Maintenance Brings Facility Knowledge to Security Teamstest

By Dave Lubach, Associate Editor

March 2015

Maintenance and engineering managers can bring an important component to the security team. Their intimate knowledge of buildings can provide valuable information when the team develops and implements a security plan.

“If there is no security staff, then maintenance really has to have not only the knowledge about the facility, but they also have to have it about how an emergency situation might unfold and how it will impact an organization, White says. “I’ve witnessed numerous emergency drills with hospitals, medical centers, and some universities and colleges, and a lot of times these organizations might have only two or three security offers on an entire campus covering 100 acres or more.

“During an emergency procedure, (maintenance) may be going right to where the emergency’s at. Therefore, maintenance would be a good fit to come in behind and manage the lockdown or manage other parts of the program to try and maintain the integrity of the facility to make sure their critical assets, such as plant services, are secure and operational.”

Training maintenance employees on reacting during emergency situations is an important step in establishing a security plan.

“If facilities people are in a building and hear something going on, it would be great if they didn’t take the time to figure out if they should do something and think just about going ahead and doing what’s right,” White says. “But they have to have the training. Someone has to train them as to what to do, and why to do it and when to do it.”