You should know the risk

One of the benefits of my job with the NSI is that I now get a chance to meet some of the top industry people and get invited to hear them speak. Needless to say my ears are flapping like an African Elephant for information that I can feed to you in this column.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a talk given by Martyn Halliday on the implications of the new BS EN 50131 and its impact on risk assessment and the installer, and I wasn't disappointed. Martyn is considered by many to be the leading light in the insurance / security field and although he has now officially retired he appears to be busier than ever passing on the knowledge that he has gained over the years.

There is a whole new (or at least well revised) way of looking at risk assessment and specifying alarm systems ... or should I say security packages because, now more than ever, we are looking at combined packages that offer services from more than one branch of our industry.

Be a 'one-stop-shop'
I have always been aware of the benefits of being able to offer combined packages from the days when I had to sell my own systems and I managed to pull the rug out from under some of my competitors by being able to offer a "full security package" of physical security as well as electronic. In today's world we also have to look at CCTV, access (and exit) control and fire alarm systems, which are now coming down to an affordable level for the home and small business sector.

The security buyer no longer has time to shop around for three or four quotes from specialist companies in each of the different branches of security. It can mean up to a dozen sales rep/specifiers to be dealt with at different times – a massive bite out of a busy working week. The trend now is very much for the buyer to get in two or three multi-faceted companies that can offer a "one stop shop" and do all the leg work at one go, and this is very much filtering down to the domestic market. Sad to say, the average householder now wants a jack-of- all-trades instead of the isolated specialist in each trade.

Our task is to give customers what they want and, let's face it, the bottom line is the more we can offer, the more we can flog them, the more profit we make and the more ongoing business (maintenance and service) we make at the end of the day. So the question is this - Why aren't we doing it now?

Look at the facts: The police are undermanned and overstretched so the chances of a prompt and effective response from them is disappearing faster than a marriage proposal on the morning after in Benidorm. Cue the "Fast Action Response Team!" Any company that can add a quality keyholding and response service to its alarm specification has stolen a lead on its rivals.

Many alarm companies have been offering add-on smoke detectors as an extra bonus for years, they are halfway towards selling an integrated system so why not do the job right and specify in accordance with what the risk requires? If that means a few more detectors and a break glass call point or two then it means a bob or two extra in our pocket but, for heavens sake, do it right or you may end up carrying a big can through the courts on a manslaughter charge.

Another fact: The insurance world is gearing up to selling over the phone.

Daft to do the job twice
It is no longer financially viable for a surveyor to wander off looking at risk after risk and saying, "Yes you need a burglar alarm and some new locks and a monitoring system for the car park, so get yourself a few quotes." At this point the customer gets in an installer or two who then duplicate the work done by the insurance man.

This is doing the job twice and it's downright daft. The obvious solution is to leave it to the one man who cannot do it over the phone, and that is the installer. In fact I can foresee the day when there appears a specialist security surveyor on the scene who will sit down with the customer and go through his wants and needs and offer clear and impartial advice without the encumbrance of trying to sell a system.

A specialist will make out a full, correct and accurate specification including a risk assessment that the customer can then tout round a selection of companies of his choice and get fair and accurate comparison prices. At least we will all be quoting for the same thing on a level playing field.

The insurance people are getting very clever these days, they have a set of very carefully laid out tables and formulae to calculate the risk involved, so, with a few very well chosen questions a pretty accurate assessment can be made of the risk of a property and a quoted price arrived at. For the installer it is very different, he has to actually see the property. He has to see where the goods of value are stored, how much of it there is and then decide how is it best protected, and the answer is not always "Bang in a big-belled burglar alarm".

Take the average farm: The value of modern machinery lying around is mind-boggling but because the farm is at the end of a four-mile private road there is little point putting up the usual clattering bell box and hoping it will frighten off the thief. You could have the Combined Services Marching Band blowing their socks off, Concord going overhead and an open-air concert from the Rolling Stones in full swing and the neighbours still wouldn't take notice. The farmer has realised for years the value of a couple of anti-social farm dogs backed up by the trusty old double barrel shotgun for routing the intruder. But, times are changing and the Englishman's home is no longer his castle.

