Investing in safety and security

The recent tragic circumstances surrounding the deaths of dozens of people at the Resorts World Hotel and Casino and the even more tragic deaths in Marawi bring to the fore the need for personal and corporate or business investments in security and safety. There are a vast number of threats to the well-being of both individuals and corporations.

Strangely, investments in safety and security, even at the corporate level are usually confined to the fringes of importance. A common but often disastrous attitude towards safety and security is that the tragedy or the disaster is for the “other” guy and not oneself. Another disastrous attitude is that safety and security concerns are only for the paranoid and the disturbed. The resultant effect is grief when the unplanned but inevitable happens.

Today’s world is definitely not safer than it was 10 or even 20 years ago. With each advance in technology for the good of mankind, there is always a counter-technology that threatens to neutralize the benefits and wreak havoc on personal and corporate well being. Take for example the use of computers. The previously pristine world of cyberspace has now been invaded by deliberately planted viruses and other malware. Hacking personal, corporate and national files is now a matter of great concern. Even cellphones have not been spared. Malware has destroyed or captured files stored in cellphones. Bombs triggered by cellphones have been a device-of-choice among terrorists.

On a personal level, safety and security can take many dimensions. For those who work the night shift in BPO companies, the concern for safety can be as simple as taking a loud whistle to blow in emergencies or for potential threats. For families, it may mean taking seriously the threat of a large earthquake or a fire as a result of the earthquake. This will lead to the evolution of safety plans and equipment. An escape bag which contains things like flashlights, emergency food, important documents, medicines and some communications device or a radio are important components of the go/escape bag. The go bag may be assembled by anyone but commercially available go bags are in the vicinity of P8,000 per bag.

The tragedy at the Resorts World Hotel could have been averted and lives saved if the hotel had been equipped with escape belts. As reported, almost all of the fatalities perished from smoke inhalation. Afraid of going to the ground level, as this was where the terrorist was reportedly shooting people, they fled to the upper floors and hid in the bathrooms where the smoke, carried through the airconditioning system, choked them to death.

The escape belts enable people to lower themselves from heights, and through the open-air sides of a tall structure, without the necessity of rappelling down. A geared machine that is weight-activated enables evacuees from above ground to lower themselves gently adopting to the weight capacity of the internal geared machine. It is a tandem device that lifts another escape belt as the other belt is moving downwards. It is pricey but then what is the price of a life ... particularly if it is yours or the reputation of your business?

Then again, the security of key personnel and of all levels of personnel has to be covered in a security plan. Unfortunately, this plan has to cover even the outside-office aspects of personnel. Just because a key person is off-duty doesn’t mean that he will not be needed anymore. Key files and aspects of a business are frequently imbedded not in computer files, especially for family businesses, but in the brain of the person concerned. The rise of threats to personnel security stem from kidnappings, hold-ups and blackmail.

External terrorist threats seem to be a universe away until terrorists took over a large mining concern in Mindanao a few years ago. While these may be the exception rather than the rule here in the Philippines, the unplanned can happen in a flash. Thirty days ago, the taking of Marawi by terrorists seemed to be unthinkable, until the President cut short his trip to Russia to face a critical threat to national security. Any company that is medium scale to large should seriously think of preparing a security plan and purchasing safety and security equipment.

The increasing frequency of cyber-crimes from fraud to bullying to cyber-robbery show that no aspect of human existence is safe. The recent spate of companies bowing to cyberterrorists who had encrypted their files and demanded ransom to decrypt their files shows that the cyber age has given rise to cyber crimes. In the case of ransomware, many decided to pay what seemed to be a ”reasonable” ransom price of about $500 to decrypt their files.

To survive in today’s world, a bit of paranoia seems to be helpful. Some companies, in order to keep their computer files safe do not allow personal access to the internet or to bring home company computers. Some even prohibit the bringing of personal computers to the office. All these may seem extreme to some but when the greater good is at risk, it all seems reasonable and plausible.

Whatever the situation, daily living in today’s national and international environment demands that safety and security be just as important as marketing and production. Sony Pictures has lived to regret being loose with their computer files, and as a result, confidential information was spilled all over the Internet by hackers.

Invest now in safety and security. It may save your financial investments. It may save your greatest investment: your life.

Remember, even paranoiacs have real enemies.