation can be considerable in both cases.
 
The melting of these two distinct disciplines is more likely than not to result in mediocrity for one program or the other.
 
In summary the altering of EC Standards resulting in JCAHO inspectors evaluating hospitals through a revised prism when considering safety and security, on the surface may seem innocuous. However this change has the potential to inadvertently provide an escape mechanism for some hospitals to down-grade security programs and still stay within JCAHO EC requirements. This could mean hospital security programs will suffer. The benefactors will be the trial lawyers. The concern is that a given hospital, in the wake of a JCAHO inspection, could be well within the required standard and still have a woefully inadequate security program. Admittedly, this potential existed before this change. However, under the new standard the unintended consequence is likely to degrade the quality of existing hospital security programs, especially in those hospitals that do not have well seasoned and qualified security professionals on board.
 
Submitted by:
 
William H. Nesbitt, CPP
President
Security Management Services International, Inc.
805-499-3800

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security, Workplace Violence by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

March 28, 2008

Within 24 Hours: Baby Abducted From Sanford, FL Hospital and Multiple Shooting at Columbus GA Hospital.

Within the span of one 24-hour period three are shot and killed at Doctor’s Hospital in Columbus, GA and a one day old infant is abducted from a Regional Hospital in Sanford, FL. There is a high likelihood that these two incidents will spark copycat incidents over the next few weeks. Just look at the shooting incidents that came in the wake of the Omaha Mall shootings and the shootings that followed. At this point it is too early to affix blame to anyone other than the perpetrators. We do not know if these hospitals did or did not have adequate security programs. That will all be sorted out over the next few years.
Incidents like these, and those that will surely follow, should be instructive to hospital administrators, in that these kinds of incidents can occur quickly and without notice.The security needs of hospitals are uniquely different from any other kind of business enterprise. Hospitals, for the most part, are open, inviting facilities with varying degrees of access control. It suffices to say that every hospital is vulnerable to penetration by bad people. This means, to use a football analogy, hospitals must deploy a “Bend, but don’t break defense.” This means that the security program must anticipate that folks are going to enter the hospitals that do not belong. This means there must be secondary and even tertiary lines of defense within the outer perimeter.
Hospital security programs, not unlike most security programs, differ from hospital to hospital predicated on a wide range of variables. No two hospital security programs are, or should be, the same. This means that security is a situational discipline. It also means that the hospital security program must find its origins in a competent security assessment. It is critical that any hospital that has not had a recent through security assessment do so in the near term. Clearly all hospitals must increase their vigilance for the potential of copycat crimes.
Many hospitals, across the country unfortunately, do not place a high priority on security. Some see security only as a necessary evil and a drain on scarce resources. Effective security programs do and should contribute to the financial well being of the institution. Hospital security programs have the potential to deter financial drains by preventing thousands of dollars from walking out the numerous doors that most hospitals have.
Clearly effective hospital security is a team sport. This means every employee must participate every day. Hospital security is not a “we/them” proposition (we = all employees except security personnel; them = security personnel). Effective security programs must include the proper mixture of employee participation, the judicious use of physical security equipment and technology and (in most cases) security personnel. Don’t wait until it is too late, but better late than never.

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

California Lutheran University to Host Terrorism Presentation

Speaker and Hosted Buffet Luncheon
Topic: Militant Islamic Terrorism: Threats and Responses
 
When and where: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:30-1:30 Lundering Events Center (north campus) California Lutheran University, 60 West Olsen Rd, Thousand Oaks, Ca. (presentation will begin at approximately 12:15)
 
Speaker: James Biesterfeld, Special Agent (Ret) U.S. Army Intelligence
 
James Biesterfeld graduated with a B.A. in Education from Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Army, initially as a Military Policeman. Some of his assignments included: Criminal Investigator, Ft. Belvoir, Virginia; Narcotics Investigator with the Joint Drug Suppression Team, Mannheim, Germany; and Commander of the guard, NATO, Giessen, Germany.
 
