I recently came across the following statement on governmentvideo.com:
"In the past 10 years, 284 people have been killed in U.S. school-associated violent deaths. Of those, 130 were shot; others were stabbed, beaten to death or committed suicide."
Now, who can identify the number of students that have been killed in U.S. school-associated fires over the last 10 years? How 'bout the last 25 years? How 'bout the last 50 years?
The answer to all of those questions is ZERO! The reason that there have been no fire-related fatalities can only be attributed to the fact that schools must comply with stringent safety codes and standards. Mandates have indeed paid off!
On the other side of the coin, we have yet to benefit from codes and standards that could govern security practices such as visitor management, access control, communications, door hardware, etc.
How much more violence is it going to take until security codes and standards are also in place? While we may not be able to answer that question with certainty, it's high time that schools pursue a proactive approach to protecting students, staff, and visitors!
Your thoughts?
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It is hard to believe that the state & federal governments have not taken any solid action to put standards in place. What do you think is the main reason for this lack of action?
ReplyDeletePeople and entities alike tend to be compliance-oriented. So far, there is no oversight agency (such as OSHA on the safety side of things) in the security industry. When you couple that with the first law of loss prevention - Effective loss prevention is always preceded by extensive losses - you have a recipe for inaction.
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