Reposted from Nebraska.tv

Sales from artwork sold at the Museum of Nebraska Art's holiday gift boutique is helping in a new effort to protect pieces of Nebraska history.

Right through the MONA’s doors, Nebraska artists fill the room with the state’s history as the museum continues to tighten their security.

"The works that we have been around for hundreds of years and we want to make sure we maintain those artworks,” said MONA marketing coordinator Gina Garden.

From paintings, to sculptures and pictures, all of these pieces share a story about Nebraska.

"People tend to forget you can’t recreate these things. We can’t have John James Audubon, and draw the Sandhill and the whooping crane. We just want to make sure that we are preserving the artwork,” Garden said.

The museum is raising funds to make sure everyone keeps a safe distance while learning about our state.

"We want to encourage people to interact with the artwork, but not quite that closely interact with them. We want to engage, not necessarily touch because the oils from your fingers and that type of thing can damage the artwork. People tend to forget about that, but it’s not out of malice or anything it’s just they get so engrossed they want to touch it,” Garden said.

As MONA staff work to protect these pieces of history, artist Roger Nyffeler is happy the staff is making a push to protect these pieces of history.

"So people can walk in and walk through and look at the material and look at the art work and much of it is very, very expensive and we want to keep it looking that way,” Nyffeler said.

Larry Peterson, one of the founders of the MONA said times have changed.

"When we started out 41 years ago we didn't have any art, so it wasn't a problem and we just had a few pieces, but now that we have 5, maybe 5,000 pieces it gets more complex and we have to take precautions and have more security,” Peterson said.

The MONA has just one person guarding the entire gallery at a time but it hopes hire more people with money raised at events like this one..

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Reposted from The Wall Street Journal

The appearance of white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida sparked a declaration of a state of emergency by Florida’s governor. The event ended up generating little more than shouting and a few arrests. There was no violence.

Still, the massive preparations for potentially violent civil disobedience came with a hefty price tag. The school estimates it will have spent more than $500,000 on security—more than it pays for football games at a stadium that holds 90,000 people. The cost is part of a growing toll this year as a wave of right-wing speakers faces off against left-wing protesters.

That $500,000 will cover the hundreds of officers on campus from at least 44 agencies, some from as far away as Miami, command centers, technology, room and board for officers and extra barricades, said University of Florida spokeswoman Janine Sikes.

The Gainesville Police Department, which beefed up security in their jurisdiction, incurred additional costs, she said. Among those arrested were three men, who were charged with attempted homicide after they shot at a group of people protesting the speech. The police said at least two of the three men have shown connections to extremist groups.

Security for speakers at the University of California at Berkeley has cost the school more than $2 million this calendar year, compared with less than $200,000 a year for security at special events over the past several years; and Mr. Spencer’s appearance at Texas A&M University last December cost the school $60,000, according to the schools.

“This is not sustainable, this is absolutely not sustainable,” said University of Florida’s Ms. Sikes. “Public institutions cannot continue to pay this kind of money.”

Experts say the recent wave of speakers—beginning with an appearance in February at Berkeley of the former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos that prompted a riot—has changed the dynamic of such campus events.

“What happened at Berkeley was really a watershed moment,” said Sue Riseling, executive director of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. “There has been a paradigm shift.”

To be sure, high-profile speakers have always carried some security cost. When then-President Barack Obama spoke at Rutgers University in May 2016, the New Jersey school spent around $275,000 on security and traffic concerns, according to the school.

Schools have struggled to come up with a consistent answer to requests to speak, pitting their free-speech ideals against security concerns.

This month, Ohio State University rejected a request by Mr. Spencer to speak. The University of Cincinnati accepted his request. Texas A&M allowed Mr. Spencer to speak last year but rejected his request last month. The University of Florida initially rejected an event that Mr. Spencer was supposed to hold on campus, then changed course and allowed him to speak on Thursday after a judge reversed Auburn University’s rejection of Mr. Spencer.

Some schools are limiting the people who can invite speakers to those with an affiliation to the university. For instance, Mr. Spencer was invited to speak at Texas A&M last year by a former student with no active affiliation with the school. The university has since changed policies to limit those who can invite speakers to current students and faculty.

Amy Smith, spokeswoman for Texas A&M, said the school was torn about cancelling Mr. Spencer’s September event.