He was recruited into Military Intelligence as a Special Agent for Counterintelligence, where he was responsible for the investigation of National Security Crimes, including Counter-Espionage and Counter-Terrorism. He is a linguist in the Arabic and German languages. Some of his assignments included: Counterintelligence Activity, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands; Senior Special Agent, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia; and the Discreet Surveillance Detachment, Frankfurt Germany.
 
In 1994, he established Sovereign Executive Services as an investigative company. Following the events on September 11, 2001, he authored several seminars designed to assist law enforcement in their anti-terrorism efforts. He currently is under contract to the California Department of Justice, Advanced Training Center. He has trained hundreds of police officers and federal security personnel in California as well as agencies in Nevada, Florida, Nebraska and Ontario, Canada. He has recently co-authored a textbook on Post Catastrophic Event management. He also consults on matters of anti-terrorism and threats assessments to companies in the private sector.
 
Sponsored by:
 
The CLU departments of Criminal Justice and legal Studies; Graduate program in Public Policy and administration; Political Science; the CLU Center for Equality and Justice; Corporate Security Division, Amgen Inc. Newbury Park and Allied Barton Security Services Newbury Park.
 
Reservations:
Space is limited. Please RSVP before Monday, April 20 indicating the company/agency and number of persons attending (names optional). For individuals please provide names and contact information.
 
Reservations and information contact:
Dr. Robert J. Meadows, Chair, Criminal Justice and Legal Studies
Email: meadows@clunet.edu  office:  805.493.3484, fax: 805.493.3479.

Filed under Blog, Traveling, Hospital Security, Hotel Security, Mall Security, Office Buildings, Entertainment Venues & Nightclubs, School Security, Security & Liability by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

