Comprehensive facility security needs to go beyond just the physical systems involved. A true vulnerability assessment will take environmental considerations into account. These external elements are key when evaluating a true and complete risk and vulnerability assessment. It’s important to evaluate and consider environmental factors in order to develop comprehensive and effective strategies to address all relevant vulnerabilities. Here are some environmental considerations during physical security assessments to keep in mind:

1. Building design and layout
2. External lighting
3. Property perimeter
4. Landscaping
5. Geographical location

1. Building Design and Layout

The layout and design of your facility have a lot of considerations for physical security. Entries, exits, windows, attached parking garages or loading bays, nearby alleys, and more are all important factors to take into account for comprehensive facility security. These are critical elements of a hospital security assessment and should be considered during a site security audit for any facility.

2. External Lighting

Good external lighting is one of the ways retail stores can improve security measures. It’s also important for practically any facility. Well-lit areas around your building and around your property contribute to staff safety, act as a deterrent, improve video surveillance, and more. This is also a security concern hotels need to address for guest and staff safety.

Entrances and parking lots are top-of-mind for lighting. Good lighting and the right cameras are some of the best ways to improve parking lot security. However, these do not cover all external areas of your facility. It’s important to consider other “dark areas” that may not immediately come to mind that your external lighting and security systems need to take into account.

3. Property Perimeter

Comprehensive security needs to take your building, your property, your property perimeter, and the area outside your property perimeter into account. You also need more than security cameras to secure your property.

Depending on your facility, property, and area, it may make sense to install gates, fences, barricades, etc. to protect and secure your property perimeter and keep access to your facility limited. A security gate access control system, in addition to other barriers, can surround, protect, and prevent unauthorized entry into secure properties.

The right types of surveillance cameras can also help monitor and secure the outer edges of your property. Intelligent cameras can operate on geo-enabled analytics for monitoring specific areas, configured to ignore normal traffic on nearby roads, recognize license plates, and more. The right cameras, capabilities, placement, and systems can help you set up your perimeter security to include drone protection.

4. Landscaping

The landscaping around your facility can enhance security in some ways while creating challenges or obstacles in others. Your security systems will need to take these factors into account.

For example, if there are large trees or other vegetation close to your building or property, you will need to make sure your security cameras and video surveillance systems can still accurately monitor those areas if you will be maintaining that landscaping. There may also be additional lighting considerations, in addition to potential damage control in case of severe weather.

5. Geographical Location

The geographical location of your facility contains a multitude of environmental considerations for physical security and building vulnerability assessments. Your specific geographic location may have different or heightened risk factors based on what typically occurs in the area.

The local economy, jobs, types of jobs, and more can all affect the risks and vulnerabilities your security systems have to address. Have there been strings of burglaries or property damage in recent years? How often does crime generally occur? What types of activities are most common?

Is the area prone to power outages? Every facility should have backup systems in place to sustain critical security systems during power outages. However, your backup systems may need to be more robust if there are other environmental considerations you need to take into account because of the area.

Aside from these considerations, there are also more direct environmental considerations, like what else is around your facility, the weather common to the area, and even what types of natural disasters could occur and how frequently they have occurred in the area.

Neighboring Businesses and Infrastructure

In addition to your geographical location in general, also consider the businesses and infrastructure that is around your facility. Are the neighboring businesses high-value targets that could attract extra attention and activity to your area? Are they highly-trafficked areas like sports stadiums, concert venues, or outdoor shopping centers?

Are there transportation hubs nearby? If what’s around your facility are public and busy areas, you’ll have extra considerations for your security systems that need to address those things, especially when it comes to perimeter protection.

Typical Climate and Weather

The typical weather conditions common to your facility’s geographical location are environmental considerations for physical security. If your area is prone to heavy rains and flooding, you’ll need to make sure your outdoor security cameras are equipped to withstand those conditions and monitor them effectively.

Environmental monitoring systems can also monitor and alert of any flooding near or within the facility. If you know your area has strong windows that could trigger false alarms via motion sensors or motion cameras, you can work with your security systems integrator to combat that.

Intelligent security cameras paired with weatherproofing and the right configurations can take those things into account to recognize objects, recognize that the movement was caused by wind, and also help reduce false alarms.

Natural Disasters

Outside of the weather that is standard for your area, you also need to take into account natural disasters. Some areas may be known for a higher frequency of earthquakes, tornadoes, etc. If there are certain natural disasters that have traditionally occurred in and around your area, you will want to take those things into account for your facility’s security, including mass notification and emergency notification protocols.

This is a key way mass notification systems fit into modern emergency response. With extreme weather on the rise, more geographical locations are experiencing natural disasters and severe weather that they aren’t usually known for. Reviewing incidents from the past several years with your security systems integrator can help you determine if there are emerging risk factors that you need to keep in mind for your security and components of the emergency plan.

Improve Your Security With NEPPS

These are just a few environmental considerations during physical security assessments to keep in mind. Risks, vulnerabilities, and considerations also evolve and change over time. Your facility security needs to keep up, which is why you shouldn’t skip vulnerability assessments.

Working with an experienced security systems integrator can help you with a comprehensive building vulnerability assessment and determining the best mix of security products and systems to suit your needs. If you need to review and improve the security of your facility, contact NEPPS at 1-800-736-1456.