“We feel strongly about freedom of speech here, but at the same time it was clear there was a safety concern,” she said. “This is a national problem for public universities especially, right now we’re developing strategies in real time but there’s nothing conclusive about how to manage our security costs as we go forward.”

At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, a group tasked with reviewing the school’s response to the “Unite the Right” rally in August that left one counterprotester dead, and a march on campus the night before, found school leaders had missed a “paradigm shift.”

“University officials’ frame of mind was shaped by a decades-long history of non-violent protests on Grounds that led them to approach the march with the assumption that it was constitutionally protected and should be accommodated with minimal police intrusion,” the report said. The result was “misaligned” judgments and an insufficient response, it said.

“What has changed is a recognition that some events may be motivated by a desire to incite a reaction that could turn violent,” said Peter McDonough, vice president and general counsel for the American Council on Education, which represents nearly 1,800 college and university presidents.

The costs to schools for the speakers this year are dramatically higher than the schools’ security expenses for prior high-profile speakers, said Dan Mogulof, a Berkeley spokesman. “It’s apples and oranges,” he said.

When a president speaks at the university, for instance, most of the security is handled by the Secret Service and any costs to the school are minimal. In the past three years, the school’s security costs for demonstrations have totaled less than $200,000 a year. Its biggest tally in recent years was $1.6 million in fiscal 2009, when a group of protesters were expelled from a grove of oak trees targeted to be cut down. The costs in fiscal 2012 was $744,000 and $619,000 in fiscal 2013.

In February, the school spent about $200,000 on security for an event for Mr. Yiannopoulos, the conservative commentator, then another $60,000 cleaning up after protesters ripped down light poles and tossed Molotov cocktails.

In April, when Ann Coulter was scheduled to speak at the school spent in excess of $600,000 for law enforcement to prevent another riot, said Mr. Mogulof. Of that amount, $414,000 was slated for outside law enforcement and $96,006 for equipment, room and board, according to the school.

This fall, the school shelled out another $600,000 more for security when conservative commentator Ben Shapiro spoke on campus and then more than $1 million when Mr. Yiannopolous scheduled a free speech week. That series of events fizzled when most of the scheduled speakers didn’t show. Still, the school was stuck with the bill.

Berkeley has convened a commission to determine how the school will balance security costs with free-speech protections going forward.

“We have a non-negotiable commitment to provide safety and security for our guests and the public at large and we have an equally unwavering commitment to free speech,” said Mr. Mogulof. “That puts us between a rock and a hard place; we can’t step back from either one.”

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Reposted from MarketWatch.com

Corporate America is currently grappling with sexual harassment in the workplace. But a new study suggests companies should tackle the issue of domestic violence too.

Perpetrators of domestic violence often use workplace hours to continue their abusive behavior, according to researchers at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto and Western University. The researchers worked with 22 partner assault programs in Ontario and conducted a survey with 500 perpetrators — 94% of whom were men — rather than the victims.

Another reason companies should not abdicate their duty of responsibility for their staff: 75% of victims face harassment from their partners even while at work. By learning more about the perpetrators, the researchers said it may be possible to prevent future behavior occurring.

• One-third of respondents said they are in contact with their current or former partners during work and engaging in arguments, emotionally abusive actions or monitoring their whereabouts.

• What’s more, a quarter of respondents said they use their workplace time to drop by their partners’ homes or workplaces and 20% said their co-workers were aware of this.

Companies should implement training to prevent domestic violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. About 27% of women and 11% of men have experienced domestic violence from an intimate partner through sexual or physical abuse, or by stalking, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We need to do this work prior to criminal charges,” said Katreena Scott, Canada Research chair in family violence prevention and intervention at OISE at the University of Toronto. Many of the training programs she sees in the workplace are limited to people who have a criminal charge, she added.

Also see: Rigid gender stereotypes tied to increased depression, violence and suicide in children

But the effects of domestic violence on women can be substantial, and long-lasting. Physically, women victims may suffer bruises, chronic fatigue, changes in eating and sleeping patterns, as well as reproductive problems, according to the Joyful Heart Foundation, a privately-funded organization that combats sexual, domestic and child abuse.

Mentally, they are at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and alcohol and drug abuse in the years and decades after the abuse. The damaging effects of domestic violence can trickle down to children, too, as their mothers may feel they have no social network for support and, in extreme cases, may be too traumatized to take care of their children, according to one report.