March 25, 2008

Security Management Support Program for Hospitals

Hospitals have long understood the advantages of outsourcing management at the departmental level. Hospitals outsource the management of Emergency Departments, Housekeeping, Food Service, Materials Management and Facilities. These outsourced services allow hospitals to take advantage of the knowledge base and specialized expertise required to ensure maximum cost efficiency in the running of these respective departments. Additionally, this outsourcing enables each hospital maximum leverage and best pricing from those vendors that provide goods and services to these respective departments.
SMSI Inc. has been providing security management services to hospitals for over 25 years. Those services have included the provision of total facility security assessments, specialized security training programs, security awareness training, as well as helping hospitals develop RFPs and supporting the hospital’s vendor selection processes.
SMSI Inc. has also worked for and in opposition to hospitals when retained as security experts in security driven lawsuits. These cases have included infant abductions, elder abuse, sexual assaults, aggravated assault and even homicide cases. Most all of the cases were reasonably preventable if an adequate assessment had been conducted. SMSI’s experience with more than 500 lawsuits, including approximately 40 hospital cases, has been very instructive as to how to mitigate these avoidable risks.
We have found that hospital security programs run the gamut from very good to barely adequate. Yet even the very good programs can be improved. Usually the quality of the security program is reflective of the expertise of the security management team. However not every hospital can afford a security manager who demands a six figure salary with an assistant requiring a near six figure salary. Yet there is some irony in the fact that the higher paid, more professional managers often oversee more cost effective security operations. Qualified security managers understand the business perspective of running a healthcare organization.
Hospital security programs face challenges unlike any other industry. They must keep patients and visitors safe on one hand, while at the same time maintaining an inviting sense of openness. Hospital emergency rooms routinely treat criminals, drug addicts, psychiatric patients and battered women, while at the same time treating innocent children. Hospitals are 24 X 7 operations with hundreds of points of ingress and egress. Hospitals are loaded with thousands of consumables goods that an average person could use around the home, yet most hospitals do not have a real handle on their level of shrinkage.
For these reasons and many more, Security Management Services International, Inc (SMSI Inc.), is offering an alternative between highly paid security management and inexperienced hospital security management. Through the SMSI Security Management Support Program, SMSI is able to support the existing management team thereby facilitating a high quality security operation. SMSI offers the services of credentialed security professionals who understand the unique challenges of hospital security. The SMSI team is comprised of Board Certified Protection Professionals (CPP), certified in security management. These professionals understand the reasonable standard each hospital must attain predicated on a uniquely determined set of risks and needs. They are aware of industry benchmarks and best practices within the healthcare arena. These security professionals understand that security budgets are tight, waste cannot be tolerated and therefore security programs must be efficient and produce quantifiable results. They understand first-hand the devastating impact of an infant abduction, the molestation of a pediatric patient or the impact of a $23 million wrongful death lawsuit resulting from a patient homicide. These professionals understand how some hospitals suffer losses of property and assets at time exceeding $3500 per bed, per year. SMSI knows that effective security programs must be anticipatory and preventive.
How does that SMSI Security Management Support Program work?
A.   First, SMSI will conduct a thorough security assessment, including, but not limited to the following:
a.    Delineation of the local crime environment including threat assessment
                                        i.    Cap Index Report
                                      ii.    Local Crime Data
b.    Security review of all critical areas
                                        i.    Emergency Department
                                      ii.    HR
                                     iii.    Pharmacies
                                     iv.    Materials Management
                                      v.    Food Services
                                     vi.    Facilities
                                    vii.    Housekeeping
                                  viii.    Buildings and Grounds
                                     ix.    The Security Department
                                      x.    L & D and Postpartum
                                     xi.    Surgery
                                    xii.    Pediatrics
                                  xiii.    The Business Office
                                  xiv.    Psychiatric Units
                                    xv.    Medical Office Buildings
                                  xvi.    Purchasing
c.    Review of the application and use of security technology
d.    Review of vendor relationships
                                        i.    CCTV and alarm companies
                                      ii.    Guard services
                                     iii.    Computer based incident tracking
e.    The application of metrics
B.   Development of Training Programs to Shore up Deficiencies
C.   Development of a security management support plan
a.    Routine monthly onsite visits and/or as needed
b.    Online and telephonic support of in-house security management team
D.   Promulgation of a total hospital Security Awareness Program involving every employee
This outline lays out some of the primary components of the offering. It is important that each Security Management Support Program adapts to the special needs of each hospital and fits within the guidelines of each hospital’s mission statement. SMSI is able to work with in house security managers who may not have a great deal of security management experience by raising the quality of their work product through professional support.
Contact SMSI Inc. today and let us build a security management program for your hospital. Call 805-499-3800 or email us today for more information.

