Documenting safety and security procedures has always been one of the least attractive duties. And, why do you need to document these policies anyway? Does anybody actually bother to read them?
Personally, security policies are a bit like insurances. You only really need them when something happens – which you obviously are not planning to happen. To help you get started with some of your documentation or perhaps re-visit your existing documentation, I’ll be sharing some of our experiences from working with clients and from seeing what could happen if these things are not in place.
The key to security documentation is make sure staff are aware of what to do and how to behave, and at the same time make sure that the company is safe from various events. The last thing you want to do is having to have serious personal chats if some person has sent out an offensive email. You should rather write and communicate the policy to all staff, so they know how to use the corporate email system – and what’s acceptable or not.
Today’s procedure is covering emergency procedures. Remember, this is just our interpretation of what should be communicated to staff. The method of communication could be anything from an email, to printed documents, intranet portal and awareness campaign. Keep it simple and within your budget.
Please note, below procedure could be copied and pasted free by you, but you still need to update it to reflect your company’s information.
If you need any assistance in regards to creating or updating your security documentation, please contact us.
Emergency Procedure
It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the documented emergency procedure, participating in the various drills and accustom yourself with the emergency exists. You should also know where to find the first-aid kit, in case required, and know how to contact the emergency services; Gardai, Medical and Fire departments.
Severe Weather Procedure (normally heavy snow or rain storms)
During severe weather conditions, it might be impossible for the company to conduct business, due to events outside the control of the company; power outages, traffic disruption due to sudden and heavy snowfall (which has happened a few times in the past 18 months). When there has been severe weather occurrences, you need to take following actions
- Check your voicemail
- Check your email
- Contact your manager or colleagues
If you check your email and/or voicemail, and there’s no message indicating that the office is closed, then you should make your way to the office, as it’s business as usual. However, because some staff travel on different routes, some of these might be affected by e.g. severe snow and therefore make it impossible for them to travel securely to the office. If that’s the case, you should contact the company or your manage.
Storm / Hurricane Procedure
The same actions as outlined above applies to this scenario too. In addition to those steps, and whether you are in the office or at home, you should take some measures to ensure your safety. These might seem logical and perhaps even common sense, nevertheless, you should attempt to follow these simple steps. Obviosuly, these steps are only relevant if the building is being damaged and may cause flying debris.
- Place light and moveable items inside cabinets and drawer units
- Back up your computer to either the network or external USB storage device
- Move your desktop computer, laptop and/or monitor to safety
- Remove paper files from surfaces and store these securely in the cabinets
- Close doors in the build to avoid strong winds tearing through the building
- Turn off lights and electrical devices
- Leave the building and move to a secure location in the house or building
It’s important to note, unless the company management communicates that the office is closed, then you should assume it’s business as usual.
There have been many stories of major company sites, such as Playstation (Sony), being successfully targeted by hackers. They managed to collect thousands of passwords, credit card information and other personal information. This data is used to either sell to a criminal organisation or perhaps engage in criminal activities by the hackers themselves. If these black hat hackers can steal this information relatively easy (if you know what you are doing), then how can we make sure our data is safe.
