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Black Friday is a unique day for retailers. While the “black” in Black Friday represents profitability, for retail security professionals, the “black” could just as easily represent the sense of foreboding brought on by the promise of long lines, anxious shoppers, crowded stores, an abundance of merchandise on display and all of the safety and security risks that come with all of this. How will you know if you are ready?

According to the National Retail Federation, a record 226 million consumers shopped in stores and online between the Thursday and Sunday surrounding Black Friday last year. And that is likely to increase in 2012. As recently as October, NRF pointed to an increase in spending in September of this year and expressed guarded optimism regarding consumer spending through the end of the year. There are many uncertainties this year surrounding the fiscal cliff, gas prices and the economy in general. However, there is good reason to believe Black Friday will once again bring crowds of shoppers, all looking for a deal.

As this day approaches, security professionals must take the lead in preparing for crowds and addressing the need to protect assets, limit losses and ensure a safe environment for employees as well as shoppers. This requires careful planning, monitoring of plans to ensure they are deployed effectively and precise execution. Taking it one step further, all of this must take place with the overarching goal of providing an enjoyable customer experience that encourages shoppers to spend time—and money—in the store.

Safety and security
In 2008, a worker was trampled to death during the opening of a Black Friday sale. In response to an increase in crowd-related injuries, including the 2008 tragedy, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration created Crowd Management Safety Guidelines for Retailers, a road map for offering a safe environment during a large customer event such as Black Friday.

Many of OSHA’s recommendations for safety cross over into security. For example, ensuring employees are trained to manage crowds and are stationed appropriately in addition to placement of trained security or police officers. These precautions simultaneously ensure the kind of visible presence—of employees and security personnel—that can serve as a deterrent to theft.

OSHA’s recommendations are key, but implementing them is just the beginning. To ensure safety, security of assets and uncompromised implementation of business best practices on Black Friday, begin now by conducting a pre-event audit, including the following elements:

•    A store-opening checklist is beneficial at any time, but on Black Friday, it can help ensure that every employee knows exactly what is expected of them and every process is documented and optimized when the doors open to eager, impatient crowds. This limits confusion and increases the probability of a safe and successful event.

•    A test of all alarm systems and video surveillance cameras will facilitate identification of any equipment that is not functioning properly and confirm that cameras are capturing images in critical areas, allowing for adjustment or repairs as needed before the big day arrives.

•    Confirmation that OSHA Crowd Management Safety Guidelines are being followed will also help ensure that employees have been assigned duties that are specific to the event—for example, additional greeters to accommodate the crowd or security personnel at front doors or emergency exits.

•    A review of the inventory receiving process will minimize the opportunity for loss due to mislabeled, damaged or incorrectly processed items. Limiting the probability of a breakdown in process is key to avoiding shrink on even the most ordinary of days—its importance during an event like Black Friday cannot be overstated.

When exceptions arise during this pre-event audit, ensure immediate resolution by sharing photographic evidence, attached to audit questions, with those responsible. Retrain where necessary. Black Friday can act as a magnifying glass, bringing otherwise “minor” issues to the forefront and multiplying their effect simply due to the nature and scope of the event. Don’t wait for Black Friday to shine the light on threats to safety and security.

About the author
Andrew Wren serves as chief executive officer of Wren Solutions, a loss prevention technology provider helping leading retailers reduce loss and increase profits. Wren is responsible for corporate and product strategy, leveraging his more than two decades of security technology expertise. To learn more about Wren Solutions, visit www.wrensolutions.com. 

B&W Y-12 has assumed security guard command at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in the wake of the July security breach in which an elderly nun and two other senior protesters cut a fence to get in and defaced a building where bomb-grade uranium is stored, according to a report from Oak Ridge Today.

The website reports:

“The transition ends three months after an unprecedented security breach at Y-12 and one month after B&W Y-12 announced it would terminate its contract with WSI Oak Ridge. That company, also known as Wackenhut and G4S Government Solutions, had provided security guards at the nuclear weapons complex for about a dozen years.