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

March 23, 2008

The Advantage of SECURITY MANAGEMENT SUPPORT PROGRAMS

Organizations such as hospitals, office complexes, shopping centers, hotels and industrial complexes are all having to face a plethora of new challenges in order to adequately protect their employees, their clients and their assets. Those facilities such as hospitals and hotels are finding themselves on the receiving end of lawsuits when claims of inadequate security are made by patients and/or guests who have been victimized by crime while on private property. The national news media on any given day is likely to report shooting in a hospital emergency room, within a shopping mall or at an educational institution. In today’s world we cannot ignore both the threat and reality of terrorism, both domestic and international, or those that may use the ruse of terrorism to gain national attention. Across the country news outlets report abductions and sexual assaults occurring in the parking facilities of malls and hospitals.
What we do not read about in the National media is the impact resulting from the loss of assets and property within the private enterprise sector. These types of losses have a negative effect on the viability of the bottom-line for most businesses. Most of those losses result from employee dishonesty. Hospital employees who are diverting drugs to satisfy their own addiction, store clerks who are cheating both the customer and their employers by diverting revenues to their own pockets or hotel employees engaged in identity theft are all negatively impacting the industries they are employed by, in numerous deleterious ways.
Because of the examples mentioned here, and as a result of the actions of some employees, the remedies afforded by a sound security program are more important than ever. Security is a multifaceted and multidimensional discipline and therefore remedies must be need driven. Although the primary goals of most security programs are anticipatory prevention and deterrence, the means for achieving these objectives are varied and situationally determined. Security is in fact a situational discipline meaning, “one size does not fit all.”
The application of effective remedies aimed at reducing risk and mitigating losses requires experience and expertise. Security managers must understand how to integrate security programs through employee education and the proper mix of security technology and security personnel. Unfortunately many security managers do not understand this mix and may therefore depend on security vendors for guidance. Security vendors, whether they are selling the application of security technology or uniformed guards, have a natural tendency to promote their products and/or services as an end all, be all; ignoring the real needs of the customer.
Most Fortune 500 Companies, most major hotels chains and most major medical centers have highly qualified security professionals managing their security programs. Qualified security professional are usually Board Certified Protection Professionals (CPP), certified in security management. Security professionals with the CPP designation generally demand and receive six figure salaries. However, not every organization needs a fulltime Certified Protection Professional running their hospital or shopping center security program. This is especially true with small to moderately sized operations. Yet, most hospitals, shopping centers and biotech companies need the expertise of a qualified security professional to assess and analyze emerging security and loss prevention needs. The identification of these needs requires the development of customized security and loss prevention training. Procedures must be developed that require employee accountability. Remedies such as closed circuit television need to be considered and properly applied, lest they become a waste of money. This means that most organizations require a qualified security professional to become a liaison between the organization and security vendors. Security professionals are needed to monitor the security program on a regular basis in order to ensure that it remains contemporary and effective.
Security Management Services International, Inc. (SMSI Inc.)www.smsiinc.com , a California based corporation is ready to fill the gap between those organizations with a well qualified fulltime security professional and those organizations who either do not have a fulltime need, or cannot cost-justify, a full time security professional. SMSI is able to offer their clients a thorough security assessment and needs analysis. They are able to provide ongoing support to less experienced security supervisors and a cost much lower than hiring a fulltime professional with the attendant benefit package. SMSI develops Security Awareness Programs (SAP) that encourages all employees to participate in the goals of an effective security program. SMSI will help their clients develop RFPs for perspective security technological enhancements thereby ensuring cost-effective solutions. SMSI is able to provide these services for a low fixed monthly fee. This fee, when annualized is usually significantly lower that the six figure income and benefit package of a full time qualified security professional.
Credentialed security professionals bring efficiency to security programs. They understand the framework of generally accepted security standards and benchmarks. They speak the laguage of security and know the required criteria that effective security personnel must measure up to. Security professionals are continually tuned to industry best practices. By bringing professioanlism to your security program, the quality of the program will improve, and frequently the cost will go down.
All SMSI Inc. personnel are Board Certified Protection Professionals with expertise in many industries such as lodging security, healthcare security, mall security as well as biotech and industrial security, to name just a few. Many of these professionals have testified on numerous occasions as court certified security experts for litigations where plaintiffs have asserted the premises failed to provide adequate and reasonable security. This means that the SMSI professionals understand how to avoid most of these security driven lawsuits. SMSI Inc. may be contacted through their website (www.smsiinc.com) or by calling 805-499-3800.

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security, Hotel Security, Mall Security, Office Buildings, School Security, Security & Liability by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 26, 2008

Does Your Security Progam Meet a Reasonable Standard of Care?