Opportunities to help the victim are often ignored

Identifying perpetrators early on can help prevent abuse, Scott said. Nearly half of the men who participated in the survey said their workplaces were “closed, unsupportive and unfair” about domestic violence issues and most said they weren’t aware of any means of help or resources.

Unsurprisingly, only one-third of perpetrators have talked with their co-workers. And domestic violence has in some cases even directly or indirectly cost them jobs, according to 26% of the survey participants, either because of being let go after a criminal charge, or eventually being let go after constant tardiness and missed days.

Employers can watch out for signs of domestic violence

Domestic violence victims struggle with medical, emotional, financial and mental issues, including depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, according to a separate report from Partnership for Prevention, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health and preventing disease.

There’s a financial, as well as a social cost, for businesses. Domestic violence costs the U.S. economy $8.3 billion a year from medical costs and lost productivity, according to a 2004 report (there haven’t been any comprehensive studies on the economic toll of domestic violence since). Victims of domestic violence typically pay $1,775 more in medical costs than an employee who suffers from an illness or accident unrelated to domestic abuse, Partnership for Prevention found.

The good news: There is help out there for victims

About 20 people a minute are physically abused by a partner in the U.S., according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Some companies already have programs in place to help employees who are abusive or abused.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline can also help perpetrators and victims over the phone or online. Programs focus on behavior and causal factors for this behavior, and can lead to couples counseling or mental health treatments for abusers. States, cities and counties may also have programs and support lines in place to prevent or intervene in domestic violence cases.

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Reposted from Metro UK

An Adolf Hitler oil painting has been attacked by a man screaming ‘bastard’ with a screwdriver in Italy.

The middle-aged man’s attempt at defacing the painting failed due to special covering designed to protect the surface against vandalism.

The 40-year-old was chased out of the exhibition by curators and escaped before he could be apprehended.

The owner of the painting, a private German collector, decided not to pursue the matter after seeing the damage, which was described as being minimal.

Hitler’s painting is part of an exhibition about madness on display in the town of Salò, on the shores of Lake Garda, Northern Italy.

The town was the capital of Benito Mussolini’s Fascist state in the last two years of the Second World War.

Giordano Bruno Guerri, the museum director, said: ‘An exhibition of madness would not have been complete without an episode of madness taking place.’

Museum of Madness, from Goya to Bacon is curated by controversial art critic Vittorio Sgarbi, who defended the decision to display the dictator’s painting.

He said: ‘The exhibition is all about madness and this painting is perfect – nothing is as crazy as war.’

Mr Sgarbi told The Telegraph: ‘It’s a piece of crap, it’s a painting by a desperate man. It could have been done by Kafka. It says a lot about (Hitler’s) psyche. You don’t see greatness, but misery.

‘It is not the work of a dictator but of a wretch. It reveals a profoundly melancholy soul.’

The painting, which depicts two men with a long corridor stretching behind them, is one of 200 paintings, photographs and sculptures at the exhibition, which finishes in November.

Hitler wanted to be a professional artist as a young man but the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna refused to accept him but he always maintained an interest.

In August 1939 he reportedly told the British ambassador in Berlin Nevile Henderson: ‘I am an artist and not a politician. Once the Polish question is settled, I want to end my life as an artist.’

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Reposted from TechRepublic

Nearly half of companies do not have an overall information security strategy, according to a new report from PwC. Here's how leaders can step up cybersecurity measures.

Despite the rise of ransomware and other malicious attacks, 44% of companies worldwide said they do not have an overall information security strategy, according to the 2018 Global State of Information Security Survey from PwC.

Further, 48% of the 9,500 executives surveyed across 120 countries said they do not have an employee security awareness training program, and 54% said they do not have an incident response process.

"Many organizations need to evaluate their digital risk and focus on building resilience for the inevitable," said Sean Joyce, PwC's US cybersecurity and privacy leader, in the report.

Cybersecurity preparedness varies widely between countries worldwide, PwC found. Nations most likely to employ an overall security strategy include Japan (72%) and Malaysia (74%). Both countries are in East Asia and the Pacific, where the World Economic Forum says cyberattacks are among the top five business risks.

Business leaders must take greater responsibility for building cyber resilience in their companies, the report stated. In the private sector, leaders responsible for driving business results must also be held accountable for the associated risks of doing business. Boards must also exercise oversight and proactive risk management, PwC noted.

