CPTED and security consulting working hand-in-hand for better outcomes 19 Sep 2023, 3:37 am

The planning of a new commercial or public building is an exciting but challenging process. An important consideration is the safety of the occupants, people who transit through, and the risk of damage to the building and surrounds.

We work with building planners, architects and councils to ensure that the safety of people and risk of damage to property are factored into the design.

The Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principle is widely used as a proven tool for crime prevention. Our job is to use CPTED combined with our security consulting expertise to advise clients on security gaps that need to be addressed before seeking design approval.

Take Sunshine Coast Council as an example.

We conducted a CPTED review and security risk assessment of the proposed Sunshine Coast City Hall. The review process for any client is always extensive, and covers:

• Local environment, including crime rates, neighbouring properties and high-risk or high-profile businesses in the immediate area. 

• Incident history, to evaluate the level of incidents the building may have been exposed to in the past and the types of risks it may be exposed to in the future. 

• Documented work practices, such as site specific open and close procedures for the proposed building. 

• Local environment and both vehicle and pedestrian traffic levels. 

• Lighting, pathways and local amenities.  

The building had been appropriately designed with natural surveillance in mind – one of the four elements of CPTED. This was evidenced by the building being set back, the extensive use of glass and the mixed use of ground floor tenancies within the property. 

Given our 30+ years of security consulting, we combine this with our CPTED experience, bringing a logical and holistic approach when undertaking reviews for our clients.

For the Sunshine Coast Council, the use of the City Hall was likely to be the biggest contributing factor in terms of risk to people who the visit the precinct. As a council asset, it is a public space, attracting a wide variety of community members. Some are likely to have grievances with Council leading to risks of confrontation. These risks were addressed from an operational security perspective, not design.

CPTED principles and security risk consulting working hand-in-hand for a better outcome.

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Stop wasting money. Start analysing your security budget 16 Jun 2022, 5:10 am

We don’t know about you, but we object to being sold stuff we don’t need and worse still, obsolete.

In the security industry, costs can soon add up. In Australia, maintaining a 24/7 security presence amounts to well over $300,000 a year – and a lot more for larger sites needing multiple guards.

It pays then to have properly evaluated, up-to-the-minute information at your fingertips when outlaying that sort of money.

Did you know:

• When it comes to security, less really can be more
• In contrast to public perception, CCTV is overrated as a crime fighting tool
• Some security activities create more risk than originally existed

The good news is that with recent technological advances, you can dramatically improve the benchmarking of your security spend. What’s more, modern data analysis allows you to predict security threats with a far greater degree of accuracy and avoid them instead of merely responding to them.

How artificial intelligence is revolutionising the security industry

Up until now much of the security industry’s concept of “risk analysis” has been rudimentary, over-relying on (often generalised) historical data to inform management decisions. When we say historical, we mean traditional risk assessments which only track changes every one to five years.

Indeed – surprisingly, many large businesses are still stuck in that mode.

Some retail groups have even told us in the past that they do not know how to allocate budgets for security because they can’t compare properties and prioritise spend.

Enter smart technology, enabling those very businesses to make decisions based on highly specific data for individual properties.

At Matryx we’re at the forefront with our own world-first software, helping to usher in a new era of information gathering and analysis.

Our trials of RiskDynamyx® – a personalised, 24/7 digital dashboard for security managers and exclusive to Matryx – alerts security managers in real time when an incident is likely to happen.

In essence, it records incidents and changes to a property and its surroundings minute by minute. Through the use of predictive technology, Google POI mapping, and automatic updates of local and global crime information and trends, the tool is already revolutionising risk assessment in the security industry.

Businesses can easily see when the risk rating of their properties changes from extreme, high, medium or low, and unlimited, online expert support is available to help them make the best security decisions.

The key benefits are:

• It puts a scientific framework around predicting security risks
• Switches the focus of security from reactive to proactive
• Allows businesses large and small to spend their money where it matters most, with most clients reporting a 12 per cent reduction in security overheads along with a 30 per cent reduction in incidents and loss.

Who knew data could tell us so much?

When we started building RiskDynamyx®, we didn’t know exactly what we would learn. We only knew we would learn new things and from that should come benefits such as reduced risk and fewer incidents for our clients.

That has always been the aim.

Here are a few examples of data-driven decision making in the physical security space, where we’ve been able to:

• Pinpoint seasonal crime patterns at specific properties. This has led to deploying security differently during the months of increased risk.
• Explore relationships between incident types. By targeting one category, the other has also reduced.
• Document where more security is not equating to fewer incidents or less risk, requiring an adjustment in strategy
• Demonstrate that some security activities do more harm than good. Based on the data, we’ve been able to recommend specific amendments to Standard Operating Procedures, educating and re-training security personnel.
• Closely evaluate capital expenditure on CCTV, which has been proven to have a negligible impact on preventing crime. In some cases, we’ve recommended diverting some of the budget to other security priorities.

