Using an “all-hazards” approach helps organizations make wise decisions before investing in safety and security measures.
As the name implies, "all-hazards planning considers all the hazards that can harm your organization’s vital assets. This type of systematic planning empowers you to strategically select mitigations that will reduce your risks. This ensures your organization will continue to function, even if the unthinkable happens.
What is All-Hazards Risk Management?
When you take an all-hazards risk management approach, you focus on anything that has the potential to:
- Cause injury, illness, or harm to staff, workers, or members of your organization
- Damage or destroy equipment or property
- Disrupt or degrade your ability to deliver your services
Hazards might include on-site accidents, civil unrest, crime, a targeted attack, large-scale accidents in your community, or a simple employee error that gets out of hand.
Total Security Solutions has decades of experience helping organizations of all types and sizes apply all-hazards planning to physical security at their buildings. Most of what we help organizations plan for are incidents involving firearms and forced entry scenarios.
How to Apply the All-Hazards Approach
There are many ways to embrace an all-hazards approach to risk management. The DHS website offers an array of planning resources. Those included in the Ready Business section of their website apply broadly to most organizations, including non-profits and community organizations that aren’t business-oriented.
At TSS, we advocate for a four-step all-hazards approach to physical security planning.
Step #1: Identify Hazards that Affect Your Organization
DHS has gathered their entire collection of Hazard Information Sheets into a single handy document. Flip through, noting which hazards apply to your organization. Add any missing hazards to your list. Then, rate each hazard in terms of probability and magnitude.
Step #2: List Your Organizational Assets
Your organization’s asset list should include both physical assets and non-physical assets. Common physical assets include your staff, buildings, equipment, and inventory. Common non-physical assets might include customer data, your organization’s reputation, and employees’ peace-of-mind.
Then, rate your assets in order of how vital they are to your organization functioning.
Step #3: Assess Hazard Impacts
Go through your list of assets from Step #2. Consider the potential impact each of your hazards can have on each asset. Could a given hazard damage or destroy a specific asset? What would it cost to restore or replace that asset? You need to be ready to define the stakes, so you can assess the costs of mitigations.
Step #4: Research Mitigations
With this list in hand, you’re ready to choose mitigations. You’ll want to invest in mitigations that protect your most important assets from the most likely and most harmful hazards. When possible, choose mitigations that either reduce the impact of several hazards, or reduce a single hazard in several different ways.
For example, several of our utility office clients have reported that installing a ballistic barrier at their payment offices has both mitigated the risk of attacks, and reduced the psychological impact of angry and verbally abusive customers on clerks. This has in turn increased workers’ peace of mind, creating a more resilient organization.
The TSS Systems Approach to All-Hazards Risk Management
Hazards have a way of finding any gap in your mitigations. If you don’t caulk around a window, sooner or later, water is going to seep into that gap. Similarly, if you buy and install a bulletproof door and a bulletproof window, but do nothing to reinforce the drywall, there is still a gap in your security.
At TSS, we take a systems approach to physical security. By relying on our Proven Process and working through each stage of the project systematically , we ensure that we create a comprehensive, cost-effective, functional security solution for your organization.
This process starts with our team assessing your project goals and the unique needs of your organization. Then, we work with you to create a custom plan for a complete barrier system that will meet your security goals. TSS engineers ensure that every element of that system is comprehensive and supports the rest of the system and your operational needs.
One advantage of our Systems Approach is you can use it to increase security over time. For example, many organizations choose to start by securing their exterior and entryway, providing a solid first line of defense or outer protective shell. Over the next several years, they can add further defensive layers and mitigations, as budget and time allows.
Put Our Systems to Work and Keep Your Organization Safe
Our team has decades of experience helping all types of organizations stay safe. Our experienced ballistics experts can help you determine your threat level, design a barrier, and plan for installation. If you have any questions, or are ready to begin moving forward with a project, we’re here to help. Simply send us a message online to get started or request a quote.