Emergency Security Systems in Buildings in the Sultanate of Oman - Research Paper Example

EMERGENCY SECURTIY SYSTEMS Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Location: Table of contents Table of Contents Table of contents 1 Introduction 3 Objective 4 Significance of the project 5 Literature review 5 The Sultanate of Oman 5 Buildings 6 Security issues 6 Emergencies 6 Crime 7 Disorders 7 The amount of entries and exits are very many making it very difficult for building owners to secure their properties 8 There is need for proper ventilations and huge windows and doors to allow proper air circulation because Muscat is a very hot and humid city. This leaves the buildings venerable to crime and natural disasters 8 Necessary utilities are located in proximity to each other making it much easier for intruders to access all of them at once 8 Housing estates in the city a vast number of individuals at once and concentrated in a small area that makes it much easier for intruders to blend in and hard for emergency response teams to move around. 8 Users of these buildings are the most important part of any emergency response strategy and have their own ideas on how security issues should be handled. Their views should be considered and if possible be integrated into any security assessment. 8 As noted in the literature review buildings in Muscat have distinct characteristics that influence the type of security and emergency problems they face. These features include, 8 The anonymity of individuals: Gilbert (1984) asserts that the sheer volume of people in low housing estates in the city makes it very difficult to distinguish between which individuals are genuine occupants or visitors and which are out to cause trouble. The fact is crimes are more likely to occur in places flowing with many individuals compared to smaller communities that are much easier to monitor and respond to security and emergency threats. 9 Building content: Buildings in Muscat city have Arabic architecture and are designed in such a way that it has very many and large openings, which makes it an attractive target for criminals. It is more so with commercial buildings where companies have high-value assets and artefacts. 9 Physical features: buildings in the city have unique physical features that easily allow crimes such as break-ins, burglaries, and crimes in common areas. 9 Methodology 9 Results and discussion 10 Survey results 10 Access controls 11 Physical security 12 CCTV 13 Security staff 14 Interview 14 Security and emergency plans 14 Awareness and involvement of occupants 15 Measuring effectiveness 15 The frequency and number successful fire or evacuation training drills 16 Record the amount of emergency calls that originate from the building to police, emergency and fire departments 16 The number of false intruder, fire, or emergency alarms 16 Results of surveys on the perception of occupant on their safety and the security measures in place to protect them 16 Conclusion and Recommendation 16 To ensure buildings rare secure from security and emergency threats the following should be considered 16 Physical security 16 Procedural security 17 Cooperation among occupants 18 A holistic security approach 18 References 19 Appendix 21 Questionnaire 21 Emergency security systems Introduction According to Hallenborg (2002), every new or existing building has to meet several system requirements namely ventilation and air circulation, lighting, fire resistance and safety, health and comfort and, security. Security is at the top of that list, and it arises from the need to protect human lives, the buildings, and its contents. The purpose of this report is to give guidance to building owners, emergency personnel, building users, and building managers on the importance of security systems in buildings especially in cases of emergencies. The guidance is based on extensive research from a wide range of literature sources on security and emergency security systems from a variety of disciplines including engineering, science, and social science. It sets of by defining the threats that buildings are facing and the factors contributing to these risks. It then analyzes the response measures currently in place that include physical security, access control, CCTV, security, and emergency plans, security staff and occupant insolvent and awareness. Once the response measures have been discussed, it analyzes the effectiveness of these measures. It then summarizes the research findings and relates crime and emergencies to the physical design of buildings. Finally, the paper gives recommendations that may be able to improve the shortcomings identified (Kwok et al. 2013). Objective The aim of the research was to evaluate the emergency and security systems that are currently used in buildings in the Sultanate of Oman, compare it to two other countries that have similar security concerns and make any suggestions that may improve the systems to ensure that security and emergency threats are dealt with. The following objectives were met. Establish the current state of emergency and security systems used in buildings in the Sultan of Oman List and document the type of emergency and security systems in buildings in the Sultanate of Oman Access the effectiveness of these emergency and security systems used in buildings in the Sultanate of Oman Make suggestions and recommendations that can be sued to improve the security and emergency systems used in these buildings in the Sultanate of Oman (National Research Council (U.S.) & National Academies Press (U.S.) 2011). Significance of the project In modern