Risk assessment
The first step in creating an office security plan is risk assessment. Before you begin planning your office security, you need to have a clear idea of what you are securing your office against. Every office and company will have a variety of security risks of different types and severities. You must consider not only risks to physical safety but also risks to property, information, finances and more. One common risk that every office faces is theft. Theft can threaten the security of your property, information, finances and sometimes even the physical safety of people in the office.
There is a lot to consider when assessing a risk such as theft. The main thing that you need to think about is where your office is vulnerable to such a threat. In the case of theft, this would be things like unlocked doors, unsupervised visitors and holes in your security systems. Theft is just one example of a potential risk, but this risk assessment process must be repeated for every risk you identify.
Risk mitigation
Once you have a clear idea of the potential risks that your office faces, you can start planning for risk mitigation. In this process, you must plan procedures and systems that address the vulnerabilities you identified during risk assessment. By addressing these vulnerabilities, you can significantly reduce the risks of a security breach. The most simple example of a procedure you can put in place is locking the office. Although this may seem obvious, deciding on a standard procedure for locking the office and putting it in writing ensures everyone is on the same page.
Other examples of procedures you could put in place include locking away sensitive information, logging out of computers and not leaving valuables in the office. Again, even if something seems simple, putting it down in writing makes it enforceable and increases the likelihood the procedure is followed. During risk assessment, you may have identified some holes in your security system. In this step, you will also want to plan how to address these holes. This could either mean planning the installation of additional security systems or figuring out how to better use what you already have.
Recovery procedures
Despite reducing the security risks as much as possible, no amount of planning can completely eliminate the risks your office faces. Because of this, it is crucial that you plan recovery procedures. Recovery procedures are procedures put in place to deal with the consequences of a security breach. The goal of this step is to minimise losses in the event of a security breach. Using the risks you identified in the first section, you first need to assess the potential consequences of these risks. Once you have done this, you can create a plan to deal with these consequences. Before anything else, recovery procedures should begin with assessing the situation. You must have a clear understanding of what has happened to deal with the situation effectively. This should be followed by a plan that will either prevent further losses or recover your losses (preferably both). Changing passwords, reviewing CCTV footage and claiming on your insurance policy are all examples of this.
Contact Commercial Security today to get expert help in writing your office security plan.