Safety and security by design.

Safety and security by design.
iOS provides built-in security from the moment you turn on your device. Low-level hardware and firmware features are designed to protect against malware and viruses, while high-level OS features help to secure access to personal information and corporate data. To guard your privacy, apps requesting location information or data from Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, and Photos must first get your permission. You can set a passcode lock to prevent unauthorized access to your device and configure it to delete all your data after too many unsuccessful passcode attempts. This passcode also automatically encrypts and protects your stored email as well as allows third-party apps to encrypt their stored data. iOS supports encrypted network communication that apps can use to protect your sensitive information during transmission. And, in case your device is lost or stolen, Find My iPhone allows you to locate it on a map and remotely delete all your data. When you get it back, you can restore everything from your last backup.

The design and construction of secure and safe buildings (minimal danger or risk of harm) continues to be the primary goal for owners, architects, engineers, project managers, and other stakeholders. In addition to those listed, other stakeholders include: construction managers, developers, facilities managers, code officials, fire marshals, building inspectors, city/county/state officials, emergency managers, law enforcement agencies, lenders, insurers, and product manufacturers. Realizing this goal is often a challenge due to funding limitations, resistance from the occupants due to impacts on operations, productivity and accessibility, and the impacts on the surrounding environment and building architecture due to perimeter security, hardening, and standoff requirements. Understanding the impact site security has on the overall security of the building is important as well. A balance between the security and safety goals and the other design objectives and needs of the facility can be attained. The establishment of an integrated design process where all of the design team members understand each other's goals can aid in overcoming these challenges and will lead to the development of a solution which addresses all of the requirements. Understanding the interrelationship with the other WBDG design objectives (i.e., Sustainable, Aesthetics, Cost-Effective, Historic Preservation, Accessible, Functional / Operational and Productive), early in the design process, is an essential step in overcoming the obstacles commonly encountered in the achievement of a secure and safe building.


Exterior of National Museum of the American Indian—Washington, DC
Designing buildings for security and safety requires a proactive approach that anticipates—and then protects—the building occupants, resources, structure, and continuity of operations from multiple hazards. The first step in this process is to understand the various risks they pose. There are a number of defined assessment types to consider that will lead the project team in making security and safety design decisions. This effort identifies the resources or "assets" to be protected, highlights the possible perils or "threats," and establishes a likely consequence of occurrence or "risk." This assessment is weighed against the vulnerabilities specific to the site or facility. Based on these assessments and analysis, building owners and other invested parties select the appropriate safety and security measures to implement. Their selection will depend on the security requirements, acceptable levels of risk, the cost-effectiveness of the measures proposed for total design efficiency, evaluation of life cycle cost, and the impact these measures have on the design, construction, and use of the building.

Hazard Mitigation refers to measures that can reduce or eliminate the vulnerability of the built environment to hazards, whether natural or man-made. The fundamental goal of hazard mitigation is to minimize loss of life, property, and function due to disasters. Designing to resist any hazard(s) should always begin with a comprehensive risk assessment. This process includes identification of the hazards present in the location and an assessment of their potential impacts and effects on the built environment based on existing or anticipated vulnerabilities and potential losses. When hazard mitigation is implemented in a risk-informed manner, every dollar spent on mitigation actions results in an average of four dollars' worth of disaster losses being avoided.

It is common for different organizations to use varying nomenclature to refer to the components of risk assessment. For example, actual or potential adversary actions such as sabotage and terrorist attacks are referred to as "threats" by the law enforcement and intelligence communities, while natural phenomena such as hurricanes and floods are generally referred to as "hazards" by emergency managers; however, both are simply forces that have the potential to cause damage, casualties, and loss of function in the built environment. Regardless of who is conducting the risk assessment, the fundamental process of identifying what can happen at a given location, how it can affect the built environment, and what the potential losses could be, remains essentially the same from application to application.

Integrating Safe and Secure Design
There are times when design requirements addressing all the various threats will pose conflicts in arriving at acceptable design and construction solutions. Examples include Blast Resistive Glazing, which may impede emergency egress in case of fire; access control measures that prevent intrusion, but may also restrict emergency egress; and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) light pollution reduction and security lighting objectives. Conversely, site design and security can complement each other such as the design of a storm water management requirement that doubles as a vehicle barrier. Good communication between the design team, fire protection and security design team specialists through the entire design process is necessary to achieve the common goal of safe and secure buildings and facilities.

Most security and safety measures involve a balance of operational, technical, and physical safety methods. For example, to protect a given facility from unwanted intruders, a primarily operational approach might stress the deployment of guards around the clock; a primarily technical approach might stress camera surveillance and warning sirens; while a primarily physical approach might stress locked doorways and vehicle barriers. In practice, a combination of approaches is usually employed to some degree and a deficiency in one area may be compensated by a greater emphasis in the other two.

In addition to the operational/technical/physical taxonomy, it is useful to characterize risk reduction strategies as either structural or non-structural. Structural mitigation measures focus on those building components that carry gravity, wind, seismic and other loads, such as columns, beams, foundations, and braces. Examples of structural mitigation measures include building material and technique selection (e.g., use of ductile framing and shear walls), building code compliance, and site selection (e.g., soil considerations). In contrast, non-structural strategies focus on risks arising from damage to non-load-bearing building components, including architectural elements such as partitions, decorative ornamentation, and cladding; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) components such as HVAC, life safety, and utility systems; and/or furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) such as desks, shelves, and other material contents. Non-structural mitigation actions include efforts to secure these elements to the structure or otherwise keep them in position and to minimize damage and functional disruption. These measures may be prescriptive, engineered, or non-engineered in nature.

It should be noted that in any given building, non-structural components, including general building contents, typically account for over three-quarters of the cost of a building; this figure can be even higher for specialized occupancies such as medical facilities. Additionally, structural and non-structural components can potentially interact during an incident, requiring a deliberative approach to implementing a comprehensive agenda of structural and non-structural mitigation actions.

Consistent with areas of professional responsibility, it is useful to identify four fundamental principles of all-hazard building design:

Plan for Fire Protection
Planning for fire protection for a building involves a systems approach that enables the designer to analyze all of the building's components as a total building fire safety system package.
Protect Occupant Safety and Health
Some injuries and illnesses are related to unsafe or unhealthy building design and operation. These can usually be prevented by measures that take into account issues such as indoor air quality, electrical safety, fall protection, ergonomics, and accident prevention.
Natural Hazards and Security
Each year U.S. taxpayers pay over $35 billion for recovery efforts, including repairing damaged buildings and infrastructure, from the impacts of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornados, blizzards, and other natural disasters. A significant percentage of this amount could be saved if our buildings properly anticipated the risk associated with major natural hazards.
Provide Security for Building Occupants and Assets
Effective secure building design involves implementing countermeasures to deter, detect, delay, and respond to attacks from human aggressors. It also provides for mitigating measures to limit hazards to prevent catastrophic damage and provide resiliency should an attack occur.