times the new cities and towns being built provides a tremendous amount of space for people to work or live on a relatively small piece of land, which mean a vast number of people are concentrated in a relatively small area. It makes it makes the dwellings and buildings in these towns and cities prone to emergency and security threats. The safety and wellbeing of these people are of utmost importance. From experience such as the high crime rates and emergencies in many western cities and dwellings, it can be concluded that proper emergency and security systems must be in place to ensure that the effect of emergency and security threats are minimized. The research is relevant because it has been used to highlight the shortcomings of emergency and security systems most buildings in Muscat the capital city of the sultanate of Oman. The research has proposed measures that can used to address these shortcomings. Literature review The Sultanate of Oman Oman officially referred to as the Sultanate of Oman located in the Middle East is an Arabic country that lies in the Arabian Peninsulas southern eastern coast. The Country hols and important and strategic position at the tip of the Persian Gulf, The country is boarded to the west by Saudi Arabia, to the north west by the United Arab Emirates, and to the south west by Yemen. In addition, it shares marine borders with Pakistan and Iran. It has 3,165 coastlines that extend from the Yemen border in the southern part of the country to the Strait of Hormuz in the North. The nation overlooks three water bodies the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, and the Arabian Gulf (Persian Gulf). The total size of Oma is apporximetly 309,500 . The countyr is compsed of a wide vaiety of topograhpical areasconsisitng of mountauns, deserts, dry river beds and plains.The mopst important topographical feature is the plin overlooking the Arabian sea and the Gulf of Oman. The plain is most densely popualted and constites about 3% of the countrys total area. Buildings A building is a freestanding permanent or temporary manmade structure that contains walls, doors, windows, and a roof. Buildings come in variety of shapes and sizes depending on its usage and have changed throughout history because of several factors from the availability of building materials, land prices, weather conditions, aesthetic designs, ground conditions, and the specific usage. Billings have several important functions namely its serves as shelter from adverse weather conditions, storage, living space, security, to wok and live in comfort and to provide privacy. Security issues The security issues and threats faced by buildings in Oman can be grouped into the following namely; emergencies, disorders, and crime. Emergencies Caused by human beings or a crisis related to human faults such as electric blackout, fires, structural or elevator failure and terrorist or biochemical attacks Natural or uncontrollable disasters such as chronic weather conditions, which include tsunamis, drought, flooding, sand storms, hurricane, and drought Crime Causing damage and destruction to property using sabotage and graffiti, most common in major areas of the city with low income housing Offenses on individuals and homes such a domestic or general violence, break-ins, rape and kidnapping Unlawful access to the building services including theft and vandalism of electricity and telecommunications facilities Disorders Social and psychological issues such as drug trafficking, suicidal tendencies, hostage-taking, protests, and trespassing The best approach to deal with security threats is to locate the risk or risks and then lay the strategy to minimize or neutralize the threat. Some threats cannot be neutralized such as natural disasters. In such cases, the building owners should put in place measures to reduce their effects. Most of the security emergencies and threats in buildings of Muscat City are very similar to those faced by buildings in other parts of the Middle East. Nonetheless, buildings in Muscat have distinct characteristics that influence the type and severity of threats and emergences they face. The amount of entries and exits are very many making it very difficult for building owners to secure their properties There is need for proper ventilations and huge windows and doors to allow proper air circulation because Muscat is a very hot and humid city. This leaves the buildings venerable to crime and natural disasters Necessary utilities are located in proximity to each other making it much easier for intruders to access all of them at once Housing estates in the city a vast number of individuals at once and concentrated in a small area that makes it much easier for intruders to blend in and hard for emergency response teams to move around. Users of these buildings are the most important part of any emergency response strategy and have their own ideas on how security issues should be handled. Their views should be considered and if possible be integrated into any security assessment. As noted in the literature review buildings in Muscat have distinct characteristics that influence the type of security and emergency problems they face. These features include, Size: Buildings in Muscat city primarily commercial buildings can be very massive and can stretch tens of meters that making them iconic. Their iconic nature makes them venerable to crime and natural disasters that increase the chances of emergencies. Their enormous size may be an obstacle to emergency response (Hess 2009). The anonymity of individuals: Gilbert (1984) asserts that the sheer volume