However, only 44% of companies reported that their corporate boards actively participate in security strategies or investment plans.

"Many boards still see it as an IT problem," Matt Olsen, co-founder and president of business development and strategy for IronNet Cybersecurity, who formerly led the US National Counterterrorism Center, said in the report. Perhaps due to their lack of involvement, few board members said they feel confident that their companies are properly secured against cyberattacks, according to the National Association of Corporate Directors' 2016-2017 surveys of public and private company directors.

The role of the CISO continues to grow in importance, with more of these professionals reporting directly to the CEO now than in the past, the report found. Some 52% of respondents said their organizations employ a CISO, while 45% said they employ a chief security officer. Some 47% said they employ dedicated security personnel to support internal business operations.

"The CISO must help the board understand where the company stands in providing cybersecurity for the company networks," Keith Alexander, the founder and CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity, who formerly led US Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, said in the report. "The information provided should include any cyberattacks that have occurred, as well as shortfalls in training, equipment and tools in the cyber domain. The CISO must highlight shortfalls so the board can execute their responsibilities in understanding and addressing risks facing the company."

PwC offered the following five tips for business leaders to follow to better protect their companies from attacks.

1. Engage the C-suite and the board

Senior leaders driving the business must take ownership of cybersecurity policies and practices, the report stated. Setting a top-down strategy to manage cyber and privacy risks across the enterprise is key, and a risk management strategy should be informed by understanding the threats facing the organization, and knowledge of which assets require the most protection.

2. Work to achieve resilience, not to simply avoid risk

Companies that achieve greater risk resilience will see stronger, long-term economic performance than those that take a more reactionary stance, the report noted. For example, the report said, the Japanese companies that built business-continuity management procedures into their enterprise risk management programs before the 2011 tsunami were able to resume operations faster than their competitors.

3. Purposefully collaborate, and leverage lessons learned

Industry and government leaders must work across organizational and national borders to identify, map, and test cyber-dependency and interconnectivity risks, the report said. Leaders must also work together to deal with problems such as accountability, liability, responsibility, and consequence management.

4. Stress-test interdependencies

All industries worldwide should conduct stress tests with simulated cyberattacks designed to inform risk management, the report said. These stress tests should be able to answer the question, "Can I withstand the failure of others on whom I depend?"

5. Focus more on risks to data manipulation and destruction

Integrity will soon take the place of confidentiality as the most important goal of cybersecurity in the private sector, according to computer security analyst and risk management specialist Dan Geer, cited in the report. This can better help companies recover and restore data after a major cyberattack. The growing use of blockchain will likely impact this as well, the report noted.

"The bottom line is that leaders can seize the opportunity now to take meaningful actions designed to bolster the resilience of their organizations, withstand disruptive cyber threats and build a secure digital society," according to the report.

Want to use this data in your next business presentation? Feel free to copy and paste these top takeaways into your next slideshow.

    44% of companies worldwide do not have an overall information security strategy. -PwC, 2017

    44% of companies worldwide report that their corporate boards actively participate in the companies' security strategies or investment plans. -PwC, 2017

    52% of companies said their organizations employ a CISO, while 45% say they employ a chief security officer. Some 47% said they employ dedicated security personnel to support internal business operations. -PwC, 2017

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Reposted from Security Management

Twenty-thousand strong marched in protest in Bogotá in 2011 at the Colombian government’s plans to cut university spending. The protestors retained a student-led atmosphere of goodwill and the only simmering of potential aggression was due to the presence of the Colombian Police’s Riot Control Unit (ESMAD) parked on strategic side streets.

I was in downtown Bogotá on the second floor café above the throngs with a tourist from Seattle, watching students from all over Colombia protesting the bill pushed through by President Juan Manuel Santos’ government to reform higher education by introducing a profit motive.

“I wish my daughter could be here to witness this,” the Seattle visitor told me. “It’s a healthy display of the young airing their grievances with a government decision. We don’t see this anymore in the United States.”

Protest participants were handing out carnations to members of the ESMAD, placards were held aloft announcing the arrival of different student bodies. With several years of experience as a foreign correspondent in Colombia, I knew better than to drop my guard despite the festive mood as if these students had somehow lost their way in route to a humanities class.

