23 Nov 2011

Vital public functions require security on top

The residents in Eskilstuna should have access to clean water, electricity, heating, working drainage and broadband. Everyday, all year round. Sabotage in the water production, fire in the heating plant or power failure would have enormous consequences. - We must therefore be a little more on top, says Annica Strandberg, head of security at Eskilstuna Energy and Environment.

Annica Strandberg has a strategic, advisory and supportive role. Annica's area of responsibility includes in addition to recycling, heating plants, water plants, water treatment plants and electricity. Eskilstuna's water tower is another special facility where both tenants and contractors need to get into. And hundreds of smaller installations like pump stations and substations scattered throughout the municipal area.

Large complex facilities with technologically advanced features has other security requirements than a pump in a hole in the ground. This means that flexibility is required in the security thinking.

The spread is another factor that imposes special requirements. Most importantly, however, is that the company is responsible for key functions. A long and big power failure may have very serious consequences for many people. Water supply is also vital for Eskilstuna’s residents.

- This means that compared to other businesses, we need to be a little more on top in terms of security, says Annica Strandberg.

A major difference from other companies is that much of Eskilstuna Energy and Environment's work is governed by laws. As a safety officer must Annica keep well informed.

Risk assessment is of course an ongoing and important part of the work. The risks are different in different parts of the company and therefore assesses operational manager Annica Strandberg: What is the probability that a specific risk occurring? What impact would it have?

- We do not want a sabotage in the water treatment plant nor a fire at the recycling center.

New position

Annica Strandberg is since more than a year head of security at Eskilstuna Energy and Environment, on an entirely new position. But security in various forms has been her profession for nearly twenty years and she has collaborated with Eskilstuna in different ways, since the mid-1990s.

- I like the helicopter perspective in my work, she says. To get a picture of the common problems the company encounter and how we can solve them. There, perimeter protection is one part. For some facilities it consists of access control, burglar alarms, fire alarms, motion alarms and surveillance cameras while in other places it can be a padlock.

The locking system is subject to Annica Strandberg's interest right now. The goal is to try to simplify everyday life for all users.

- A key and an access control card per person is what we are investing in the future. It should be easy and safe for staff to move around the plants. Here, we work with ASSA.

Many types of users are involved in the business: staff, consultants, visitors, tenants. There is a strong need to control access rights to the plants. A person from the recycling center that provide biomass for the biogas production at the plant, also needs access to it.

A new programmable locking system is a way to increase the security and facilitate the key management.

- There is a huge advantage to be able to control the access rights of the keys and to be able to remove a key if someone has lost it. Today a lost master key calls for a change of the entire locking system. It is very costly. I hope that the change to the new locking system can start in the spring.

More Technology

In the past decade we have moved away from guards to supervision by means of advanced technology, particularly with regards to video surveillance, but also access control.

- Today we have technology where we get very good indications and alarms if a door not is closed properly.

Sure there will still need to be people who take care of the plants, but Annica predicts, however, that technology, especially integrated systems for key management, access control, CCTV and alarms, are gaining in importance in the future.