This article and the rest of the residential security series are for those who want to increase their level of security at home. Although the chain has an emphasis on residential safety, it will naturally contribute to an increase in your level of personal safety. This is sufficiently different to protect corporate, commercial and industrial complexes, which will be dealt with in a series of different articles. Aviation and maritime security will not be dealt with in the current or upcoming series.
There are many reasons why you may decide to improve or increase your level of personal safety and similarly the safety of your family, home and valuables. Given the value of human life, after all your hard work is the product, the decision to increase your level of safety should always be proactive rather than reactive.
Proactive reasons include increasing your level of protection: to cut the cost of insurance, especially in relation to material insurance; Consistent with threats such as an increase in local crime involved in residential complexes; Or after recent investment in real or movable property. These examples are by no means exhaustive. Usually we increase our level of safety as a precaution and just increase peace of mind.
Reactive reasons include increasing your level of protection: being a direct or indirect victim of a crime, including crimes against members of your household, family, or friends; Significant changes in personal status such as a substantial increase in your wealth or status; Or injury to oneself or others; Or as a result of malaise. Again, the examples are not by any means. Usually we increase our level of protection after 'events', as a preventive practice against future events (actual risks) and to increase peace of mind in this regard.
The problem is that the subsequent reactive state requires that you have already suffered loss (perhaps including personal injury) or loss (probably including life). It is therefore more profitable to act proactively rather than reactively.
There are several precautions you must take to ensure your safety and security. These precautions can be applied in any residential complex and include three main areas of activity, which are:
The assessment
Control
Keep up
First you must assess the nature of the risk as it applies to you, your family, and your property, looking at the many factors that affect the risk. Secondly you can evaluate and decide on different levels and types of controls that can be implemented to reduce or eliminate risk. Thirdly you see how you should control and keep control and more importantly, avoid complacency.
The assessment
You must perform an assessment referred to as a 'risk assessment' to identify hazards, determine risks, evaluate controls and implement controls, and manage your resulting security system through defined procedures.
Threat is an unavoidable risk, which, even if removable, can cause unavoidable damage or harm. A threat can also be the lack of predictability (or the chance or uncertainty). A threat is simply anything that has the potential to cause harm or harm.
A risk is the degree of probability that a loss or loss may occur, including the type and extent of damage. A risk is simply the chance that loss or damage may occur under certain circumstances.
A risk assessment is a process of assessing the seriousness and likelihood of anything that may directly or indirectly result in loss or harm. Severity is the 'extent of loss or harm' and the probability is the chance of 'loss or harm may actually occur'. By damage we also mean injury to ourselves or others, including the environment; And by loss we also mean life. This assessment consists of either a quantitative and qualitative assessment of both (ie unavoidable risks) and (avoidable) risks. Note that for the remainder of the article we refer to both 'hazards' and risks as 'risks' for reasons of brevity.
Quantitative risk assessment uses modelling to determine what can go wrong, how likely it is to occur, and how severe the effect is. Results are often represented by a numerical percentage, such as "There is a 24% chance of a particular outcome or event."
A qualitative risk assessment is based on qualitative data or provides qualitative results. Results are often represented by a statement, such as "There is a moderate to high risk of a particular outcome or event."
There are several common risks that should be taken into consideration regularly when performing your risk assessment. In addition to these there are many other risks which are usually associated with residential premises. Together they cannot account for all possible risks associated with your particular premises or indeed the circumstances. These general risks do not involve any particular order:
The fire
Flooding
Theft
Dent
home invasion
Trespass
Unsafe conditions
Accident
Remember that risk can increase or decrease in terms of both severity and probability, and the scale of risk may also depend on who you are, where you live, how you live, when you are in and away. And what's near and around you is your campus.
In the next article we consider closely how to carry out a simple form of risk assessment, taking into account the specific factors affecting the risk and how it relates to residential premises. It is important to note that there are many reputable safety consultants and contractors who can perform formal risk assessments on your behalf. In our opinion (as risk assessments are often free) it would be valuable to complete at least two evaluations in addition to your own.
Control
After you have done your risk assessment, it is time to consider what actions are taken and measures to take to manage, reduce or eliminate the risk. Controls can be divided into main types:
Environmental Control: It includes elements such as location, landscape, architecture and construction.
Physical control: including elements such as fencing and gating, locks, lighting, security equipment, safes, reinforced rooms and panic-rooms.
Electronic control: including elements such as fire and intrusion detection, monitoring (and remote monitoring). Note that electronic controls are often employed in the management of physical controls.
Operational control: Contains elements such as prescribed procedures for managing and maintaining your security system.
Precautionary control: which includes elements such as accidental or planned shutdowns and storage procedures while staying away for long periods of time, which includes control: about the presence of a 'sitter' such as a child, household or pet-sitter; Adhoc visits (patrolling) from the security company, family or neighbour; And maybe security officers and or dog guards as well.
The examples above are not detailed in any way. However, control should always be proportionate to risk. Any integrated security system will mean that you have to get used to doing many tasks or activities in relation to it. Extremely complex (ie lots of controls) will affect your personal life and living arrangements to such an extent that they become prohibitive for you as well.
There is always a cost involved in implementing the controls. If you employ a highly complex system, the cost (installation, monitoring and maintenance) will increase proportionately and this allows you to invest disproportionately in your security system. A very simple example of this would be to spend one asset (i.e. money) on protecting another asset of lesser value (such as spending thousands on high quality to keep a safe asset at just a few hundred).
In future articles we take a closer look at how to implement and decide what controls to implement, considering the cost as well as the risk-stopping factors. It is important to note that there are many reputable security contractors who can implement (install) the controls on your behalf. We recommend that certain specifications of controls are established by industry-approved contractors - as this can affect many factors such as operational efficiency, capital outlay, level of safety, degree of damage or loss, or prevented or prevented And it can also affect insurance contributions and claims.
Keep up
Now that you have decided on the necessary controls and implemented your security system, you have the responsibility to maintain the efficiency of that system. If the system is not maintained, it may fail to the extent that it increases or increases the risk, leaving you to the original risks for which the controls were implemented and consequently became a liability. is.
The following conditions (to carry out precautionary activities) are synonymous with the maintenance of an effective security system:
Train: Ensuring that you and your family knows how the security system works and how to operate it properly. These are employed by you, for example 'sitters'.
Inspect: Regularly inspecting the control condition and whether the control indicates a previous attempt to breach your security system.
Testing: Performing regular tests of control and determining whether they work as expected. This is particularly related to electronic and powered controls.
Service: Ensuring that the controls are in a good state of repair and operate at optimum efficiency.
Repair: Ensuring that any ineffective or damaged controls are fixed or replaced to operate at optimum efficiency.
Update: Regularly testing controls to determine if updating a particular control will help reduce risk. This includes making sure that you have an up-to-date version of a particular control, specifically controls that use communication or software support.
Change: Regulates redundant reforms or adds new controls based on emerging threats or increasing risk.
Remove: Unnecessary controls that are no longer needed or that now disrupt the security system through the development of other controls.
In future articles we will closely monitor the component elements involved in these processes. Again, we recommend that control of some specific specifications is maintained by industry-approved contractors, particularly in the context of servicing, repair, replacement, or removal. You should keep a log of any activity in any case and this was performed in addition to keeping your insurer informed of any significant changes to your security system.
It is important to note that one of the most important risks to your security system is a humane condition of decency. There can be serious consequences in the form of complacency as this in itself is considered as a high risk. It is important to ensure that you have precautionary controls to avoid complacency, which will be discussed later in the series.
As we can see there are many elements of starting a project for the development of your home security system. The complexity of residential security increases with the level of hazard. Your requirements may be a minimum demand rather than just a medium or maximum level of security. Depending on your circumstances there is a slipping scale of control that you must implement to deal with common, residential-specific and personal hazards. During the series you will start collecting what is right for you in terms of your security needs. You do not have to go it alone, remembering that there are many trade recognized and industry registered security professionals who will be prepared to accept certain elements (such as risk assessments) based on receiving future business from you. Always shop for the best deal, which is definitely never the cheapest.