Risk Management Expert Witness On Risk Assessment Part 3

In What the Defendant Can Do Wrong, security management and risk management expert witness Ira Somerson, BCFE, CPP, CSC, writes that the mission of security management (loss prevention) will be below a standard security industry practice if it fails to:

■ Identify reasonably foreseeable risks.
■ Test and continue to monitor the existing security program in response to the foreseeable levels of risk.

What Should a Risk Assessment Consider?

In conducting risks assessments, the process should include:
Operational aspects of a facility and its “inherent” risks.
■ Perceptions of the facility or operation by the public.
■ Perceptions of the facility or operation by its employees and contractors.
■ Public statements and lifestyles of high-profile executives and employees.
■ Demographics (“social disorder”) of the community where the facility is located.
■ Demographics of the facility’s work force.
■ Nature of neighboring properties.
■ Access roads to facility.
■ Police and/or a facility’s incident history.
■ Facility management of its property and resources.
■ Efficiency of a facility’s existing security strategy.