Security Engineering; Risk Assessment and Security Measures

By Renato Golob

Running a risk? Are you at risk? Where is it that you are vulnerable? What is the probability of a damaging event and what are its possible damaging consequences?
Just as health, safety and security are the prerequisites that we can live and work. For most of us, its existence is taken for granted to the extent where we stop even thinking about or observing it. Until the moment when we lose it, that is, and suffer damage. Most often, the two reasons for this loss are our belief that security is guaranteed by itself and the lack of preventive reflection and action. It is in this way that it is possible to increase significantly both its quality level and durability.
We develop security solutions to prevent the occurrence of damaging events that may put our life, health and property in danger. Each solution is to be efficient, justified and rational, which is only possible when founded on realistic conclusions on the actual threats, vulnerability, probability of damaging events and their possible damaging effects. We cannot locate these on the basis of a superficial view, interview or intuition, but by using efficient tools and conducting a comprehensive risk assessment. One of these, based on practical experience, is described in the "Security Engineering, Security Risk Assessment and Measures ". All the procedures here described are easy to apply and require no special knowledge or skills. Therefore this book is useful both for laymen and experienced professionals, regardless of whether users or providers of private security services.
The benefits of this type of security risk management are based on the assertion, that both the client and the security service provider have the same primary objectives of cooperation: to prevent events that could lead to damaging effects and to provide the agreed level of security to the client.
Skilful use of the methodology allows the client to recognise security risks and shape his/her own requirements and preferences. It also makes him/her ready for cooperation with the service provider, enables him to understand the proposals and justifications on security measures, and, finally, to know how to coordinate and/or control the operation of a comprehensive security system.
It is only by means of security risk assessment that the security service provider can confirm and define more in detail the client's findings. Based on the results of analyses, the provider can define the proposals for security measures, their justifications and present the comprehensive security system operation.
Security risk assessment is set to prevent a possible “imaginary” security and to reduce significantly the customer's investment and subsequent maintenance costs by optimising the security system. On the other hand, it enables the provider to keep a long-term business relationship.
The first three sections of this manual are dealing with "safety and security" in their broadest sense, "integral security", and "private security". They all are aimed at approximating the content of the carrier section, which is "security engineering". The section on getting familiar with the organisation is followed by the presentation of assessment procedures on threats, vulnerability, probabilities of damaging event and its damaging effects. The procedure is completed by analysing the outcomes and defining the security risks. All descriptions are supplemented with the practical case of private dental clinic.
Both this section and the book are concluded by the presentation of security measures and their most important features.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Renato Golob
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9789612767518

Book preview

The common thread of the author's professional reflection and solution providing is to raise the users’ awareness by preventing from neglecting the protection of his/her wealth in all its forms, since the consequences of doing so may be fatal.

Ivan Lubšina,

Head of Security, Nuclear Power Plant of Krško, Slovenia

What we see here is an exceptionally applicable manual supporting the responsible persons in both companies and national or public institutions. It will serve as a guide to experts in safety and security. Nevertheless, those with less knowledge and experience in this domain will be guided through all the details on how to put an effective system of protection in place.

Stojan Karer

former Head of Security Department at Hit, d.d.

I believe this handbook should literally become law. It is crucial to make the public calls transparent, professionally processed and consistent.

Aleksander Jeras,

Managing Director, VTZ Private Security Company of Ljubljana, Slovenia

In a most interesting way author presents his own engineering model and protection planning process as a kind of comprehensive security management.

Simon Savski,

Secretary, Directorate of Police and Security Tasks, Ministry of the Interior

The route outlined by the author is marked by his own professionalism rather than a frantic on-going solving of problems without taking the comprehensive solution into account.

Janez Plestenjak

Head of Security, NLB bank

The professional community may in particular benefit from the author's modern approach in risk management, strongly focused on developing and implementing processes to identify, assess, monitor, manage and control the risks.

Dr. Brane Bertoncelj,

Bank of Slovenia, Head of the Cash Management Department

For the industry, this piece of professional literature is a real asset and its contribution to improvement in quality is significant.

Branko Slak

President, Slovene Chamber of Private Security Development

SECURITY ENGINEERING

Risk Assessment and Security Measures

Published by Renato Golob at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Renato Golob

To

Iztok Zelič,

Bojan Lučovnik,

Janez Novak,

Zoran Kriter,

Štefan Prosenc,

the exceptional friends of mine who have given me a lot, but whom I have never found time to thank to.