of people in low housing estates in the city makes it very difficult to distinguish between which individuals are genuine occupants or visitors and which are out to cause trouble. The fact is crimes are more likely to occur in places flowing with many individuals compared to smaller communities that are much easier to monitor and respond to security and emergency threats. Building content: Buildings in Muscat city have Arabic architecture and are designed in such a way that it has very many and large openings, which makes it an attractive target for criminals. It is more so with commercial buildings where companies have high-value assets and artefacts. Occupant characteristics: buildings have tenants with different personalities some being low-risk residents while others being high-risk ones. It makes it very difficult to formulate security and emergency plans without having to intrude into the lives of the residents. Commercial buildings may contain a mixture of occupants including political organizations, government agencies, NGOS, and high profile institutions. Residential buildings may include owner-occupants, rental residents, and tenants in public housing (Honey 1998). Physical features: buildings in the city have unique physical features that easily allow crimes such as break-ins, burglaries, and crimes in common areas. Methodology Several information gathering techniques and methods were used to collect relevant information. These methods include a) Survey: Using questionnaires to evaluate the types of emergency security measure that buildings of Muscat city have in place. The questionnaires will be distributed to both rudimental and commercial building owners and occupants. b) Interview: The interview was with the head of emergency and security response at Suleiman Salad security Mohamed Al Said. The company deals in emergency and security equipment they provide armed guards. c) Secondary research: Conducting an in-depth secondary research of written literature that contains information on the emergency and security systems being currently used in buildings The study will include published textbooks, articles, journals and another relevant academic material. d) Site visits: Conducting physical examination of the emergency and security systems in place through planned visits to several tall building in the city e) Tertiary research: Use tertiary gathering techniques to obtain information from both printed and electronic media, the Internet and other sources (Honey 2001). Results and discussion Survey results After conducting a survey several types of emergency security systems used in Muscat were identified namely access control system, alarm systems, physical security, CCTV systems, and security staff. Most of the buildings have physical security, access control systems and alarm system. Very few buildings have security staff and CCTV systems The figure above shows the distribution of emergency security systems in Muscat city As Part of the survey, each system was examined in-depth to establish the level of usage. The evaluation of each system was examined according to the type of buildings namely commercial, residential, or industrial. Access controls Buildings in Muscat city especially industrial buildings have a restricted number of entry and exit points which makes it easier for the security personnel to limit or control access to the buildings. Most commercial and industrial buildings use access control systems together with its alarm capacity as a security measure to control access points and screen individuals, vehicles and goods entering and exiting the buildings. They act as a barrier to deter intruders from trying to access the buildings. The functionally of the building determines the level of access. For instance, the level access granted in a hospital is very different to that of a residential building; the latter would be more restricted. Health and safety laws and liability issues have an effect on the level of restriction of commercial buildings (Walker 1983). Advancement in technology has forced commercial and industrial buildings to abandon the use of old paper visitor books that were unreliable, non-confidential, and sometimes illegible to adopting automated access control systems. The uses of automated access control systems that integrate self-service visitor passes are becoming standard. Other systems come with visitor passes in the form of smart cards that contain smart chips inside and which are at times linked to biometric devices such as fingerprint scanners, hand geometry, iris scanners or face recognition. Other biometric devices include radio frequency identification cards that are placed around the building to monitor unauthorized movements of visitors and occupants (Taipei 2008). The Internet has widened the option of access control technologies. Accordingly, Kelley (2009) postulates that the information technology infrastructure of a building is utilized to operate intelligent doors. Apart from the essential security benefits, web-based access control systems have occupants of building peace of mind. According access control system administrators the new technology has made residents feel much safer and persuaded potential tenants to buy the buildings Physical security Kruegle (1995) holds that there are numerous types of physical security measures used in buildings in Oman namely reinforced windows and doors, alarms, locks, perimeter fences and gates and lighting. Physical security provides a shield that makes it difficult for criminal to access the building. Although many offenders are deterred by these security measures, others may find the measures an opportunity to test or improve their skill sets. In addition, excess security measure may make some occupants uncomfortable. The issue at hand is , whether building owners can do more to, is not the central issue, the more important one is whether it is necessary for building owners to do more to improve the physical security (ASCE-IABSE Joint Committee on Planning and Design of Tall Buildings. 