And my instincts were right, as the carnival atmosphere was threatened by an undercurrent of disobedience as masked agitators—armed with spray paint canisters—left shop windows and walls emblazoned with slogans: “Pensar diferente no es un crimen.” Translation: “Thinking differently isn’t a crime.”

From our present vantage point we were safe, unless the protest turned violent, as it has been proven time and again that an emotionally charged crowd of people can be swayed from grief or merriment to sadistic dementia in a second.

After all, if the ESMAD fired off tear gas, where would we go? The only exit from the café would be down a narrow flight of stairs and out onto the Carrerra Septima, the principal thoroughfare for all demonstrations in Bogota as it leads directly to the Plaza de Bolivar and the Palicio Narino seat of power—hardly an ideal route.

Strikes, marches, and demonstrations are a routine occurrence in Colombia, set against the backdrop of the Colombian armed conflict—currently the longest-running in the hemisphere. And in 2016, in the lead up to and after the signing of a final peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC rebels), these may increase as disgruntled sectors of the country’s society feel their needs and complaints are not being heard.

If President Santos makes good on his promise to bring the final accords to a referendum, so people can vote in favor or against it, there will be many opportunities for people to make their cases heard by pounding the streets.

As a Bogotá-based journalist, the possibility of being caught up in some kind of social unrest during the course of my work in 2016 is high. To help plan for the worst, I picked the brain of a trusted security expert—Ben Hockman, senior consultant at Control Risks, a global risk management consultancy specializing in assisting clients operate in complex and hostile environments.

Planning

Even with experience witnessing challenging demonstrations across South America from Bolivian miners threatening to hang themselves by the neck from a bridge to facing off with police and throwing sticks of dynamite along each avenue leading up to La Paz’s Plaza Murillo to politically charged May Day lawlessness, I know better than to stay too close to the action.

This experience with the issues of violence and potential lawlessness in demonstrations in Latin America has helped me in the past. But before hitting the streets, Hockman suggests I take the following into account when I’m planning to cover an event.

Gather intelligence. Know the immediate area, the wider area, and all evacuation options. Determine what the political and economic situations are.

Study the basics of the local political and economic situation. A well prepared traveler to Venezuela might avoid wearing red t-shirts in and around Caracas, for instance, in the current climate of social unrest.

Have a Go Bag. Collect identification documents, copies, snacks, cash for emergencies, water, basic first aid kit, and put them into a bag to take with you.

Print physical copies of maps from apps. Don’t rely on applications, such as Waze, Google Street View, as Internet access may go down in the midst of unrest.

Know in advance where help points are located and how to get to them.

Have a back-up communication plan and prepare for network infrastructure failure. Have a replacement cell phone, a radio, or a walk-talkie.

Be conscious of your wardrobe. Are you able to change your look quickly? What happens if you are in olive drab and resemble the military?

​As Hockman advises, before even approaching a demonstration, I should know the lay of the land—or at least have in my possession a map of the area where I will be engaging with the event.

I also need to keep myself abreast of the type of demonstration that is taking place: is it political, is violence likely? I should check for security forces and know the general current of feeling in the city and country at that precise moment, in addition to having investigated the outcomes and reactions to past demonstrations.

Additionally, as a 6-foot-tall Caucasian male, I know I’m going to stand out in a melee of rioting Bolivian miners. The question is if that makes me more—or less—of a target.

And in extreme situations where a demonstration may lead to military deployment and a challenge of the political regime, it’s crucial to have my passport and tickets out of the country on hand.

Responding

As the tourist from Seattle and I watched the main cadre of students pass by during their protest, I was right to be concerned. Things were heating up, and paint bombs were being hurled at government buildings.

Our exit option was limited and there would be precious little space for movement on the street because of the numerous protestors. To get out of the café, the tourist and I would need to keep close, head to the edges of the protest, and move with the crowd as if negotiating a strong ocean current, before slipping away down a side street.

The aim would be to get out, avoid a possibly trigger-happy police front line spraying pepper spray or tear gas, and escape injury in the process.

To help think through our escape plan—if it became necessary—I ran through Hockman’s checklist on what to do if caught in the midst of a violent protest.

Remember your principal objective is to put as much distance as possible between you and the unrest. If you fail, plan b will be to seek appropriate cover—alleyways, buildings, or vehicles.

Control your emotions. Try to remain as calm as possible.

Keep anyone in your party close—maintain a distance within reach or physical contact, and agree on safe meting points ahead of time in the event that you are separated.

