{"id":1440,"date":"2015-03-09T16:38:05","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T16:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eventsglos.wordpress.com\/2015\/03\/09\/do-your-events-team-know-how-to-respond-to-a-terrorist-threat\/"},"modified":"2018-11-19T15:42:15","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T15:42:15","slug":"do-your-events-team-know-how-to-respond-to-a-terrorist-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/2015\/03\/09\/do-your-events-team-know-how-to-respond-to-a-terrorist-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Do your events team know how to respond to a terrorist threat?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>** CAUTION \u2013 THIS PAGE MAY CONTAIN SENSITIVE MATERIAL ON THE TOPIC OF TERRORISM **<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Across the world and throughout the media we are regularly reminded about unpredicted perils that have the potential for destruction of our everyday lives such as;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>9\/11<\/li>\n<li>7\/7<\/li>\n<li>Mumbai bombings 2008<\/li>\n<li>Boston bombings 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is extremely hard for anyone to be able to pinpoint in advance the timing and location of catastrophic occurrences and is best characterized as low probability but of potentially high consequence (Silvers 2008). Explosions, threats, hostage taking and many more are becoming increasingly publicized across the globe, setting FEAR\u00a0into many that an attack can happen anywhere at any time.<\/p>\n<h2>Is terrorism being taken into account within risk management of an event?<\/h2>\n<p>Presently risk management consists of;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Employing security teams<\/li>\n<li>Pre-event security sweeps<\/li>\n<li>Planning for emergencies<\/li>\n<li>Reporting of threats and opportunities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So yes, you may say there are precautions in place<\/p>\n<p>BUT..<\/p>\n<h2>Are event managers really doing enough?<\/h2>\n<p>It is NOT currently a law that all members of staff should be trained in what to do if a possible terrorist attack happens.<\/p>\n<p>What do you do if you hear of a possible threat?<\/p>\n<p>What do you do if someone threatens you?<\/p>\n<p>Who do you contact?<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2931\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/2015\/03\/09\/do-your-events-team-know-how-to-respond-to-a-terrorist-threat\/jaime2-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/03\/jaime2.jpg?fit=300%2C70&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"300,70\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"jaime2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/03\/jaime2.jpg?fit=300%2C70&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/03\/jaime2.jpg?fit=300%2C70&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2931 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/03\/jaime2.jpg?resize=300%2C70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"70\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Many event companies outsource security teams from businesses such as G4S.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BUT.. is this always the best solution?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>G4S are one of the biggest security teams who operate in 120 different countries and currently have 618,000 employees. This may make them look like a trust worthy, attractive company to hire but you may be wrong. The CEO Nick Buckles admitted to his company failing to deliver the staff for the Olympics as not enough of their employees were able to pass muster with LOCOG, in other words, they failed the security checks!!<\/p>\n<p>Not only this but as stated by the <a href=\"http:\/\/http\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24727644\">BBC<\/a>, a G4S employee was jailed for life after being convicted of brutally murdering a female delegate at a conference in Glasgow&#8217;s SECC complex.<\/p>\n<p>When hiring outside security companies, the team could be put in a venue or on a site they may not have worked in before. If a terrorist act occurred, would they know what to do or and help or possibly hinder the possible evacuation as they will not know the venue well, unlike regular employees?<\/p>\n<p>Not only does hiring a large security team cost your business, it could be an unnecessary action!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cit has been estimated that organizers of events worldwide spend over $2 billion per annum on security, although in years where \u2018blanket security\u2019 is required for major events this figure can rise to $6 billion\u201d (Coaffee &amp; Wood, 2006, p. 513).<\/p>\n<p>Silvers (2007) states two of the most common problems with emergency response plans include;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Employees not knowing what actions to take in an emergency<\/li>\n<li>Lack of training and practice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is has become a known fact that terrorists target mega events in order to gain as much media exposure as possible to achieve as much attention to their cause as conceivable (Whisenant, 2003).<\/p>\n<h2>Do all security teams and staff working on the event know what procedures would take place if a terrorist attack occurred, or what to do?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>What do you do if you hear something suspicious?<\/li>\n<li>Who do you tell?<\/li>\n<li>Should staff at events be trained in the case of a possible attack?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How this can help<\/h2>\n<p>Training staff of all hierarchy could help prevent any possible terrorist attacks and could allow you to hire a smaller team which could save you money on staffing.<\/p>\n<p>It would be advised to train all staff on every level of the hierarchy for a possible threat or attack.<\/p>\n<h2>Consider your current training around the subject<\/h2>\n<p>Do you think expanding on and testing your staff in case of a terrorist situation could save your event in the future?<\/p>\n<p>Making sure ALL your staff know who to contact in a potential emergency situation can help you to cooperate with the hired security team help and law enforcement to eradicate the potential problem.<\/p>\n<p>Tarlow (2002) suggests a few pointers when considering training your staff for a potential terrorist crisis.<\/p>\n<p>It has been said that you\u00a0should always consider public awareness and participation during a potential terrorist attack.<\/p>\n<p>Are ALL your staff trained and ready\u00a0to do this?<\/p>\n<h2>Panic = catastrophe!<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Implement employee and volunteer training.<\/li>\n<li>Discuss potential solutions with all event staff.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure\u00a0everyone is\u00a0up to scratch on the safety and security procedures.<\/li>\n<li>Patrol the premises and event space.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure doors, windows and entry\/exit points are checked on the run up and through the event.<\/li>\n<li>Always remain calm!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You know the history and devastation of terrorist attacks so PLEASE share your thoughts and opinions on whether you as an event manage believe ALL staff should be trained in the possibility of a terrorist attack..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>** CAUTION \u2013 THIS PAGE MAY CONTAIN SENSITIVE MATERIAL ON THE TOPIC OF TERRORISM ** Across the world and throughout the media we are regularly reminded about unpredicted perils that have the potential for destruction of our everyday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2015"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1440"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2932,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}