1971). CCTV CCTV is one of the most widely used security measures in commercial and residential buildings. The technological and technical advances in CCTV have been extraordinary. It has allowed occupants of buildings to monitor their premises while they are not there using Internet-based CCTV. In addition, it has enabled to activate and deactivate alarms, trip alarms, activate cameras and motion detectors and store vast amount of video recordings. Nonetheless, the promise that CCTV technology holds can be deceptive. Without 24 hour monitoring of cameras, it will mainly be used to provide a historical record of what has taken place. Although the information can be useful during the investigation process, it is largely a record of what happened. Then again, the presence of CCTV cameras can act a deterrent to potential offenders (Pearson 2007). Most of the research into CCTV technology has focused on open or public spaces. Some of the search has linked CCTV usage to a reduction in crime, but a significant amount of the research has not found any linkage. Security staff Commercial buildings are the primary users of formal security staff. Uniformed security personnel are an on-site physical presence that deters intruders and reassure residents. The security staff may be in charge of visitor’s access monitor vehicle access, monitor intrusions, or operate the CCTV control rooms. In some residential buildings, they employ similar strategies while others use resident such as off-duty police officers to operate the door and perform similar tasks in exchange for compensation for the services with pay or a reduction in rent (Craighead 2009). Interview The interview was used evaluate the unknown problems facing buildings in Muscat and to establish the unconventional methods that the company proposes to their customers to ensure they are safe from security and emergency threats. The response from Mr Suleiman Salad are given below Security and emergency plans Building rules and regulations require building owners to put in place procedures that can be used to respond emergencies and life threatening situations. These procedures may include the use of fire alarm systems and evacuation plans. Evacuation plans are very crucial to any building especially commercial and industrial buildings where it would be very hard for emergency and fire services to reach certain areas with their equipment.. Most of the plans in commercial and residential buildings in place are necessary emergency and evacuation plans (Mr Suleiman Salad 2015). Awareness and involvement of occupants Management and security officials involve occupant in the formulation and management of security and emergency issues. Although many buildings do utilize these avenues, many of the ones investigated underutilize them. Most of the security staff and officials lack proper communication skills that can be used to familiarize or engage the occupants to ensure that hey are more active participants in the building security and become vigilant. These skills can be used to inform the occupants of potential emergencies and threats. Security awareness and training that can be used to increase surveillance lacks in many buildings. The main training programs in place are not actives or have not been updated for many years. It is because most occupants are uncooperative and it often difficult to make them more active in their security by being more vigilant and watch out for unrestricted movement (Mr Suleiman Salad 2015). Measuring effectiveness Although commercial and residential buildings have put in place emergency and security measures, it is crucial for emergency and security personnel exhibit the value of their efforts that may require the collection and documentation of information and data. Most buildings lack sufficient record keeping techniques, which makes it impossible to carry out proper security assessment and demonstrate the effectiveness of the policies and measures in place. Such data can only be gathered if there are appropriate incident registers and computerized data collection methods. The other challenge faced by buildings is to make sense of the large volume of data collected. Most do not have skilled personnel to analyze the data properly. The number of potential occurrence and occurrence of events reported to the police or the security office. The number of incidents hat the security team has come across such as vandalism or graffiti. The frequency and number successful fire or evacuation training drills Record the amount of emergency calls that originate from the building to police, emergency and fire departments The number of false intruder, fire, or emergency alarms Results of surveys on the perception of occupant on their safety and the security measures in place to protect them Conclusion and Recommendation To ensure buildings rare secure from security and emergency threats the following should be considered Physical security Although physical security are integrated into the building during the construction phase the repairs, modification, and refurbishment of buildings can be used as an avenue to update and improve them. The updates could