With more data comes more insights, more knowledge and more opportunities to create safer and more secure spaces.

To find out more about RiskDynamyx® and evaluate security measures at your property, get in touch.  

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Security Risk Management as a Service 17 May 2022, 6:39 am

What if you could predict the future?

We live in a changing world. The pace has been astonishing, with some elements of our lives having changed beyond recognition in the past 20 years alone.

For businesses, the nature of security threats is also rapidly evolving – and for many, keeping up without access to specialist services has become impossible.

At Matryx Managed Service, we don’t lay claim to a sixth sense. What we do offer however is independent advice, early warnings, world-first technology* and customised action plans – all designed to detect and manage security threats before they cause irreparable damage.

We provide a highly cost-effective form of security risk management, as a service to retailers, property owners, councils and many others – all grappling with threats of ever-increasing sophistication.

We can help you “predict the future” too, and here’s how:

When you should consider security risk management as a service

Sadly, security threats – ranging from customer aggression and violence to theft, fraud, corruption and terrorism – are rising.

The simple fact however is that if your organisation’s security team cannot:

• Accurately identify the issues and understand what is working and what is not
• Identify the gaps in security
• Properly rate security risks and recommend the best ways to address them
• Determine who needs to do what and when, as well document improvements
• Track the changes in real time

you’re unlikely to be able to effectively manage risk.

In addition, the traditional approach to security is mired in the overuse of CCTV and expensive security personnel when the focus should be predicting incidents before they happen – not simply recording and responding to them.

The good news is that predicting where and when a security breach is likely to happen is now a real option for Australian businesses – and that’s where we can help.

The benefits of security risk management as a service

• *Matryx Managed Service has exclusive access to security software provider RiskDynamyx®. Through predictive technology, the tool becomes smarter over time as it records incidents and changes to property and surroundings and puts power back into the hands of businesses
• A pro-active approach to security to prevent security breaches that put people, property and brands at risk
• Fewer security incidents, and a safer workplace
• Access to a whole team of experts supporting you in making informed security decisions
• It’s cost effective. At Matryx Managed Service we offer a single, monthly management fee with no upfront costs. This includes an onsite risk assessment

A case study – how we’ve helped one retail centre overhaul its approach to security

Damage to a business’s reputation can be extremely difficult to repair, with lengthy and costly investigations among the impacts of a serious security incident.

Despite the enormous foot traffic, many retail centres have little security preparedness for any other than low-level street crime. Local youths congregating after school hours, gang violence and knives were chief concerns at one centre we analysed.

We liaised closely with the centre’s security team before developing a suite of almost 40 detailed suggestions. These covered everything from replacement of CCTV cameras to re-arranging the layout of meeting spaces to discourage trouble-makers and overturned the centre’s passive approach to security.

Additionally – in contrast to what existed previously – comprehensive protocols around documentation of incidents allows the centre to predict and manage risk. Thorough inductions and scenario-based training have prepared security staff to a high standard while KPIs have been implemented to measure the effectiveness of the new systems – providing essential feedback within a highly professional approach.

To find out how our Matryx Managed Service can be of service to your organisation, get in touch.

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New Security Management Calls For Review 23 Mar 2022, 1:14 am

The challenge

With a new security manager and a raft of improvements needed, Matryx was called in to undertake an enterprise wide, security risk management review of one of Brisbane’s premier universities.

What we did

QUT is a large university by any measure. It has two campuses that thousands of students and staff attend each day. Security has a critical role to play in maintaining order and ensuring the safety of campus occupants at all times.

With a new security manager in place and a need to fast-track necessary improvements, we set about understanding what the priorities were and how we could best assist. While Matryx has significant security experience in tertiary education, we don’t like to assume that the challenges seen in other universities were also evident here.

Our role was to bring a new perspective to security management on campus and to highlight areas where we thought improvements were possible. Some were obvious from the outset while others were less obvious and needed to be reviewed. This meant that every element of security operations at both campuses was reviewed and evaluated for their suitability.

The review covered security operations including staffing and procedures, as well as security technologies that would assist security with their daily operational tasks as well manage critical incidents were they to occur.

The recommendations

The recommendations proposed were varied. The focus was on providing an integrated approach to security that means each element was both complementary and feasible. There is zero value in proposing solutions that would not be realistic and accepted by the client.

