Publications

There’s a famous old saying: “You can be safe a hundred times, but you only die once.” A group of miners enter a mine every work day for years, uneventfully. Suddenly one day, shortly after they enter there is an explosion and  many of them are killed or injured. An owner/pilot of a small plane is interviewed on the radio and explains how safe flying is. Three days later he flies into a building and is killed. A skyscraper is filled with security devices of   all kinds and is guarded on all sides. A huge airliner deliberately crashes into it, destroying the building and killing almost everyone inside the building.

It was time for the renewal of my library membership. So I entered the administrative office area where I promptly filled out a new application form. Then an instant photo camera captured my image. It was developed immediately, placed on a preprinted card with the organization’s preprinted logo. Then a clerk typed in my name on the card and had the card laminated. It was then handed to me. The clerk told me I was ready for another year at the library.

In the normal course of our lives, we generally wake up in the morning, knowing the sun will come up as it always does-to the point that we really do not think of it. We go to our jobs, do work around the house, and send the kids off to school. We could remember a particular year in our lives, perhaps by an unusually big storm-say a hurricane or tornado. Or there may have been a prolonged drought or a particularly large snow storm. These are things that are bound to happen as the seasons change. Spring is followed by summer, then autumn, then winter.

It used to be setting up security for a sporting event was a simple administrative function. An official from the sponsoring event or from the team that either owned or had a working agreement with the stadium would negotiate a contract with a local security guard organization for a number of security guards to work the event and that was it.

Being a conscientious plant manager or supervisor, you have taken steps to insure your plant is safe and secure for the employees who work for you. Today, there isn’t a facility around that hasn’t taken steps to protect it from intruders. Just about everyone carries an identification card from his or her place of work. Access control systems are in place and many buildings are fenced in, some with barbed wire for added protection, many if not all with 24-hour guards and a main gate entrance.