Do you have a terrorism plan?

Kate Jones
January 26, 2015
The Age
Businesses are being urged to assess their security measures in the wake of the Sydney siege and Charlie Hebdo attacks.
Small businesses are being urged to assess their security measures against acts of terrorism in the wake of the Martin Place siege and the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
A security expert and former adviser to past foreign minister Bob Carr, Carl Ungerer, says small businesses often satisfy the criteria terrorists search for.
Small businesses bear the brunt of a lot of terrorist activities
“It’s true from the Bali bombings onwards, it’s always been small businesses that seem to bear the brunt of a lot of terrorist activities,” he says.
“When you think about it, the nightclubs in Bali, even places that were attacked in the Mumbai siege were hotels and businesses.
“These businesses are places where people have ease of access, the public goes there, so targeting them has a fear factor, which the terrorists seek to exploit.
“For these reasons, I think small businesses do have a concern.”
Ungerer, head of the Leadership, Crisis and Conflict Management Programme at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, says a change in terrorist tactics has resulted in more acts of terror perpetrated against retailers and private businesses.
“It’s true that there’s been a shift in global methodology among the terrorist groups,” he says.
“This is a debate that goes back for about a decade in al-Qaeda about whether or not the most effective means for them to pursue their objectives is either targeting large-scale Western interests or what is known in the debate as individualism of jihad.
“I think that debate has been resolved in some ways by the very nature of the events that we’ve seen over the last four to five years. That means we face quiet a different threat and from a small business perspective, the threat is elevated.”
The Martin Place siege affected dozens of small businesses in the busy city precinct. The Lindt cafe remains closed and dozens of surrounding retailers forced to close on the day calculate losing up to 70 per cent of takings.
The staff at the LK Boutique, better known as the Rolex store, were just metres away from the terrifying siege in Martin Place.
Brand development and communications manager Steve Mellin says the boutique was evacuated at 10.30am; about 45 minutes after hostages were taken at the Lindt cafe on December 15.
The boutique remained closed for the day and lost valuable Christmas trade. It also forced small business operators like Mellin to consider how they would protect staff and business in the event of a terrorist attack.
“It’s more on our minds now, naturally, because we’re surrounded by it,” he says.
“It’s not just happening on foreign soil, it’s hit home.”
The manager of specialist pen store Pen-Ultimate in the Queen Victoria Building, less than a kilometre from the Lindt cafe, Sanjay Singh, says his business lost up to $35,000 in earnings.
However, he says the siege and its consequences have not forced him to take drastic security measures.
“I’m still positive it’s a one-off thing because the Australian government is preventing big-scale events,” he says.
Dozens of retailers affected by the Martin Place siege attended security briefings hosted by the NSW Police and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia after the tragedy.
The council’s executive director, Angus Nardi, says the details of the briefings are confidential.
However, the briefings were well attended by business owners.
“Security is always a top priority for shopping centres because they’re a place of mass gathering and these security issues aren’t that dissimilar for small businesses,” he says.
Nardi recommended small business owners review security measures and, in particular, adjust their risk management and business continuity plans to allow for terrorist events.
“First and foremost, they should monitor what the government’s saying and what the level of alert is,” he says.
“They could also look at increasing security personnel, installing CCTV and having a heightened alert to any suspicious activity such as unattended packages.”
Council of Small Business chief executive Peter Strong says small business owners are in a good position to spot suspicious activity.
“It’s part of our nature in small business to be aware,” he says.
“We always have our goods and chattels to protect, so we have an eye for it.”
He advised business owners to call the National Security Hotline if they noticed anything unusual.
“If you do see something off, just ring the hotline; there’s nothing wrong with it, you’re not wasting anybody’s time,” Strong says.
The National Security Hotline is 1800 1234 00.
Read more: