One in three U.S. hospitals reported an increase in violence and assaults in 2014 despite widespread rising security budgets, according to a survey of 380 hospital administrators, chief security officers and staff by Guardian 8 Corporation.
Hospitals, assisted living centers, nursing homes and other healthcare providers are under constant pressure to keep their facilities safe while managing costs. In addition, they need to manage constant visitor traffic, open access in multiple buildings, hectic emergency departments, confidentiality requirements, governmental standards and patient satisfaction surveys. To effectively deal with all these issues, more and more healthcare institutions are opting to outsource their physical security services.
As enterprise security executives, we are largely trained to focus our security plans toward a Design Basis Threat (DBT) – the most likely or credible threat(s) to a site, weighted by probability and impact of successful attack. Primarily this focus is aimed towards three common categories: Insiders, Outsiders and Outsiders with Connections to Insiders.
A state Senate committee voted down a bill that would allow employers responsible for the care of minors to require access to their employees' social media accounts.
While security departmentsare more concerned with disruptions to patient care and C-level executives are focused on hospital administrations’ understanding of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations, but hospital security decision-makers are focused on patients’ and officers’ safety overall.
Want happy employees? It’s more than the occasional catered office lunch. It’s providing an environment where employees can be productive, collaborate with colleagues and find creative ways to power through their to-do lists. Mobile devices play a primary role in this movement, but so have the widespread adoption of public and private cloud applications, which have provided workers access to their files, and each other, anywhere, anytime and from any device.
Increased security measures and state-of-the-art security systems have become a common theme in today’s education industry. As threats become more apparent, security directors are turning to technology to help prevent or mitigate an event. New facilities are being equipped with cutting edge technology to ensure the safety of students and staff.
Property managers at residential communities wear a lot of hats from filling vacancies and negotiating and enforcing leases, to maintaining the building and property, and securing the premises. To be successful, property managers need the support of their entire team – including security. A comprehensive physical security program at a residential property should extend far beyond the typical security responsibilities to also include a strong focus on customer service. Security officers should contribute to an environment that makes tenants and visitors feel safe and welcome, and encourages people to consider the community as their future home.
Business priorities today are so focused around cutting overhead and expenses that they have lost sight of the bigger picture of protecting their people, property, business assets and “brand.”