Concept of integrated security of retail facilities.
Trading enterprises are objects that have their own operating features and, accordingly, require a special approach to ensuring security. Supermarkets, hypermarkets and shopping and entertainment centers belong to the category of high-risk objects that have many vulnerabilities. As a result, there is a high probability of terrorist attacks, theft of material assets from the trading enterprise itself and visitors, the occurrence of emergency situations related to the life of the trading enterprise. When building a security concept for a trading enterprise, solving the problems of its safe operation, it is necessary to differentially solve a complex problem — to ensure the greatest loyalty and attractiveness of the trading enterprise to customers, while effectively ensuring its security.
Statistics of the main threats and sources of losses of a trading enterprise are as follows: 70% of threats come from personnel: office and technical workers, controllers, cashiers, sellers, suppliers. 25% of threats come from buyers and only 5% are man-made and force majeure threats.
Ensuring the security of trading enterprises requires a set of measures aimed at preventing, suppressing and eliminating threats and dangerous situations. This set should be built on the principle of a systems approach and include a set of organizational measures, technical security means and physical security.
For a long time, there were no specialized security solutions for retail enterprises. The security service of each individual store or supermarket, participating in the development of a security system project for a new facility, was guided by its own knowledge and experience. Most often, the solution to the security problem was limited to installing several stationary video cameras and a system for monitoring unauthorized removal of goods. In the course of implementing such a solution, enterprises faced working issues of project implementation: the problem of choosing the optimal equipment, the specifics of installation in conditions of complex ceiling architecture and proximity of engineering systems, ensuring the smooth operation of the installed equipment and many others.
In order to regulate and standardize in the field of security, in particular trade facilities, documents from various authorities have appeared at the legislative level, which set out requirements for ensuring security at large consumer market facilities. For example, in 2004, such requirements were regulated by an order of the Moscow government. In accordance with this document, each enterprise with an area of 1000 sq. m. must have a safety passport containing detailed information about the enterprise, personnel, security forces and means, plans and diagrams of the facility, as well as descriptions of possible emergencies at the facility, calculations of consequences, and options for eliminating them.The lack of clear regulatory documents and standards that correspond to the realities of the present time only increases the risks of trade enterprises in the field of security. Many heads of security services are forced to use old regulatory documents of various departments, which often do not reflect the specifics of the activities of these enterprises.
The efficiency of the integrated security system is ensured by modern technical means created on the basis of the latest technologies. The place of technical means in the organization of the facility's security allows us to determine the fact that, for example, for the «successful» implementation of a terrorist attack, careful preparation is necessary, requiring repeated penetrations into the facility, studying the facility's security system. It is quite difficult to carry out such preparation at a facility with an effective and organized security system.
The range of technical means is quite broad and allows, with competent implementation of a unified technical policy, skillful combination and application of technical means, to ensure reliable protection of any facility, to detect and neutralize terrorist and criminal attacks in virtually any conditions and under any scenarios of their development.
Special groups of technical security equipment effectively perform the following functions: detection of intrusion, engineering protection, fire safety, control and surveillance, protection of goods from theft, ensuring individual security, information protection, analysis and adoption of management decisions, prevention and elimination of emergency situations.
Global trends include the expansion of the range of security tasks assigned to technical equipment. One of the relatively new possibilities is event video monitoring in a retail enterprise. Modern systems for monitoring cash transactions help reduce losses at the settlement node associated with the dishonesty or inattention of cashiers.
The relevance of this system is due to the fact that losses at the settlement node can account for about half of all thefts committed in the store. This hardware and software complex does not require the constant presence of an operator. When analyzing event reports, it is possible to see all abnormal situations at any number of cash registers in a matter of minutes and make an appropriate decision on them.
All technical security systems – fire alarm systems, video surveillance and access control, etc. – are integrated on a single software and hardware basis with each other, as well as with the life support systems of the facility. Such unification solves the problems of ensuring security at a new qualitative level, and also facilitates making the right decision in a very short time, ensuring the reliability of information and effective management of forces and means ensuring security.
In addition, the integrated security system ensures convenient management and optimization of costs for intermediate links, usually tied to the human factor, which increases the economic efficiency of the security system functioning at the enterprise.
In the next issue, read an article about one of the main and mandatory modules of the security system of a trading enterprise — anti-theft systems.