Who’s Really Inside Your Building? Rethinking Security Protection
By Frank Costa, President, Nexgen Protection Services
Take a moment and think about it. Not just the employees you see every day, but everyone who passes through your doors: cleaners, delivery drivers, contractors, IT support, facilities teams, visitors, temporary staff, and suppliers. How many of them were inside your building today — and how well do you really know them?
Physical security isn’t just about locking doors or staffing a front desk. It’s about understanding and managing access risk across all personnel. Every individual who enters your facility represents a potential vulnerability — from accidental safety oversights to deliberate threats.
ASIS International emphasizes that comprehensive security protection programs account for all building occupants, integrating access control, identity verification, and monitoring procedures to mitigate risk while maintaining operational flow (ASIS International, 2021). This includes temporary personnel, vendors, and service providers, whose presence is often overlooked in standard security planning.
Best practices include:
- Vetting and credentialing all personnel with access to sensitive areas
- Implementing time-bound or role-based access controls
- Monitoring entry points and activity through surveillance and audit logs
- Conducting regular reviews of visitor and contractor access policies
By thinking beyond employees, security leaders can reduce blind spots, strengthen operational resilience, and protect both people and assets. Security is not just a policy — it’s an awareness that every individual matters.
Reference (APA 7th ed.)
ASIS International. (2021). Physical security professional standards. ASIS International.
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