“The transition from WSI Oak Ridge to B&W Y-12 has gone very smoothly, and we welcome these new employees to the company,” said retired Brig. Gen. Rod Johnson, deputy general manager for security. 'We’ve already seen improvements in security performance following previously announced contracting changes, and we believe we’ll see additional successes with the protective force fully integrated into B&W Y-12.'

"B&W Y-12 announced it would end the WSI Oak Ridge contract after a Sept. 28 recommendation from the National Nuclear Security Administration. B&W Y-12 manages and operates Y-12 for the NNSA.
The transition from WSI to B&W Y-12 began Oct. 1. B&W had said it would offer employment to active Y-12 security police officers and other active union WSI Oak Ridge employees at Y-12 and the Central Training Facility in Oak Ridge.”

I'm in Chicago for Schneider Electric's 2012 Editors' Event: Invest. The daylong program focused on energy efficiency and the company's new software, StruxureWare, which connects a customer's five domains of business expertise—power, data centers, process and machines, building control and physical security. But there were other helpful security tidbits to be gleaned as well. Among them:

U.S. Country President Jeff Drees said that among the favorable market trends that are shaping the company's effort is reindustrialization in many sectors, including the automotive, chemical and petrochemical industries. That reindustrialization will require updated physical security systems.

Another trend deals with urban growth. Eighty-five percent of the U.S. population will be in cities by 2030, Drees said. That trend drives the company's "Smart Cities" initiative, which includes public safety, video surveillance and emergency management. In a breakout session on Smart Cities, Donald Rickey, senior vice president, infrastructure business, said that Schneider has the technology to make security a strong part of the integrated initiative, and cities' crime rates can be cut through better lighting systems, access card controls and cameras.

After a panel discussion on Big Data, I spoke with panelist Andy Schonberger, director of Earth Rangers Centre, a worldwide attraction as a demonstration site for new and emerging environmental technologies, located in Ontario. His Big Data system has enhanced his facility's security in a number of ways, including that employees are able to access video surveillance feeds to check what's going on in the parking lot at night before they leave the building, he said. If an employee feels uneasy about walking out alone, he or she can contact the security guard to watch them on camera. With only one security guard for three buildings, it's a big plus when the guard doesn't have to leave the post to escort someone, he explained. Access control data has helped with false alarms and even energy efficiency as the system knows when the last person has left the building and can "turn the lights out."

The convergence of security and IT makes security an even more important part of Big Data, James Sandelin, Schneider's senior vice president for buildings business Americas, told me, and security professionals will help influence the future of Big Data systems. We also chatted about Schneider's Security Center for Excellence and Schneider's role in physical security at airports, including Logan in Boston. Schneider is currently installing a video system at the airport in Memphis.

The event was held at the United Center, and a tour was included. And yes, for all you hockey fans, a trip into the Blackhawks' locker room was part of it.

The beleaguered Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., now infamous for the July breach by an elderly nun and two other senior protesters—who were able to get right next to a bomb-grade uranium storage building and vandalize it—is taking steps to prevent such an event from recurring.

The three protesters, members of the antinuclear group Transform Now Plowshares, cut through perimeter fencing to get on to the property, but that won’t be so easy to get through next time, according to a report Wednesday in the Knoxville, Tenn., News Sentinel.

"Enhancements continue in various places throughout the site. Additional barriers have been added in some areas to ensure a balanced approach to security," National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Steven Wyatt told the News Sentinel.

"Included in those enhancements is the addition of concertina wire to areas close to the [Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility]," Wyatt added.

A spokeswoman for the plant's contract operator on Monday said an audible alarm system is "fully operational" following deployment at the site in September, the newspaper said.

A security guard on duty when the breach occurred was fired. He says he handled everything by the book and his union has filed a grievance on his behalf.