For commercial property tenants, the definition of security in a post-9/11 world has changed and expanded significantly. Whereas in the past tenants may have been primarily interested in access issues, for many, security now encompasses evacuation, emergency response, business continuity, and communications issues as well. They want to know that, should an incident occur, there are plans in place that will help ensure the safety of their employees and physical assets. They also want to ensure the building can return to "normal business operations" as soon as possible.
"Buildings have to proactively represent that they offer a secure environment in order to compete," says Stephen Schlegel, chief operating officer of the New York office for real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. "They need to show owners and tenants that they have response plans for almost anything that can happen."
Crain's New York Business, 3/15/2004
With such concerns among tenants, property owners, in turn, are demanding that their management companies provide such capabilities. This presents new challenges to commercial property managers. Traditionally responsible for services such as water and heating, they are now under increasing pressure to provide high levels of security-related services at their buildings.
At a time when tenants are looking for expanded security-related capabilities, property management company executives need to be asking themselves the following questions:
- What security-related expertise must we provide to satisfy tenants' concerns?
- Do we have the expertise in-house?
- How do we most cost-effectively develop this capability?
- Is there a way to leverage this emerging market demand to competitive advantage?
As property management firms delve into the security area, they will come to understand that there is a host of security-related services that they may need to provide or want to offer their clients. For example, they may need to assess and evaluate their properties and provide a range of solutions covering risks such as security, hazardous materials spills, fires, natural hazards, utility outages, and explosions.
It also is important to systematically identify critical business and information technology processes and strategies that can help a building remain functional in the event of a severe disruption to operations. Finally, it is critically important for building owners/operators to provide timely and appropriate information to reassure different audiences — including tenants, employees, the media, vendors, and the public — that they are effectively managing related challenges.
In order to provide a comprehensive solution to the ever-present threats on human lives and property, the identification of underlying human factors that lead to the initiation of events, as well as physical security aspects, must be addressed.
When considering how best to address this new and growing demand, property managers should consider a number of related services. Property risk consulting can help property managers achieve a greater control over the design of a property risk control management strategy. From property and hazard risk assessments and reviews, natural hazard assessments and business interruption interdependency studies, to management program design and effectiveness assessments, related services can help develop a sound strategy aligned with business goals and objectives.
Business continuity planning (BCP) addresses maintaining the viability of the business enterprise during an emergency. It is a holistic, cost-effective means of preparing to respond to a disaster. Business continuity plans enable organizations to protect their employees and assets and resume operations in an expedient and controlled fashion.
Emergency response is the collective action taken at a site to stabilize an incident that has the potential to injure people, damage property, interrupt business operations, or contaminate the environment. Emergency response planning is the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and organized team(s) designed to stabilize the effects of an incident.
In order to provide a comprehensive solution to the ever-present threats on human lives and property, the identification of underlying human factors that lead to the initiation of events, as well as physical security aspects, must be addressed. Critical incident prevention helps organizations deal with issues involving compromises in company security, threats of violence, and critical incidents.
Quantifying and measuring risk exposures is the first step to making the proper business decisions about how to mitigate, transfer, and reduce that risk. Accurate data is crucial. However, compiling, analyzing, and managing that data is not always easy. Different technology platforms and measurement standards coupled with the challenges of coordinating claims, insurance policies, and exposures all can create a management challenge of the first order. In such an environment, risk technologies can play a crucial role in effective risk management.
Finally, communications can help provide timely information to reassure employees, shareholders, clients, analysts, and the media that organizations understand the current safety and regulatory climate as it relates to any particular incident. When stakeholders know, understand, and respect a company and its credibility, everyone will be much better off, if and when a crisis does occur.
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