Lessons in education security

Education establishments face a range of security threats, both external and internal, and with the protection of students, staff and visitors of paramount importance, security is a vital aspect of day-to-day operations. The very nature of school, college and university premises often leaves them vulnerable to crime, with open access often facilitating vandalism and the theft of expensive equipment.

Balancing a welcoming atmosphere with comprehensive security can be a challenge, but the range of products and services currently on the market can often successfully be integrated and used together to meet this challenge and achieve a suitable balance, resulting in a security programme that’s non-intrusive, yet quietly effective.

Physical security is clearly the backbone of any security plan, with fences, gates, barriers and doors the first barrier to prevent unwanted intruders. Creating such barriers demands attention to a variety of design considerations such as sufficient height and strength, the use of climbing impediments, secure ground fixing as well as the provision of clear areas to facilitate surveillance and maintenance.

Fencing
Security fencing comes in a variety of forms and should comply with the British Standard 1722-17: 2006 in order to ensure quality. To enhance the effectiveness of perimeter fencing, physical barriers must be underpinned by measures to detect, identify and react to intrusions. Combining physical security with other measures such as intruder alarms and CCTV will provide even tougher protection, for if a trespasser attempts to breach the barrier an alarm could be triggered to alert a monitoring centre of the intrusion. Clever landscaping can also be utilised to soften the look of fences and barriers, avoiding the risk of making school premises look more like prisons than places of learning.

Of course, restricting access to particular areas of a site is often more complex than physical security.

Access Control
Sites that require varying levels of access permission for certain zones or areas may wish to consider introducing an access control system. Safety, restricting and zoning of areas, audit security trail and time efficiency can all be covered by access control systems, which range in nature from token-based systems and digital keypads, through to biometric identification systems and the associated hardware.

For cost-conscious education establishments, access control has another money-saving benefit, in that it can be integrated with a building’s energy management system to reduce energy costs, address environmental concerns and improve energy efficiency.

A building energy management system (BEMS) can typically control up to 80 per cent of a building’s energy usage, so it’s clear to see how using access control to optimise the system to suit the variable usage and occupation of a building can streamline energy usage.

In such systems, data gathered by access control and visitor monitoring systems is used to inform the BEMS of the nature and function of the people occupying a heating zone. Knowing what roles are being fulfilled by individuals operating within a heating zone also allows the BEMS to make adjustments and lower the amount of fuel consumed.

This information is applied by the BEMS to heat-loss algorithms to determine the minimum amount of heat to be applied to a particular area, reducing the amount of energy consumed and avoiding unnecessary wastage. For example, a small group of pupils gathered in a spacious library for a lesson where they will be largely sedentary will require more heating than a large group of pupils conducting a physical education class in a relatively small area.

Identifying patterns in visitor behaviour can stop the unnecessary heating of unoccupied heating zones, saving fuel and reducing CO2 emissions. This works intelligently, using past data to assess when a certain area of the building is likely to be occupied, activating heating in time for visitors’ arrival and reducing temperature or turning off the heating entirely during periods of inactivity.

This can be particularly useful for independent education establishments, where lessons and activities adhere to a regular schedule which is easily ‘learned’ by the BEMS to assess the timing and level of heating required and adjust the systems accordingly.

For many educational establishments, protecting staff is also a key security consideration. In the 2008/9 academic year, children were suspended from school on over 80,000 occasions for attacking teachers and classmates, a chilling statistic that clearly demonstrates the requirement for some degree of security in classrooms. While this is somewhat controversial, many teachers claim that CCTV cameras in the classroom can help stamp out students’ false allegations against them, providing an added level of protection for both their careers and personal integrity, while giving parents full confidence about how their children are being treated whilst at school.

Aside from the rather gloomy issue of classroom violence, CCTV in schools can also be a valuable tool in assisting with teacher training, enabling specific lessons to be reviewed for valuable feedback. In addition to this, of course, come the clear benefits of preventing crime both in an out of school hours.

Lone Worker Solutions
Protecting support staff whose roles take them off school premises is also a growing concern for the education sector, especially since Charlie Taylor, the Government’s expert advisor on behaviour, called for a crackdown on primary school absence in April this year.

Working alongside their clients in the education sector, many BSIA members have developed highly effective ‘lone worker’ solutions to protect truancy officers and professional career advisors while they’re out and about in their local community, or caretakers working alone in empty buildings after hours.

Tom Morton, whose company belongs to the BSIA’s Lone Worker Steering Group, believes that it is important for lone workers across the education sector to have substantial security solutions in place as they can often find themselves in an environment where conflict is anticipated.

He said: “A lot of the time, truancy officers will have to visit the house of a child who is skipping school to speak to the parents. There are elements of social work in this as well. You don’t always know what sort of environment you’re entering and so it’s very important for them to have a solution in place that they can use to send an alert of any risk or threat to their personal well-being to an alarm receiving centre.”

Activating such a device automatically triggers a voice call to the alarm receiving centre (ARC). No further action is required by the user, as the device effectively functions as an open microphone, enabling the ARC to capture an audio recording of the incident for future action such as police investigation of legal proceedings. Operators at the ARC also monitor the audio channel in real time, enabling them to assess the situation and alert the police if the user needs help or protection. This procedure allows the police to optimise their response to genuine emergencies by providing a ‘moving picture’ of the incident, including an increase or decrease in risk as it happens. The very knowledge that this is taking place is, of course, a major boost to the user’s confidence.

Facing the threat
With the education sector facing an ever-increasing number of security threats, there has never been a better time for learning centres to reconsider their security strategy, to take into account both traditional methods, such as physical security and CCTV, as well as developing technology including lone worker devices and integrated systems.

BSIA members meet strict quality criteria and as such, the Association’s website is a great place to start when considering your next security investment.

For more information
To locate a reputable supplier in your area visit www.bsia.co.uk/companyfinder