The UAE is a peaceful part of the world. Abu Dhabi is especially so and we are privileged to live and work here. There aren’t many places you can leave your car unlocked and not be too worried, or leave your wallet on a shop counter and be confident that you will get it back intact.

But please don’t become complacent. There are threats out there to your wallet and much more besides and a little vigilance goes a long way here.

The threats are not just to your wallet, there’s your business as well. That could well be the target of some mischief-maker. Now I’m not about to frighten you into thinking that there is a criminal on every corner, a mafia boss in every majlis and a bomb in every board room. But there are always threats such as criminal mischief, fire, (accidental or intentional), and theft of corporate knowledge – just think
what havoc a miscreant computer nerd could do to your business. So, perhaps it’s time to revamp the Boy Scouts’ motto: Be Prepared! But how?

Well, first of all think about your business as being an onion. Around you, and protecting you, are ring after ring of skin. Those rings represent your physical security. They are fences and gates, access control and lighting, cameras and passes.

They Detect, Deter, Delay or Deny (they can also Detain, Disrupt, Destroy – a particularly aggressive form of security – or Deflect). Fences and gates will Delay only, CCTV will Deter and Detect but it certainly won’t Deny. Guards will do most things. Correction: good guards will do most things.

But this is old hat to you. You already take physical security seriously and making sure everything is locked up properly. Good. But would it not help to do a little audit? Test your systems? Just to give you complete peace of mind? Are you detecting, deterring, delaying and denying against the right things or are you wasting money? Do you know what the threats are? Where are the chinks in your security armour?

For example, are your physical security measures the most appropriate? Are people who come into your business checked – and people who leave it? Do you have a procedure that is polite but authoritative, to escort strangers? Does the guard on the door really know what he is there for? And perhaps more importantly does he know what to do if something untoward happens? We were startled to find that armed guards we were asked to audit (not in the UAE), not only had no idea when they could use their weapons (Rules of Engagement) but were not trained in how to use them properly.
Perhaps just as well, one could say! But if it’s worth putting a guard on the door there is also a duty of care, not least to the guard himself, that he knows how to handle situations. Perhaps you could conduct a short security exercise with your guards and/ or your staff?

And then there are the people inside your organisation? What sort of checks have you done on them? How honest do you know they are? Think of those newspaper stories of school treasurers bunking off to the Bahamas – middle aged matrons, pillars of society – who would have thought it? Only the wily and wise perhaps? So, is it worth even just a simple check to make sure? Good references perhaps – that you approach, not your employee or prospective employee.

How aware of security in general are your staff? Just about everyone in Britain is now aware of the implicationsof an unguarded bag left at the airport, station or hotel. But what level of awareness do we have here? Will your guards or staff challenge a stranger? (politely, of course). Will they be observant and inquisitive about the unusual? One thing is for sure: they won’t do anything unless they know what they should do and why. And that it’s in their interests to act. If the answer to any one of these questions is ‘no’ or ‘not sure’ perhaps you may like to refresh their memories about those threats, however benign they may appear to be now.

Security is not just the province of the government, the military and the police. Even in the most hospitable of countries there are still threats to your person, your home, your belongings and your business. I am sure that you take action to contain the threats to your online banking or credit card. But what about your business? Don’t leave it too late. Things can change. You don’t have to go very far to the HSBC bomb in Istanbul or the hotels in Amman. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be caught out!