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Alex Carmichael.

Name:
Alex Carmichael

Job title:
Technical and membership support services director

Company:
British Security Industry Association

Background:
With an electronic engineering background Based In: Worcester, UK

Responsible for:
Co-ordinating all technical, quality and membership support matters within the Association.

Responsible for Areas:
UK

A professional risk assessment should be undertaken to establish the extent of the risk to a premises and security measures should be tailored to reflect that risk.

The British Security Industry Association advocates a holistic approach to security, building up layers of security solutions. Such solutions include physical security measures such as locks, fencing and gates; electronic security measures including alarms, CCTV and access control; and security guarding services.

Access control can play a vital role in this holistic approach as it is an extremely versatile security solution which can protect certain areas of the premises from unauthorised access and can even be tied into facilities management functions such as fire roll call. For residential premises, an access control system can provide peace of mind that access by an individual can only be sanctioned by someone within the building.

It is vital that security officers are trained to use the technology that is installed on a site. On most premises, CCTV, access control and intruder alarm systems will be key tools in ensuring that security officers can effectively react to and prevent incidents on site. They should be given regular refresher training when maintenance visits are made or when equipment is upgraded.

By integrating security solutions into one management system, a business can benefit from a flexible approach to security that makes the most of all the technologies available. This will mean that a security officer only has to deal with one system instead of, for example, three or four.

The technologies that can be integrated into one system include: access control; time and attendance monitoring; visitor management systems; CCTV; intruder alarms; fire detection equipment; and external perimeter detection, amongst others. By harnessing the potential of all these technologies into one system, a security officer will have all the necessary information easily available to him when an incident occurs.

Technology is ever developing and this is having a huge impact on the security industry. New technologies such as biometrics and video analytics as well as the increased use of Internet Protocol have resulted in the industry harnessing such technologies and developing new products with increased reliability and functionality.

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