Keep moving, but don’t run.

Move with the crowd and don’t draw attention to yourself. Look for exit options to side streets and your help points—alleys, safe zones, or alternative cover.

Make yourself compact while moving. Protect your head, neck, face, and vital organs. Do not get pushed against or blocked by solid objects.

Watch your footing and obstacles on the ground.

Move between “waves of crowd movements.”

Avoid major roads and sites.

If gas or pepper spray is released, cover your airways with clothing but try to keep your hands free.

Do not approach the front line of police.

Avoid interaction with demonstrators or security forces.

Avoid confrontation with any party.

If you find yourself on the ground, try to stand as quickly as possible. If you can’t stand up, curl yourself into a ball to protect vital organs and try to regain your footing as soon as possible.

If you’re in a vehicle, stay in the vehicle. If gun shots sound, determine their origin and the target before driving away or running away. Sudden movements can draw attention from both protestors and the security forces, particularly during exchanges of fire, so have a plan before you move.

Luckily, the worst of the violence was defacement of property and a couple of skirmishes during the student protest in 2011, and we were able to safely leave the café.

The Aftermath

Fast forward four years, however, and I was again in the midst of some social unrest in the form of the Colombian Farmers’ Protests of 2015. Thousands of farmers were protesting to demand that the government comply with reforms it agreed to in 2014, accusing it of failing to implement measures to reduce debt and control the price of fertilizer. It was clear that the Colombian people were largely in favor of the protests, and on key dates 45,000 people had taken to the streets to demonstrate.

This time the feeling was different and the carnival atmosphere of the student-led demonstration was replaced with a more sinister and aggressive sentiment. And, as was to be expected, pandemonium ensued.

At the height of the turmoil, there was a period of four hours when police used tear gas on rioters throwing petardos (flash-bombs) that injured the police and the public. None of the injuries appeared serious, however, in what was Bogota’s worst street violence since protesters in March 2012 against the city’s municipal bus system were attacked by young vandals.

This was clearly a demonstration to avoid, and Hockman gave me the following tips to manage the immediate aftermath of violent social unrest.

Avoid public transportation.

Check for injuries and, if necessary, seek medical help. The immediate adrenaline rush experienced during violent unrest might mask injuries.

Report in to your office or family as frequently as you can.

Consider the possibility of mild-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and seek medical attention where necessary.

Colombia will face a new wave of emotionally and politically fueled demonstrations in 2106 and beyond as the government seeks to sign off on a peace accord with the FARC and entice the country’s second guerrilla group—the National Liberation Army—to the negotiating table, demonstrations will be the norm.

It pays to be prepared, and to fully consider the advice provided by experts in the field.

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Description

Urban Emergency Management: Planning and Response for the 21st Century takes the concepts and practices of emergency management and places them in the context of the complex challenges faced by the contemporary city. Cities provide unique challenges to emergency managers. The concentrated population and often dense layering of infrastructure can be particularly susceptible to disasters—both natural and human-caused. The book provides guidance across all phases of emergency management, including prevention and all-hazards approaches.

Key Features

• Presents an all-hazards and all-phases approach to emergency management, including natural hazards and human-caused disasters
• Covers the human capital and political and leadership qualities needed by urban emergency managers
• Targets the needs of emergency management in urban settings

Readership

Practitioners in urban emergency management; undergraduate and graduate students in emergency management programs, with a focus on urban practices

Table of Contents

1. Overview of Urban Emergency Management
   2. Development and History of Emergency Management
   3. Natural Hazards and the Urban Environment
   4. Human-Caused Hazards and Hybrid Hazards
   5. Assessing Risk in Urban Areas
   6. Incident Command Systems and NIMS
   7. Collaboration in Urban Environments
   8. Emergency Management and Homeland Security in Urban Areas
   9. Prevention Phase
   10. Preparedness Phase
   11. Mitigation Phase
   12. Response Phase
   13. Recovery Phase
   14. Future of Urban Emergency Management

Copyright: © Butterworth-Heinemann 2018

Published: 27th September 2017

Imprint: Butterworth-Heinemann

About the Author

Thomas Henkey

Thomas Henkey served for six years as Senior Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Chicago, where he was responsible for disaster planning and response, as well as special events, physical-security, infrastructure, transportation, and antiterrorism analysis. Mr. Henkey also has nearly 15 years of experience in a range of private-sector and nonprofit safety and security management roles. He is currently the Director of Emergency Management for Titan Security Group. Mr. Henkey is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), a Certified Institutional Protection Manager (CIPM II), and a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers, the ASIS Cultural Properties Council, the International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection, the Illinois Security Professionals Association, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He is the vice-chairman of the Chicago Cultural Properties Security Group, and the former chairman of the ASIS International Museum Committee. Mr. Henkey holds undergraduate degrees from St. Louis University, and a Master’s Degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from American Military University.