While these types of reviews are often complex and can take weeks to complete, the fundamentals of security risk management remain the same. This means that the solutions reflect what is commonly applied to almost any commercial property anywhere.

Just with universities and other enterprise organisations, there are more pieces to consider.

To evaluate the security measures at your property, get in touch to book in a Security Risk Assessment.

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New Security Measures for Busy CBD Property 23 Mar 2022, 1:08 am

The Challenge

Our client was taking over a new Melbourne CBD property and needed to understand if the proposed security measures and those that already existed in the building would be appropriate for their new campus.

What we did

As with almost all security engagements we undertake, we started the review process by meeting with our client to understand how the building was to be used and its proposed layout.

Once this was understood, we assessed the security risk of the property to identify what would be required once the building was full of hundreds of students and staff. This included a peer review of the proposed security design for the building that was undertaken by a services consultancy.

As the building would have different uses on different levels, special consideration needed to be given to how spaces would connect and allow large groups of people to move through it. This would be an important consideration when structuring security around building entries, the lifts and staircases between floors.

As the building had previously been used as office accommodation, some elements of past security systems could be re-used and integrated into the new design. Some though posed unacceptable risks such as caged areas in basements that were contrary to CPTED principles and needed to be re-thought.

The recommendations

There were multiple ways that the outcomes of the client could be achieved so our final report contained four different scenarios for their consideration. Each scenario was broken down with the pros and cons explained in detail. This would allow the client and their design team to make informed decisions on how to best apply security without impacting the accessibility and amenity of the property.

While there were several design considerations tabled, there were some treatments that had to be incorporated irrespective of the final design. These were things like operational requirements of the security officers to work on the property and how they would control the property.

The final solution incorporated a variety of changes and improvements that allow the building to function as intended while not compromising security.

To evaluate the security measures at your property, get in touch to book in a Security Risk Assessment.

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Powercor ups security standards and formalises strategy 14 Feb 2022, 11:42 pm

We were engaged by our Client, to perform a desktop Security Risk Assessment on their proposed premises in Victoria. The purpose of the review was to ensure that security measures for the proposed facility are both carefully considered and ensure compliance.

The Challenge:

Our client is a somewhat unique business and is moving into a new area of operations. The importance of security is well understood by all. Our recommendations within the report provided to the client, would be highly beneficial if they are implemented as suggested, as well as the overall security in place, will be of a very good standard and appropriate, based on the nature of the business. 

What we did:

The review took into account the building’s proposed construction and general layout, its location and the immediate neighbourhood and possible exposure levels to future incidents, as well as the resultant consequences associated with these incidents. 

The risk assessment was based on the site and buildings in their planned future configurations and takes into account all proposed security measures, practices and systems.

Recommendations:

It was recommended that the client maintain all trees on public reserve around the property that fall within 6 metres of the property boundary, so that the fence cannot be used to climb. Fencing was also suggested to the entire boundary of the property, as well as maintaining all new shrubbery to below 800mm in height.

At the proposed site, there are several proposed entrances to the Building. It is recommended that electronic access control is assigned to the main pedestrian entries to not only limit but also to log all movements in and out of the building. CCTV coverage to be applied to doors also to provide further evidence of pedestrian movements.  When doors are not in use, they must be properly secured. Furthermore, CCTV system in accordance with the risk profile of the property, and to ensure the archive period is at least 30 days for all cameras. Lastly, installation of electric fencing to the property perimeter including entry gates in the event that other activities at the premises are undertaken.

Within the proposed building, is a vault, which is the most secure area of the facility. Security to the vault is critically important. Our suggestion is for CCTV coverage to the external areas of the vault to provide high level coverage of all walls, as well as installation of motion detection to the internal areas of the vault. 

In relation to security incidents, there have been no reported incidents of loss associated with the property as it’s yet to be Constructed. Our proposal is for the client to implement a formal register that captures all security incidents, including near misses. In addition, categorise the incidents so that the proper analysis of the incidents can occur.  The client will also benefit from engaging a security provider to provide alarm response services as recommended. 

With any business, keys are issued to Employees. We suggest the implementation of a key register, and installation of a key safe or secure keys in a secure area.  The benefit of this is so all keys are accounted for and allocated accordingly.

Another important recommendation is for the client to create, document and then implement the recommended minimum standards and operating procedures as suggested.

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Global logistics company calls for help 14 Feb 2022, 11:37 pm

The challenge

A global logistics provider had experienced a series of burglaries that specifically targeted high-value electronics held in their warehouses. These losses reflected poorly on the organisation and placed in jeopardy their global distribution contract.

What we did

We commenced with a security risk assessment to ascertain where the vulnerabilities were and what improvements in security needed to be made.