Security driven lawsuits continue to cost American Businesses millions of dollars every year. Lately the evening news informs us about mall shootings, apartment complex shootings, hospital shootings, college campus shootings and school shootings, all within the last two months. Most, if not all of these crimes will eventually produce lawsuits against the owners of the various respective business enterprises and/or schools.
These litigations, which are generally classified as premises liability lawsuits will be brought against various defendants under the theory that there was inadequate security to have prevented the crime. The question then becomes, how much security would have been adequate? That question is difficult to answer. Security lawsuits are very different from most other personal injury lawsuit largely because determining a reasonable standard is not easy. In medical malpractice lawsuits the reasonable standard that was breached is often apparent. In structural defect cases, engineers can usual show a design flaw that breached the standard. The same is usually the in product liability cases. Clearly in slip and fall cases the standard is usually not difficult to ferret out. No so for security cases.
Why?: Because security is a situational discipline. The efficacy and adequacy of security for any given location or for any business are determined by a wide range of factors specific to that entity.
What are some of those factors?
v The level of criminal activity
o    The level of relevant criminal activity
v The level of police presence
v Previous incidents
v The security measure employed
o    Security officers
o    Lighting
o    Surveillance systems
o    Access management
o    The use of barriers
v Recent security analysis
v Notice
The list above is representative of the kinds factors that may be taken into consideration in trying to determine how much security is reasonable.
For those of you who may become victims of crime, the most fundamental security method is your behavior. The National Crime Prevention Coalition has found that about 80% of the victims of crime would not have become victims if they had exercised a little more caution. This means that crime victims have some level of responsibility to reasonably avoid threatening situations. The degree to which an alleged victim may have partially caused his or her victimhood is referred to as “contributory negligence.” For example, if you walk into a nightclub and in the course of the evening, pick a fight with another patron, and that patron beats you to a pulp, you most likely have some responsibility for your own demise.
If you ever find yourself in a security related lawsuit, whether as a defendant or a plaintiff, it is important that your legal representation has experience with this category of personal injury law.

More

Filed under Blog, Shopping, Hospital Security, Hotel Security, Mall Security, Office Buildings, Entertainment Venues & Nightclubs, School Security, Security & Liability by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

July 7, 2007

SECURITY PROGRAMS SHOULD NOT BE LIMITED TO BELLS & WHISTLES

How does one develop a successful security program? How does one decide whether to use guards, alarms, and/or CCTV? If we decide to use guards, how many do we need? If cameras are the remedy of choice, how many are needed and where should they be located? Can a business have an effective security program without the use of security guards or cameras?

More

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security, Hotel Security, School Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

June 29, 2007

Hospital Asset Protection Programs Leave Money On The Table

Hospitals are loaded with consumable goods one could use around the home. Those goods include toner and paper for your home computer, food products, medications (controlled and over-the-counter), and linen products, just to name a few. There are also many big ticket items also. These items include medical equipment (endoscopy equipment and portable electro cardiogram devices), computers, and floor buffers. Almost every department has something to offer the discriminating shopper. In fact hospitals are very much like a large Department Store except there is no checkout counter. There are, however, numerous unattended doors. Most hospitals have departments that deal in cash such as gift shops, pharmacies and cafeterias. Hospitals deal with patient valuables on a daily basis.

More

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

April 12, 2007

Undue influence: A Devastating Form of Elder Abuse, by Rachelle Zukerman, Ph.D.

A woman in her 70s has a sizable estate acquired from a lifetime of hard work and smart investments. Lonely and overly trusting, she falls prey to a much younger man who persuades her to sign over her assets to him.

A frail widower hires an attractive housekeeper to help him with various household tasks. She eventually sweet talks him into giving her large gifts of money to pay for nursing school, clear her debts and pay for her mother’s operation.

More

Filed under Blog, At Home, Hospital Security, Security & Liability by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

March 15, 2007

Elder Abuse is a Crime - by Rachelle Zukerman, Ph.D.

Every year an estimated 2.1 million older Americans are victims of elder abuse. That is a modest estimate. Experts say that for every reported case, there are at least five more cases that do not come to the attention of authorities.
 
Although we periodically learn of shocking and horrific accounts of abuse in nursing homes, most cases of abuse take place in private homes, not in institutions. The victims are typically women over age 74 who are living with their abuser. Elders who are frail, disabled, depressed or sick are particularly at risk. Their abusers are often spouses, children, siblings, other relatives or caregivers who are paid to come into the home to provide care.
 

More

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security, Workplace Violence by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

March 13, 2007

Infant Abduction From Texas Hospital

The recent abduction of an infant from Covenant Lakeside Hospital in Lubbock, Texas conveys many implicit messages. We do not know all of the facts surrounding this abduction and we won’t speculate, but suffices to say there are many reasons to remain vigilant. The biggest threat to any security program is complacency.  The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) http://www.missingkids.com/ has been tracking infant abductions from hospitals for many years. In part, because of their involvement the number of babies abducted from Hospitals in the United States has been extremely low. They provide a valuable service.