Affiliations and Expertise

Director of Emergency Management, Titan Security Group

OPTEX iSeries Wireless Photobeam Detectors, Powered by Inovonics Wireless Technology, Awarded the 2017 SSI Security Solutions Award in Intrusion Detection

 

 

OPTEX, a global leader in indoor and outdoor security sensors, and Inovonics, an industry leader in high-performance wireless sensor networks for life safety applications, proudly announce that the OPTEX iSeries Wireless Photobeam Detectors, powered by Inovonics wireless technology, have recently been awarded the 2017 SSI Security Solutions Award, in the Intrusion Detection category. The announcement was formally made at the 63rd ASIS International Annual Seminar and Exhibits taking place Sept. 23-27 in Dallas, Texas.   The SSI Security Solutions Awards program distinguishes and spotlights manufacturers and vendors whose electronic security solutions have been proven in the field to meet security, safety, or other organizational needs for end users.   The winning iSeries Wireless Photobeam Detectors offer a battery-powered, wireless quad beam 350ft point-to-point perimeter solution that eliminates the need for trenching or cables, and meets the copper-theft proof and damage-resistant needs of a large electric power company. An Inovonics EN1941 wireless transmitter is also pre-installed, and includes a battery expansion option for up to ten years of battery life. As an award recipient, OPTEX will be profiled in the SSI’s annual December Technology Issue, and spotlighted online and through other electronic media.  Click here to see full press release.

Reposted from Business Matters

Establishing a safe working environment is not as easy as it seems. Creating a set of policies and getting them implemented is not always enough, mainly because of the complex challenges employers and employees now face.

At the same time, workplace safety is a serious and important issue to attend to and there are regulations put in place to make sure every workspace is as safe as it can be.

Aside from the general aspects of safety such as installing a sprinkler system to prevent fire hazards, there are small details that can also greatly influence safety at the office. We are going to take a look at the eight workplace safety details you must never neglect in this article.

An Orientation Program

The lack of a thorough safety orientation program is still noted as one of the most common causes of workplace accidents. An orientation program helps new employees get familiar with the company’s safety policies and objectives, which is why it is very important to have an orientation program in the first place.

Training sessions and refresher courses are also important. Proper training sessions can reduce work-related accidents by as much as 80% in many cases.

Documentation

Similar to improving other parts of the business, a company can improve its safety policies by learning from its mistakes. To be able to learn from your mistakes effectively, a logging or document system needs to be put in place.

Keep a register of all injuries and accidents in the workplace. Use the log to evaluate your safety policies and how they are implemented. You can even perform deeper analysis and compare data from one period to another. This way, keeping track of the company’s progress in providing employees with a safe working environment is easier to do.

Get Employees Involved

While company management makes the final decisions, employees are the ones actually facing challenges in the workplace. The best way to improve office safety is by letting employees get involved in the creation of the company’s safety policies.

It’s never too late to start hearing input from employees. The next time a safety audit or evaluation is due, get employees involved in the process. Don’t just listen to their input either. You need to act on the feedback you receive from employees, especially when the changes can help reduce workplace-related safety risks immediately.

Pay Attention to Electrical Safety

We rely on technology more and more these days. Computers are helping companies and their employees be more efficient in many ways. Intranet and the internet, along with good networking, are just as important, mainly because they allow faster and more effective communication.

The more electrical appliances a company uses, the more important electrical safety becomes. Malfunctioning electrical equipment doesn’t just pose risks to the company’s productivity level; it is also a risk to employee safety.

Networking cables, for example, must not be allowed to run across the floor unprotected. Exposed cables pose a serious trip hazard and can even cause fatalities. Good data cabling support is handy for keeping cables close to the ceiling. There are also desk cable management services to help keep every employee’s workspace safe and free of cluttered cables. If this is an issue that you know is present in your office, get in touch with support services such as ACCL who are a London based company that can install and maintain your system for you.