The accent in this case has got to be physical security backed up by CCTV for evidence, and an intruder alarm that signals via two differing signal paths (telephone and radio link) and that means the security man has to go round and look at the place and make an accurate assessment of the risk. That risk, by the way, isn't just looking at how much money is involved, but looking at the problems of getting the stolen goods away. Computers, cameras, booze and fags are all easily shifted in the boot of a car but half a million quid's worth of combined harvester trundling down the motorway will stand out like a sore thumb.

When it looks like an inside job
Some years ago I was asked to do an investigation as to how a consignment of 8ft by 6ft, quarter inch thick stainless steel sheets could have gone missing and should the alarm system have seen it? The site owner was blaming the nearby gypsies and it wasn't the first consignment to disappear. When I started to look into it I discovered that the sheets weighed around 16 tons. An eight-wheel wagon would be needed and a fair sized forklift truck to load them.

The idea of half a dozen big strong lads and a transit van seemed a bit on the low side, especially when you take the regular to-ing and fro-ing of the local manned guarding company who had their base in the compound next door. When the facts were presented to the insurance company I think the penny dropped and they started to look at the prospect of an inside job.

The customer no longer has time to shop around for three or four quotes from each security sector

Many a time in the past I have done surveys of domestic properties on a dark winter's night (usually two or three days after the thief had done the same job). I would certainly think twice today. Not only would I want to look at the inside of the property to "see" the wire-runs and detector sitings, I would now want to look at the ways people could approach the property.

After listening to Martyn Halliday I would now look at how they were going to get the goods away. Some goods may be valuable and easily sold on but if they are big and heavy they present a problem. Think of two men trying to run across a ploughed field carrying a wide screen colour telly.

To look at risk assessment another way, what about preventing a thief getting out of a building?

The police have a well used saying:"In through the window, out through the door".

Customer didn't know best
We all nod our heads and, like the wise old sage, agree with them, but how many of us ask the customer how they secure from the inside and what they do with the keys? I have seen big steel bars put across the inside of loading bay doors secured by a split pin, the building owner actually said to me "You can forget that door they'll never get in there".

They came in some weeks later through the canteen window, filled his own transit van full of good quality power tools and took the van as well (the keys were hung in the office for all to find). They let themselves out by the very same door.

This was a classic case of the customer thinking he knew best and saying "I want this, and I want that". Thankfully I didn't get the job so I wasn't around when the brown stuff hit the fan. Many lads wouldn't dream of asking the customer where they keep the keys, it is considered to be an infringement of the customers' privacy. But, in today's climate, I am saying you are not doing your job if you don't.

You should be looking at all aspects for the customer's security and security of his keys is positively vital, I would even go so far as to say you are probably liable if you don't .

Great place to hang a key
Another example: A lady once called me in to replace the locks after a break-in, the thief had seen what I saw immediately ... the spare keys had been hung on a peg on the back of the door.

Unfortunately they hung down over the edge of the glass part of the door so the thief had just stuck gaffer tape over the glass, cracked it quietly with a blunt object and peeled the broken glass away to expose the keys hanging there. He just let himself in and took money, jewellery and credit cards. When the local police officer turned up he took one look and said, "Well, that's the daftest place I have ever seen to hang a set of keys".

The customer and I had already worked that one out and she was mentally kicking herself for being that daft. She didn't need that sort of comment. After he had gone I just said two words to the lady of the house: "Tactless Bugger".

The real object of that lesson is that, as the surveyor of the property, you should be bringing these points to the customer's attention, in a tactful way, as part of the package you are offering.

Just one other point: As insurance prices go up and up, many businesses are now "self insuring". Jewellers have been doing it for years, they don't bother paying insurance premiums, they just put the premium money aside to cover for any future losses they incur.

If they can prove your negligence in failing to point out the obvious then they have nothing to lose by taking you to the cleaners and suing for every penny they can. How's your efficacy cover by the way?

It is true to say that our world is changing along with that of the insurance companies, so do try to do the job right, and don't be afraid to offer the customer advice or ask what you might have thought were "personal" questions.

Whether you like it or not, you are now offering an integrated package. You might as well get it right and sell some more product whilst you're at it. Get it wrong and your company is on its way to the knacker's yard.