When I first joined the Security Management & Consultant Course, I expected to find it challenging, but what I had not given much thought to was that people from all over the world would be in it with me. It began slowly, with a few minor tasks. The class began as do all such courses with the responsibilities of the security consultant being amongst the first few topics and presentations.
Daily security briefs kicked in on the second day and became part of the everyday routine. Workshops were also made part of the course, which came as a pleasant experience after having started out full throttle into the course on the very second day.
The catch was that it was mandatory that the security brief is upon an event that had occurred within the next twenty-four hours. The location could be anywhere in the world as long as the condition of the last twenty-four hours was met. These security briefings were on PowerPoint slides and served to contribute to the rapid increase in the understanding of the subject matter of the course.
Assessments were also a regular part of the course. These assessments included Security Assessments and Risk Assessments. The assessments were carried out in a number of countries such as Nigeria and the assessment was then used further on in the course as well. The Risk Matrix was an integral part of the course since it was brought into use throughout the entire length of the course. The only site visit included in the course was that of Eaton Manor. No doubt it was a very interesting visit and allowed for the practical exercising of all the concepts that had been delved into in the classroom.
The course was very informative in the fact that it did not pertain only to security management but also all the elements that should be kept in mind when the Security Manager makes a decision, designs a security plan, or works on a Risk Assessment. This way, the course did not merely allow for the development of understanding of internal matters but also external elements that could have influences upon the security of a potential target.
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health was an integral part of the course since not only were many of the case studies were also obtained from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. Also, the test on Day 14 was from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and could have been done with being designed to be a little more difficult since it was much too easy a test.
When designing a security plan, it is necessary that a contingency plan be developed at the same time in order to take care of worst-case scenarios. This worst-case scenario end was covered perfectly by the course in the evacuation plan class on day 15 of the session which was designed to teach how an evacuation plan was created and was followed by quite a lengthy talk on making evacuation plans.