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By Julie Herrick
You’re probably right; Osama doesn’t even
know who or where you are. But the ViSAT is about much more than
thwarting a terrorist attack. What about the angry boyfriend that tries
to take revenge inside your facility, or the radical protester trying to
breach your security?
“The bottom line,” says Harold Hansen, CFE, coordinator of the ViSAT
program, “if you’re thinking about, prepared for, and have the
countermeasures and systems in place that would stop a terrorist, then
the probability of being able to address the kind of domestic violence
that might occur in your facility is extremely high.”
Completing the ViSAT is about facility
managers stepping up to the plate and committing to operate their venues
under the highest standards of safety and security.
The ViSAT is a joint effort between the Department of Homeland Security
and IAAM and is specifically tailored for the public assembly facility
industry. While the primary focus of the ViSAT is to prevent, deter, and
mitigate the effects of terrorism, the program was developed in
conjunction with IAAM’s Best Practices for Safety and Security and
addresses all aspects of a facility’s safety and security programs.
“When you have 30,000, or even 1,000 people in a public assembly
facility,” says Hansen, “the opportunity or potential for something to
become an ‘incident’ is fairly high, and fundamentally it is the
responsibility of the facility manager and the venue staff to be
prepared.” A training manual sitting on the shelf gathering dust is not
going to solve the problem. The entire staff needs to know what to do.
“As a veteran facility manager, I would hate it if something happened on
my watch and we were not totally prepared. Even worse is the idea that
we were so complacent as to think, ‘It’s not going to happen to me.’”
Nothing is more important than protecting the lives of your patrons and
employees. Training and getting prepared for the worst-case scenario is
one way facility managers can protect lives…and property. “Real estate
and the physical asset is no doubt important,” says Hansen, “and nobody
wants the economic impact of what a terrorist incident or a shelter
management issue like what happened at the Superdome or the convention
center in New Orleans. The economic impact is monumental, but saving
lives is where it all begins.”
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The Seven
Categories of the ViSAT
To establish a baseline for
each facility, the ViSAT evaluates current security programs in seven
broad categories. Most of the questions are yes/no answers. However,
there is a box for additional comment to clarify and explain your
answers.
Security plans, policies, and procedures.
This segment focuses on the current plans you have in place. Questions
address issues such as who has access to these plans; when was it last
updated; how often are procedures implemented. You will learn about
areas of your security plan that you may have overlooked.
Security force and security awareness
training. This segment deals with the training procedures
you have in place for your security force, including police and fire, as
well as your event staff. Questions revolve around what kind of training
they have and their knowledge of what to do in a large variety of
situations. “Most ticket takers and ushers might get five minutes of
training before an event,” said Hansen. “And that mostly consists of
making sure that every patron is given a smile and a thank you.” You
will learn how well, or not so well, your security awareness training
really is.
Cargo, personnel, and vehicle access
control. This segment focuses on the backstage side of
the business. What types of security procedures do you have in place for
people, and products, that come in your back door? How well are the
things that come off the truck observed? Do you know what’s in the
crates from the drayage company?
Physical security assets.
This category focuses on securing the bricks and mortar. Questions
address procedures you have in place for working with the local police;
dealing with bomb threats; patrolling parking lots; working with
overnight guards. In what shape is your exterior lighting or public
address system?
Security Technology Equipment.
This category asks questions about a facility’s use of CCTVs, wands,
metal detectors, access control, and the security of your telephone
system. Are these tested and kept in working condition?
Communication Security. This
starts out with questions about a facility’s command center. Do you have
one? Do you have secure phone lines? Who can get into your computer
systems? Who talks to the media? Who communicates with police and fire?
Information Security. This
category is all about computer technology. Questions address a range of
information security regarding passwords, anti-virus, and your
protection of computer systems. |
It’s not all about bombs or natural
disasters, either. Hansen related a scenario IAAM presented at their
Academy of Venue Safety and Security (AVSS) to illustrate how one never
knows in what form threats may come. This particular event was a
black-tie, sit-down dinner with speakers and presentations. The “attack”
came in the form of someone substituting the salt in the saltshakers
with a product that caused stomach cramps
and a great desire to go to the restroom. “So, twenty minutes into the
speech, the guests are all heading to the restrooms,” Hansen said. “Did
anyone die in that process? Probably not. Were the attackers successful
in destroying the event, striking fear in the people who attended the
event, and causing them to worry about their safety? Absolutely!”
The whole purpose of the ViSAT is to raise the level of security
preparedness in public assembly facilities across the nation and to
establish a solid infrastructure protection standard for the industry.
Submitting the information to DHS allows them to establish a baseline of
security practices across the country, regardless of the size of the
building or the type of event.
“Using the ViSAT is a journey,” says Hansen. “It’s a process of
learning, doing, preparing, training, and systematically working at it.
If you are doing this on a continual basis, then you are forever getting
better. It is a tool to be used to evaluate your organization and your
operation on some 200 points. This tool helps you to take a snapshot, or
create a point of reference at this point in time, as to what you do,
what your capabilities are, and how well you’re doing them.”
Answering all the 200-plus questions in the ViSAT, and providing
comments where necessary, will open venue managers’ eyes to
vulnerabilities they may have never thought of. “You become more aware
of how the hot dog bun delivery guy can just walk in the door and drop
off the buns, or the 42 cases of nacho chips or cheese,” Hansen says.
“How do you check to see that there is not a bomb inside, or that it is
not tainted with some toxin?”
Hansen stresses that honesty in answering the questions is imperative.
“This is not about seeing how good you look. It’s about creating an
honest picture of what your capabilities are,” he said. “By filling it
out, venue managers will have a point of reference of those areas in
which they need to work on. It allows them to balance their facility’s
vulnerabilities against perceived threats.”
Why DHS?
The Department of Homeland Security wants to help venues get a baseline
of reference for their security needs or vulnerabilities. There is no
cost, no charge. It is free for all facility managers to use. After the
data is submitted to DHS, they look at the trends and analyze how
training is being done, or how many venues have back door security, or
how many venues have closed-circuit televisions, for example. Just as
the venue manager gets a snapshot of its security operations and
procedures, so too does DHS get an idea of how well prepared public
assembly facilities are. “They get an overall picture of the security
preparedness of venues as a whole; it is not aimed at individual
facilities,” Hansen says.
The information that managers submit to DHS, and the corresponding DHS
report back to the managers is completely confidential. Information that
managers input into the tool becomes part of a vulnerability assessment,
which constitutes Sensitive Security Information under the
Transportation Security Administration, says Turner Madden, IAAM’s
general council and lobbyist. Only the facility manager and his/her team
have access to the information.
The larger the sampling, the more meaningful the information is. This
lets DHS assign priorities for needs and resources. That could range
from training, to dollars for hard equipment, or its support to
organizations like IAAM to do more outreach and education. The DHS can’t
supply resources if there is no data to support the need. If you don’t
help create the picture, then the attitude is that there is no need.
Demonstrate your commitment to the venue management industry, and to
your community, by starting your journey to a safer and more secure
facility. To gain access to the ViSAT, send a request to
security@iaam.org.
Julie
Herrick is a freelance writer in Dallas, Texas.
This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number
2005-GT-T5-K013 administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness,
Office of Domestic Preparedness. Points of view or opinions in this
document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the
official position or policy of the United Sates Government. |
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