More

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 28, 2007

CCTV: When and Why to Use Closed Circuit Television

CCTV can be a useful adjunct to a high-quality, integrated security system, but if used improperly, it can also be a liability. Generally the use of cameras produces some deterrence to some types of crimes. Whatever deterrence does result, the deterrent value of all cameras is denigrated by those who use “dummy” cameras. Cameras can generally be classified into three categories of security applications.

More

Filed under Blog, Security & Liability by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 23, 2007

Home Security – How Much Is Enough?

There are no universal standards to dictate how much security is sufficient for your home, nor should there be. The amount of security necessary to reasonably protect one’s domicile is determined by the level of threat in and around the area where that home is located. We will discuss this topic from two perspectives; private homes and apartment living.
 

More

Filed under Blog, Home & Family Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 17, 2007

Hospital Security & Access Management

There was a time several years ago when hospitals were ostensibly immune from most criminal activity. Even when hospitals were located in relatively high-crime neighborhoods, the bad guys had an unwritten code that the hospital was off-limits for crime. Those days have long since faded into distant memory. These days we find hospitals experiencing homicides, domestic violence episodes, sexual assaults and a wide range of property crimes. The problem is that a significant portion of hospitals were designed with the good old days in mind. Many of those who have been victimized by crime on hospital campuses have brought substantial lawsuits against the hospital claiming inadequate security.
 

More

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 16, 2007

Metal Detectors in a Healthcare Environment

Because of the ever increasing violence occurring in hospitals, administrators and security managers are often considering the possibility of using metal detectors to screen entrants to hospitals, especially emergency rooms. Mark W. LaLonde, MA a Licensed Security Consultant in the Province of British Columbia and a Managing Partner with Canpro Training Resources (www.canprotri.net), recently authored an article germane to the considered use of metal detectors in healthcare settings. This article may help to inform decisions regarding the use of metal detection equipment, both the pitfalls and benefits. Albeit the perspective for this article is from a Canadian point of view, where security challenges may differ somewhat from the perspective of a U.S. Hospital, it is worth reading.

Metal Detector Report (PDF)

Filed under Blog, Hospital Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 14, 2007

Gunman Kills Five People at Trolley Square

Portions of this story are from KSL Team Coverage/AP as posted on www.ksl.com

February 13th, 2007

The winding hallways of Salt Lake City's Trolley Square became a shooting gallery for an 18-year-old gunman in a trench coat who fired a shotgun randomly at customers, killing five and wounding four before being killed by police, authorities and witnesses said.

The shooter also was armed with a handgun and had several rounds of ammunition, Salt Lake City police Detective Robin Snyder said early Tuesday. It was not clear if he fired the handgun, nor had a motive been determined, she said.

More

Filed under Blog, Shopping, Mall Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 12, 2007

Y2K+7.3-11: Are You Prepared for the March 11, 2007 Time Change?

By Ron Lander, CPP, CMAS
 
A little over seven years ago, the chatter in the Information Technology (IT) community was all about the Y2K “bug”. Well, we survived, for the most part, thanks to the countless books, magazine articles, lectures about preparing and checking systems for this potential hiccup in technology.

More

Filed under Blog, Home & Family Security, Information/Computer by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 9, 2007

The Latest Issues in School Safety and Security

Recent publicized incidents of actual and potential school violence raise several key issues of school safety and emergency response planning.  More

Filed under Blog, School Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment

February 5, 2007

Violence At School Continues

It seems that a month doesn’t go by without news stories of violence in American schools. There is a considerable amount of that violence that does not rise to the level of a National news story. Incidents occur daily that never make the six o’clock news. The violence perpetrated against students take on many forms. There are assaults committed against students by coaches and teachers. There are student on student assaults. There are also assaults by outside third parties in and around school property.

More

Filed under Blog, School Security by SSO

Permalink • Print • Comment
• Next Page »