Information Security

Workplace safety in today’s modern world needs to cover more than just physical safety. The policies you put in place must also govern how to handle information security, especially since over 80% of today’s business operations are recorded and stored digitally.

Having a good backup procedure in place is a good start. You can save the company a world of trouble with the help of automated backups. Storing backups in remote locations – including in the cloud – also helps with restoring the company’s operations in the event of a catastrophic disaster.

Work Well-being

As mentioned earlier, safety policies are only as good as the way they are implemented. To get these policies implemented properly, you need the support of your employees. This can only be achieved when employees are focused and aware of their surroundings. This is where work well-being comes in.

In recent years, companies are starting to invest more in the comfort of their employees. An ergonomic chair, a suitable desk, and even facilities such as an on-site gym or a comfortable break room are there to help employees stay comfortable throughout the day. By keeping employees comfortable, you are helping them focus on the tasks at hand, including maintaining maximum office safety.

Use Signs and Instructions

Last, but certainly not least, don’t hesitate to use signs and safety instructions when necessary. Many companies, especially newer ones, don’t really install safety signs and instructions at the office because they tend to look formal and daunting.

You actually have a lot of freedom with the design and placement of safety instructions, so take advantage of simpler, more modern signs to remind employees about safety in the office. This too will help improve workspace safety by a substantial margin.

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Reposted from Campus Safety Magazine

With the common denominator of IP networks as their backbone, building automation, security and, in particular, access control systems are increasingly coming together. The myriad data these systems put forth, often through a shared protocol such as BACnet or SNMP, make it possible to create not only a safe building, but a smarter and more energy-efficient one.

The intersection of energy savings with smart building objectives can often ride on the information supplied by access control data. By knowing the occupancy of a particular building or sector within a structure, captured through entry and/or exit readers, it becomes possible to implement heating and cooling, lighting and fresh air ventilation controls based on the number and location of individuals.

With heating and cooling systems, the best savings come in seldom-used areas, where the HVAC system can operate in standby mode, rather than being subjected to a particular on-off schedule.

While such an operation isn’t recommended for a large-scale system — you wouldn’t want to heat up the entire building for just one person coming in on a weekend — it can be advantageous in areas where occupancy minimums are more easily reached.

Access control systems can be programmed to control lighting circuits based on occupancy. Once a card is presented to the reader, the system can then begin turning on the appropriate lights based on where that person’s office is located.

And unlike motion sensors, which can also be used to control lights, there is no minimum “on” times with a programmed system, so once a person logs out, the lights go off.

Ventilation is another component of the energy-saving capabilities tied to access control. While the amount of fresh air in a building is governed by building codes, it is usually expressed in the amount of fresh air per minute per person.

So, if the number of people in an area can be measured via the access control system, then the amount of fresh air can be adjusted, saving the expense of conditioning that outside air.

Deploying access control data can also serve as a planning tool for future building projects, either within the existing structure or when considering expansion or reuse of a property.

Having the details on occupancy — who is onsite, what hours is the building most used, are there areas underused or too crowded? — can become a tool for bottom-line decisions about property expenses.

Likewise, such information can be used in day-to-day planning, such as knowing how many people are likely to be at work so security details, parking attendants and cafeteria workers can be scheduled accordingly.

And at locations where shared workspace is becoming more prevalent, access data can also help when assigning desks or conference rooms to individuals and groups.

Because of the interactive nature of today’s access control systems, employees can receive necessary information through the same system that is logging their comings and goings.

Touchscreens have the ability to provide messages, whether they are alerts about an urgent matter, notices about training programs, changes in company policy or just updates on events, such as a campus-wide or department-wide meeting.

Readers can also become tools for booking rooms or, through the use of a built-in intercom, communicating with security personnel in an emergency.

Mobile apps tied to access control add yet another layer to building automation by allowing users to remotely unlock doors, receive mobile alerts and provide two-factor authentication for access to higher security areas.

Apps now and into the future will likely get cardholders even more involved with the buildings, allowing them to provide instant feedback and notifications.

Additionally, the integration of video enhances both smart building capabilities and security by making alarms visually verifiable, which increases the safety of occupants by better assessing their location and situation.

Video can help reduce false alarms and utilizing video analytics can provide further data on building usage trends.

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