Title: SECURITY ENGINEERING; Risk Assessment and Security Measures

By: Renato Golob

Editor: Lidija Jurman

Cover design: Unigraf, Igor Senekovič, s.p., Renato Golob

Translation: Jernej Šmalc, CrossEuropean Translations

First edition, 2013

Without written consent of the publisher, this publication is not permitted to copy, reproduce, publish and translate into other languages.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. SECURITY

2. INTEGRAL SECURITY

3. PRIVATE SECURITY

3.1. THE NOTION OF PRIVATE SECURITY

3.2. ACTORS OF PRIVATE PROTECTION

3.3. PROCESS OF SETTING UP A SECURITY SYSTEM

4. SECURITY ENGINEERING

4.1. EXPLORING THE ORGANISATION

4.2. SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT

4.2.1. Threats

4.2.2. Vulnerability

4.2.3. Damaging effects

4.2.4. Probability of a damaging event

4.2.5. Risk

4.3. SECURITY MEASURES

4.3.1. Security solutions

4.3.2. Surveillance mechanisms

4.3.3. Intervention security procedures

4.4. PRESENTING THE RESULTS, ALIGNING THE PROPOSALS ON SECURITY MEASURES

4.5. ELABORATING THE INTERNAL ACQUIS ON PRIVATE PROTECTION

5. CONCLUSION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SPONSORS AND DONORS

LITERATURE AND OTHER SOURCES

AUTHOR’S WORD

We tend to take care of security, whether our own or concerning our loved ones or our property, once the damage has already occurred. Why? Because we only then understand that we should see us neither special nor exempt from being one of those accident victims shown daily presented in newspapers or on TV. No matter if health, nature, data or property is concerned, we are threatened at every single moment of our life: Most fortunately, however, very few of these threats ever materialize.

Still, only a minority of us are thinking in a preventive way. Significant for safety and security matter is the very fact that we only become aware when it is already too late. Only then we cease to consider taking the necessary action and maintaining the security systems as an unnecessary expense, and start to see them as an investment in terms of a more peaceful and carefree life.

Therefore, it is one of the essential purposes of this book to alert the reader of the potential risks, to present ways to identify them and to prevent their possible damaging effects. As either a guide for operational use or training material, this book is dedicated to both professional security engineering operators and personnel as well as to individuals taking care of their own security and that of their property.

The methodology presented is primarily adapted to the use in private security. But it may, provided some minor modifications are made, also be applied in all other domains of integrated protection, in assessing the risks within the sectors of critical infrastructure or in determining the risk for a project start-up plan. This is why the respective general terms such as Security System instead of Private Security System, Security Risks and not Private Security Risk, Security Engineering instead of Private Security Engineering, are frequently adopted in this text.

Thanks to this practical orientation, you are guided through the first three chapters to get only vaguely familiar with the concept of security, its different areas and the most important characteristics of an integrated protection system. In addition, you will learn about the concept of private security, private security entities and the creative models of security systems. In the fourth chapter, the procedures related to security engineering are described. The process of getting to know the organization is followed by the presentation of the risk assessment methodology, supplemented by the case of a private dental clinic. It should be noted, however, that for the purpose of greater clarity, the damage cases presented are highly simplified and that the assessment is done based on fictitious data. This last chapter is completed by the presentation of the most important features of processes of defining protective measures and final harmonization of proposals on protective measure and corresponding documentation.

In view of extremely severe and sometimes irreversible prospective consequences, it may be true that the implementation of security engineering should be left to experienced professionals. On the other hand, it is also true that we all are owners of purchased or inherited goods such as car, apartment or house. Seldom do we realize how quickly all this might be lost. Make the first step by yourself and try to find out how and when. I am sure you will be surprised.

For many useful comments and opinions provided I sincerely thank our outstanding experts in various fields of private safety and security, including Dr. Brane Bertoncelj, Aleksander Jeras, Stojan Karer, Ivan Lubšina, Janez Plestenjak, Simon Savski and Branko Slak.

Renato Golob

1. SECURITY

Safety and security are the most important commodities in the life of each of us, directly fulfilling the need to satisfy basic needs (Bučar, 1997). We start striving for safety right