by Brianna Crandall — July 3, 2019 — A recent practitioner poll by the Security Executive Council (SEC), a research and advisory firm focused on corporate security risk mitigation strategies and plans, raises thought-provoking questions and offers insights into the types of corporate incident preparedness drills in which security and facilities teams should be participating.
The poll asked the question “What exercises/drills/tabletops does Security participate in or plans to in the near future?”
While more than half of surveyed security professionals participate in active shooter, natural disaster, and building evacuation and shelter-in-place drills and tabletops, and just under half are involved in loss of power/network drills, only about one-third are involved in large-scale cyber incident or domestic violence/suicide drills, and even fewer are involved in drills for sabotage of product, equipment or property; civil disturbances; supply chain disruptions or loss of key personnel.
While it’s possible that practitioners are not being invited to the table for certain types of incident drills, it’s also possible that respondents’ companies are not running exercises on these types of incidents, acknowledges SEC.
Bob Hayes, managing director of the Security Executive Council, pointed out:
We have seen some security organizations are creating drills or tabletops for incidents receiving a lot of attention in the media. Security practitioners should weigh the probability of certain incidents happening at their organization. For example, while active shooter is horrific, the FBI reports that in 2018 there were 27 incidents. Compare that to the OSHA’s estimate that approximately 2 million American workers are victims of workplace violence each year.
SEC says it’s worthwhile for facilities managers (FMs) and security leaders to consider whether their companies perform preparedness exercises on the types of incidents listed in this poll, whether their risk profile shows that it may be in their best interest to do so, and whether other corporate functions are running such drills without security’s participation.
Full results of the poll are posted on the SEC website. For more resources on this topic see Program Best Practices: Resilience.
The SEC’s next Security Barometer quick poll focuses on organizations’ top current security risk issues. To take the quick poll, visit the SEC website.
The Security Executive Council works with security leaders to transform security programs into more capable and valued centers of excellence. Watch the firm’s three-minute video for a quick overview of its services.