include the redesign of common and access area, updating the CTV security system. Although it may be difficult to measure an individual change or a number of changes due to their gradual nature, improvements to the physical security of buildings reduces security problems and make its occupants feel much safer. Buildings can employ full length astral and latch guards on entrances, with the doors containing reinforced frames, CCTV cameras to monitor the lobbies and recognize intruders. Another useful feature that is not widely practiced due to its simplistic approach is the use of physical lighting. The research of lighting on the impact of crime and disorders has been widely documented only in public areas and streets (Al-Kodmany & Ali 2013). The little research on buildings, links improved, and proper lighting to a 20% decrease in crime and disorder. Good lighting increases the surveillance of buildings and makes intruders unease due to the increase changes of discovery detection and identification. Poorly designed lighting strategies can produce dark patches in the buildings and dazzle the occupants to the extent that it creates an oppressive environment. The other important feature of proper lighting plans it that the lights should be vandal proof and placed in footpaths that it will make the building occupants feel much safer (Walker 1983). Procedural security According to Das (1987), commercial and industrial buildings accommodate a large number of occupants making it essential for the management to document a properly structured and unambiguous security and emergency procedures. Of particular importance are emergency and evacuation plans together with methods to deal with infrastructural disaster or failure power blackouts, interruptions to gas supplies, or interruption to the supply or contamination of water. Others include failure of cooling and heating systems and telecommunication equipment. These procedures should be readily accessible to the building occupants. The management must ensure that the building occupants grasp the procedures and know their importance. An example is that of access control systems, where residents should know t how they word and the secondary measure in case of their failure. The procedures used by the security team should also be well documented and regular updated to reflect the conditions of the building. Apart from the security team and the occupants of the building other building users such as receptionists, janitors, and maintenance staff must fully understand the procedures and their importance (Goldstein 2006). Cooperation among occupants Most new estates in Muscat city are designed to promote anonymity that makes them more prone to crimes. To reduce anonymity, the management should improve occupant cooperation programs. In addition, residential buildings can use apartment and neighbourhood watch programs. Such programs can allow occupants to relate and know each other making it easier to detected intruders. Such programs can be an avenue for the security personnel to share new procure or training techniques occupants can use to deter thieves (Ma & Yhan 2014). A holistic security approach The best and most practical approach to emergency and security threats in buildings is to adopt a holistic approach. It can be achieved through the integration of several approaches. A combination of physical security, security personnel, and involvement of the occupants may be the best way to deal with emergency and security threats. This type of approach will ensure that threats not addressed by one approach can be dealt with using another, in other words, the approaches will be complimenting each other. Nonetheless, this approach may not work for all the buildings and analysis and trial period should be conducted before full implementation takes place (Beedle et al. 1990). References Al-Kodmany, K., & Ali, M. M. (2013). The future of the city: Tall buildings and urban design. Southampton: WIT Press. 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Integrated security systems design: Concepts, specifications, and implementation. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Pearson, R. L. (2007). Electronic security systems: A manager's guide to evaluating and selecting system solutions. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann Taipei 101. (2008). Mulgrave, Vic: Images. UCMA (Conference), & Tomar, G. S. (2010). Ubiquitous computing and multimedia applications: International conference, UCMA 2010, Miyazaki, Japan, June 23-25, 2010 : proceedings. Berlin: Springer. Walker, P. (1983). Electronic security systems: Better ways to crime prevention CA: Nolo. Appendix Questionnaire Please fill the questionnaire below; Question answers Please tick What types of emergency security system do use? access control system alarm systems physical security CCTV systems security staff question answer Write a short explanation How long have you used the security system? Do you have any unconventional measures to deal with security or emergency threats? How many crimes are reported to your internal Security staff? How many crimes do you report to the law enforcement agencies? How emergencies do you report to the emergencies services on a weekly basis? Do you use more than one type of emergency security system? Which type of emergency security system do you find most efficient and useful? Have you ever considered cooperation among fellow residents as a measure to combat crime and emergencies? Have you ever considered community policing and emergency monitoring as a measure to combat crime and emergencies? Read More