We have probably all heard the saying “Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail”, and I want to say from the outset that I don’t profess to be an expert in Crisis Management. I also don’t claim to have been involved in or to have had to manage as many crisis situations as many readers – who so tragically may have – but I am passionate about the subject and, having worked on the front line in a security role, I know how important training is and can be when faced with a crisis situation.


My first experience: Manchester city centre 15th June 1996


My first experience of being involved in a crisis situation was working as a junior security manager responsible for a large national contract for a leading manned guarding company. Arriving in Manchester city centre to visit my officers, I suddenly saw and heard the chaos following the detonation of a 3,300lb IRA lorry bomb – the largest detonated in Great Britain since the Second World War.


My initial reaction was shock, followed by concern for my team, followed by “What can I do?”. In the immediate


S


enior security


professional Ian Pugh asks: How prepared is your business, how prepared are your teams and are you doing enough to mitigate risk and prepare your teams for that next crisis?


aftermath and


subsequent hours, we


worked as a team to ensure everyone was safe and accounted for. This


involved evacuating a large number of my client’s buildings in the city centre and getting the team of officers to safety whilst keeping the senior management team and client updated.


We were lucky and, whilst my thoughts go out to all those people affected by this atrocity and the businesses who had to rebuild, it could have been so much worse.


Present day changes


We did a good job back in 1996, in managing the aftermath of the incident, but that was 25 years ago and things have moved on. The world is a


different place, with different challenges and a more stringent


regulatory, enforcement and public enquiry-focused society.


Here, I highlight four areas of change, pertinent to crisis


management, which have an ongoing impact on security and management professionals.


Regulations/Laws:


There are more regulations and laws in place now, which impose upon senior management teams a clear duty of care for their staff’s health, safety and wellbeing.


4 © CITY SECURITY MAGAZINE – AUTUMN 2021 www.citysecuritymagazine.com Private Security Act 2001:


The security industry is now regulated by the Security Industry Authority (SIA). Certain legal requirements are in place now, such as mandatory training for those who wish to operate a security company and deploy security officers under contract.


Public enquiries:


There are more public enquiries now, which examine the aftermath of major incidents and look at the measures organisations and senior managers have put in place to mitigate risk through training and procedural support, which could have prevented the incident taking place and supported the teams on the ground. An example is the Manchester Arena Enquiry, currently in the final stages of investigating the deaths of the victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack.


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