Our findings

Stock placement

Our first recommendation was to secure the product within its own designated area which was to be centrally located in the warehouse. This would make the goods more difficult to get to, and take longer to access. This increases the opportunity to detect the intrusion and to apprehend the offenders and follows recognised defence in depth principles.

The new storage area was built to a very high standard that meant power tools would be needed to breach it. Tighter controls were also applied to staff movements into the secure area, access to power and to forklifts after hours.

Design

We wanted to further implement defence in depth principles across the property as a way of identifying any security breach as early as possible. With most security breaches lasting less than six minutes, time is a critical element that had to be considered.

The proposed security improvements were designed and then documented to allow procurement of the new systems.

Intrusion detection

Intrusion detection was expanded to include the outside of the property so that any trespass would be detected as early as possible. This was implemented using thermal CCTV cameras which are ideal for this application.

The cameras were then integrated with a personal address system that would automatically sound announcements in the event that intruders were detected. This proved very effective at deterring criminal activities.

Implementation

Our final step in the process was undertaking witness testing of all the new systems (both electronic and operational) to ensure they were robust and worked as intended.

To evaluate the security measures at your property, get in touch to book in a Security Risk Assessment.

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Improving security standards at retail centres 14 Feb 2022, 11:34 pm

Damage to a business’s reputation can be extremely difficult to repair.

Even when serious, security-related events are – for the most part – unlikely to occur, they do need to be considered as events that can come with very serious consequences. 

The ramifications of a serious incident occurring can be injury and loss of life, considerable and ongoing business interruptions and even lengthy and costly investigations.

The risk is magnified when its expectations of security contractors are not properly defined. 

Such was the potential when we analysed security at a retail centre, where local youth congregating after school hours, gang violence and knives were chief concerns.

Unfortunately, there was almost no security preparedness for anything other than managing low-level street crime.  

What we did:

In order to create a risk profile for the premises, we undertook a comprehensive review of key criteria, working through neighbourhood crime rates, neighbouring properties and high-risk or high-profile businesses in the immediate area.

We also examined documented work practices, including security management plans and emergency management procedures, electronic security systems, as well as roles and responsibilities of security personnel.

The recommendations:

As with many security reviews, the recommendations involved very little capital expenditure to rectify a range of shortcomings in procedures ranging from inconsistent reporting of on-site security incidents to lack of site-specific training for security personnel.

This is despite almost 40 detailed suggestions covering everything from replacing all CCTV cameras impacted by “backlighting” between the merge of interior and exterior spaces at all mall entrances, to upgrading footage archival periods to restructuring security staff rosters. 

A host of simple but effective measures were suggested to reduce the possibility of crime.

These included downsizing and rearranging tables and seating in some of the open spaces between shops, to discourage the congregation of large groups such as gangs and trouble-makers.  

With expansive car spaces creating vast open areas surrounding buildings, perimeter security is one of the challenges of retail centres. 

In shopping centres where there is a need to control after-hours access, we have seen significant security gains achieved through the use of vehicle gates at car park entries – which is what we recommended in this case.

They reinforce that the property is closed and that vehicle access is no longer permitted and it means that any intrusions to the property would need to occur on foot, which increases the risk to the intruder of being detected and apprehended.

We also identified fluctuations in the level of effectiveness of security to the premises, because of an unhealthy reliance on just two key personnel to make decisions about incident management.

On weekends and public holidays, this reduced the centre’s ability to respond to incidents.

Of concern was a lack of documentation from shopping centre management articulating expectations for security providers.

The need for ownership of security protocols is an important point – it ensures that the knowledge stays with the business and is not reliant on an individual or external contractor for it to function correctly. It will also ensure continuity of service should any change to personnel occur.

Exemplified at this particular retail centre, the level of detail we believe was warranted included: 

• Instructing the security provider to create an induction and training register for all security officers to be deployed at the centre. As part of this, a register of all training and inductions should be created and included as a KPI in the monthly report
• Implementing critical security incident protocols that are inclusive of scenario-based training to ensure a high level of preparedness. Once formalised, extend the security officer training and induction program to cover the new protocols.
• A rolling roster that ensures all security staff are rotated through the property at different times of the month.
• Engaging with the security provider to determine the best criteria for security staff to be deployed to the property. This should include past experience, confidence, professionalism and ability to engage and build rapport with the local community
• Defining and then documenting a “banning from premises” procedure

To evaluate the security measures at your property, get in touch to book in a Security Risk Assessment.

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Creating workplace security strategies for at-risk staff  14 Feb 2022, 2:47 am

The fundamental principle of any security strategy is that it should be consistent and repeatable,

irrespective of which property it is deployed to or the people involved.

