London show highlights the issue of threat detection

The Event Production Show, held in London last month, highlighted a key health and safety issue that affects events – threat detection of terrorists or other hostile individuals.

The challenge is to spot potentiality threatening individuals before they act. This requires staff trained in noticing certain behaviours, like people being nervous near security officers.

Garry Jones, a keynote speaker, said that the solution was not to employ more staff, but for existing staff to more efficient at spotting threats. He said:

“A big issue in security at the moment is ensuring quality over quantity – not every event requires hundreds of staff. If we can handle threats in a more efficient way using techniques such as behaviour detection, it is a big benefit. We need a more specialist, surgical approach to event security.”

In preparation to deal with any hostile actions, security staff could wear full body armour or other PPE (personal protective equipment), but this could make people at events nervous because it can increase their fear of a hostile event happening. If staff carried visible weapons, this could also make people feel uneasy.

Threats not only come from people, but suspicious unattended objects could also be potential bombs, and security staff need to be trained in how to deal with suspicious packages. Any business that hosts events, or has areas where there many members of the public gather, needs to assess threats and train security staff in how to spot suspicious behaviour from potentially threatening individuals.