Facility management involves overseeing the services, spaces, technology, and people that manage a facility. Facilities could be residential complexes, hospitals, schools or corporate offices. 

 

An important aspect of facility management is security. A sound facility management security strategy protects the facility from numerous threats. Such an approach also ensures that the people, equipment, and data at a facility are protected and continuously safeguarded.

 

Here are some of the critical elements involved in crafting a good facility management security strategy.

 

1. Perform a Security Assessment

The first step is to perform a thorough threat and risk assessment that helps you identify the threat to each of the assets of your facility and evaluate the risks. For example, determine which assets need to be running non-stop, 24x7, and discover what threats can derail them. 

Start with the most critical threats and vulnerabilities that your facility might have and make them your top priority. These usually revolve around controlling access to key areas of the facility, such as private spaces, elevators, and parking. Other potential threats are breaches caused by unknown visitors and malfunctioning or faulty fire and life safety systems. 

Make sure that you take into consideration the local building security regulations.  

Once you get a grasp of the risks, you can start planning your solutions in terms of personnel, technology, and the available budget. 

 

2. Assess Your Requirements

The next step is to assess your requirements and map them. What resources -- security personnel, uniforms, equipment, technology -- will you need to mitigate the risks you identified during your security assessment? 

With advances in technology such as biometrics and wearable tech, one of your questions could be identifying the technologies you need to keep your facility safe and secure. The most common technology requirements include access control systems and video surveillance systems. 

You also need to ensure that the security team you employ is well-trained to monitor and maintain the sophisticated technology you set up in your facilities. As a result, another question you should be asking is how many personnel you require for your facility and what training is needed to ensure their efficiency. 

Lastly, chalk out the essential skills that your facility manager must have to run the building operations smoothly, without any incidents, and hire someone capable. 

 

3. Determine Whether or Not to Outsource

A key element of your strategy should be deciding whether or not to outsource security to a third party. Security consultants are well-equipped with the skills and technical know-how to operate some of the most sophisticated building security systems. They also are adept at flagging potential threats you might have missed during your security assessment. 

Outsourcing also saves you the time you might have spent recruiting, training, or even replacing someone from your security team. 

On the other hand, in-house security personnel show greater levels of commitment and dedication as they have a better relationship with the facility management officials. Depending on the needs of your tenants, your budget, time constraints, and management style, choose between an internal team and a third party consultant.

 

4. Develop a Plan

The last step is to use your assessments to tailor a facility management security strategy, having taken into consideration the requirements of the tenants of your facility, and allocate adequate budget.  

Ensure that your plan covers personnel deployment and not just systems and technologies. For example, if you’re deploying 100 CCTV cameras, you also need an adequate number of people who monitor the cameras, review the footage, and store the information regularly, on a 24x7 basis. On average, one person can cover 20 CCTV cameras, which means you will need at least five people to monitor all the cameras installed. 

Also, guarantee that your plan covers how you plan on deploying your resources. For example, which areas will have uncontrolled access throughout the day? How many personnel will be patrolling the premises, and how often will they be patrolling? 

 

Final Words

When done right, facility management impacts the performance of individuals and organizations. Planning a comprehensive facility management security strategy is the key to ensuring that your facility is completely secured against all possible threats and guarantee the safety of your tenants. To get the best systems and people in place, do your research well and if required, consult third-party experts with decades of experience in managing security for facilities.  

 

SILA is a leading facility management company in mumbai that looks after various real estate services like project management, real estate advisory, real estate development, and home interior design