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Physical barriers

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Barriers serve to physically block the entry of unauthorised visitors. How useful physical barriers are depends on their solidity and ability to cover all vulnerable gaps in the walls.

Your office can have physical barriers in three areas:

1. The external perimeter: Fences, walls or similar, beyond a garden or courtyard;
2. The perimeter of the building or premises.;
3. The internal perimeter: Barriers which can be created within an office to protect one or several rooms. This is particularly useful in offices with many visitors passing through, as it allows for a separate public area and a more private one which can be protected with additional barriers.

The external perimeter

The office should be surrounded by a clear external perimeter, possibly with high or low fences, preferably solid and high to make access more difficult. Railings or see-through wire mesh will make the organisation’s work more visible, and it is therefore better to have brick walls or similar.

The perimeter of the building or premises

This includes walls, doors, windows and ceiling or roof. If the walls are solid, all the openings and the roof will also be solid. Doors and windows must have adequate locks and be reinforced with grills, preferably with both horizontal and vertical bars well embedded into the wall. If there is a roof, it should offer good protection - not just a simple sheet of zinc or a layer of tiles. If the roof cannot be reinforced, block all possible access to the roof from the ground or neighbouring buildings.

In a location with a risk of armed attack, it is important to establish secure areas within the office (see Chapter 11 on security in areas of armed conflict).

The internal perimeter

The same applies here as to the building or premises. It is very useful to have an area with additional security inside the office, and this is usually very easy to arrange. Even a safety deposit box can be considered an internal security perimeter.

A note on keys

  • No keys should be visible or accessible to visitors. Keep all keys in a cupboard or drawer with a simple combination lock which only staff know the code to. Make sure that the code is changed from time to time for greater security.
  • If keys are individually labelled, do not mark them with a description of the corresponding room, cupboard or drawer, as this will make a robbery much easier. Use number, letter or colour coding instead.
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