This is a particularly important consideration for businesses when planning to establish numerous premises.

With consistency comes familiarity which ensures that staff will understand the security program, irrespective of which property they are working in.

We undertook a broad-ranging review of security practices at an organisation offering assistance to domestic violence victims. The purpose was to:

• Advise on CCTV policy, particularly regarding passive and active monitoring, and ensuring the business complies with legislation
• Contribute to a CCTV policy that will guide decision-making about various issues such as roles and responsibilities of staff and location of display monitors.
• Advise on the incident response system design, including visual and audio alerts when alarms are activated, location of fixed duress alarms and use of portable duress alarms, and automatic door locking when alarms are activated.
• Offer advice on the development of Armed Offender protocols
• Optimise the role of the security officer, with advice relating to the role, and clarify responsibilities and expectations on a day-to-day basis as well as during incident response
• Advise on procedures for regular security reviews. 
  

The recommendations:

Our recommendations ranged from re-organising workspaces and stairwell access to maximise staff safety, to relocating the main CCTV monitor and implementing minimum standards for staff training and inductions related to security. Here are just some of them:        

CCTV:

CCTV will play a more important role in this organisation because it needs to provide staff members with increased situational awareness.

We recommended the CCTV system be relocated from an upstairs communications room where

nobody has visibility of it to a position adjacent to the duress panel on the ground floor.

We suggested there was merit in having the security officer watching a CCTV monitor at their workspace which would provide views of outside the property and of the secure waiting area.

In addition, all CCTV cameras should be named and numbered correctly to quickly identify a

location if a security incident is occurring.

Workspaces:

The configuration of workspaces often play a vital role in ensuring the personal safety of staff.

In this case, it was important to ensure the receptionist was able to escape to a point of egress and that the desk maintains a level of segregation between the staff member and client at all times.

Our recommendations also included the creation of minimum guidelines for future secure waiting and counselling spaces – including clear sight lines. As part of this, we suggested consideration should be given to how male clients can be counselled in areas that are segregated from where women and children are counselled.

The review also encompassed a duress system, together with training in its protocols as well as testing its response plan, lockdown procedures, and revised work practices for security personnel. 

With a range of new measures designed to shore up security in the rest of the building, this allowed  exclusive relocation of security staff to the ground floor reception area – as one of the highest areas of risk.   

As the organisation works in a dynamic environment that could change as recognition of the service grows, we recommended tracking of all incidents and evaluating them to ensure that security is functioning as intended at all times.  

To evaluate the security measures at your property, get in touch to book in a Security Risk Assessment.

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Standards for Homeless Shelters 13 Feb 2022, 10:57 pm

We were engaged  by our Client, to perform a desktop security assessment on their various properties across Victoria. The purpose of the review is to identify any areas of risk, that may be present and to provide the suggested remedial and risk mitigation actions in relation to any identified risks.

The Challenge:

Out of six properties, we only visited one. Fortunately we were supplied with incident data that had given us a good insight into the challenges the 6 business locations faces. 

What we did:

Based on the data supplied, aswell as incident history and existing electronic security system at the properties, we were able to identify where we believe security should be deployed to each asset class.

Initially we had to have a thorough understanding of the extent to which incidents occurred at the properties. We were provided with a list of incidents, which was extensive, but not all were relevant to this process.  

What was apparent, is that the majority of security incidents are directly associated with individuals who have been granted access to the properties. 

We were able to identify the exact location of which received the highest number of incidents ranging from threat of suicide or self-harm, to sexual assaults and other forms of violence.

Recommendations:

Our recommendation relating to electronic access control and intrusion detection should be applied to every property without exception. Electronic access control installed at all main entry points aswell as an alert to any intrusions that occur.  While it may appear that some environments do not have anything worth stealing, alarms ensure that the business remains secure and is safe to enter each work day. We have recommended against the use of mechanical keys wherever possible. This is because of the trouble that comes with managing and accounting for keys and the difficulty in tracking them.

CCTV systems are recommended, but are not required at office spaces that do not receive clients or visitors. Intercoms are suggested for properties that regularly have clients and members of the public attending of where electronic access control has been installed to restrict access.  Intercoms should be supported by video capabilities, which can be contained within the intercom or using a separate CCTV system.

Duress systems should be a requirement for properties where the highest level of risk exists- in this instance any building that is client facing and the buildings which attract the highest level of incidents.  

Intercoms will be needed for properties that regularly have clients and members of the public attending or where electronic access control has been installed to restrict access. 

To evaluate the security measures at your property, get in touch to book in a Security Risk Assessment.

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