Soon, all commercial and residential buildings and complexes including five-star hotels and malls will have to get their security preparedness certified by a government-approved agency. The Centre is proposing mandatory audits of such buildings in an attempt to ward off modern-day terrorist threats.
A government official privy to the development told FE that the Union home ministry has discussed the proposal with various stakeholders and is likely to announce a set of security-related guidelines in a few days. On Tuesday, the ministry held an internal meeting to discuss the proposal.
Building bylaws currently do not provide specific safety solutions for structures, especially those concerning threats from terrorist attacks. Safety norms are currently limited to approvals on the construction front. These relate to the environment, earthquakes and building layouts. The new guidelines will ensure that safety aspects as seen from a wider angle are included with professional inputs from audit agencies.
Under the plan, the government will empanel leading security companies in India to take up audits of buildings. In the case of existing structures, suggestions given by the auditor must be implemented within a specified period of time. Owners of under-construction projects, on the other hand, will have to conduct a security audit and include government-approved security-related aspects in the architecture at the designing stage of the buildings.
The norms will not be restricted to building security but will also encompass managing public places that could be potential terror targets. ?In simple terms, a building security audit looks for threats that could disrupt a facility and its operations,? a senior government official told FE.
?These include, but are not limited to, threats or attacks on housed employees or visitors, damage to facility components or systems that can affect occupants and damage to the area around the facility affecting non-building property or the ability of occupants to safely evacuate the building,? the official said.
?We are having a meeting with the home ministry for approving mandatory security certification of buildings. This would be an effective step in the direction for mitigating terror threats in a big way,? said Kunwar Vikram Singh, chairman of Central Association of Private Security Agencies (CAPSI).
According to home ministry sources, the audit will identify possible entry points for these and other disruptive activities and provide a way for facility personnel to plan for physical changes or modifications to the facility or to develop a response plan. The next step in the planning process ? identifying the way the organisation responds to potential threats or disruptions ? is left to a separate step called the emergency or security response plan.
Rituraj Sinha, COO of security service firm SIS said: ?It is very important to incorporate the positioning of guards or devices at various access points at the beginning stage of building development. Modifications, if needed, can be done there and then before going for final clearance.? Other security firms including G4S, Tops and Brinks-Arya are also in the security solutions business.
Initially, the government-empaneled security companies will identify facility threats to help determine the level of detail for the audit. For example, if a facility houses critical public services such as police, firefighters or emergency medical services, it will be reviewed differently than if it housed commercial activities.
Security experts will assess whether the facility is susceptible to attack because it houses a controversial activity and whether a disruption will have an immediate affect on more than just the facility and its occupants. They will address many threats by using perimeter solutions, which keep unauthorised people far enough from a facility to minimise damage.
A building security audit will consider a building?s access points. Access points are those facility areas at which a facility?s security and safety can be breached. The most obvious access point is a door or operable window at or near grade level. Other access points include fresh-air intakes; utilities, such as water, sewer and electric service, roofs, adjacent facilities and the Internet.
For the buildings at the design stage, builders will have to provide site-specific and architecture-specific technical details so that access points are drawn beforehand and security checks done from initial stages.