La curatela

a step change in operational risk management:

a single vehicle for planning, training, operational

control, and post-event analysis and debrief.

model of the building structure. 1. Interactive software enables operations teams to be fully aware of risk situations across the site.

32 The Arup Journal 1/2010

Operational control

Using knowledge and experience gained during planning and training is critical to a well-managed operations alert. Prior to and during an incident, the software presents real-time information on a “situational awareness” display, enabling operators and managers to grasp quickly an incident’s implications before choosing the best course of action.

Providing timely salient information means that the system can instantly integrate data from multiple stand-alone systems. This crucially affects how an incident is managed; operations managers simply select the area of interest to them on a 3-D model, and the system activates the best camera for viewing that area. Post-event analysis and debrief

Learning from real-time incidents can greatly enhance an organisation’s potential for improved response. Recording actual incidents as they unfold allows the system to improve security and safety management by creating a time flow of events retrospectively. The behaviour of security staff can be analysed later, in a calmer environment.

The value of in-depth debriefing and communicating findings throughout an organisation cannot be underestimated. Using data already generated by the system as part of incident response is naturally more affordable than traditional methods for evaluating such plans. Digital event logs can also be used to detect patterns and similarities in security breaches, like thefts in the same area.

After devising and executing a security plan, debriefing provides an ideal

opportunity to evaluate and improve methodology. Options and recommendations on types of systems and devices identified by the simulation software serve as a briefing tool for the other disciplines on the project, and a basis for the detailed design of the electronic and physical security systems.

Added value

This approach provides a common tool for effective real estate portfolio management that captures and rationalises risks and responses for facilities management, security, safety, duty of care, and corporate governance issues. Incorporating scenario-based training for management and operational staff, this re-configurable framework allows clients to plan and analyse proposed changes through virtual optimisation and take decisions based on thorough auditable information.

The open common systems integration platform ensures maximum return on existing assets, protecting legacy investment and optimising the deployment of technology and human resources. The intuitive operator interface makes operational resources more effective through common SOPs across the portfolio, and helps retain operational staff.

In addition, the effective management of remote sites results in a lower guarding requirement, quicker incident resolution, and less lost time. Independence from sub-system manufacturers provides the freedom to choose best value sub-systems and the single resilient graphical user interface results in less training and less long-term support costs.

For further information about Arup’s work in risk-mapping, please contact John Haddon, Director, Arup,

13 Fitzroy Street, London, W1T 4BQ, UK

Tel +44 20 7755 3769 e-mail [email protected]

3. The software provides simultaneous views of different areas of the site.

4. Southampton Docks, UK, imaged by LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) optical remote sensing technology; data captured by Infoterra UK.

5. CCTV tracking and sensor technology can be used to identify potential threats and monitor a live incident.

6. Emergency planning and real-time response decision- making are supported by simulations, like crowd evacuation, run within a virtual model of the real-world environment.

33 The Arup Journal 1/2010

Introduction

An existing regulatory environment can be the greatest impediment to optimising a design, but sometimes, as with the Water Cube, it is possible to use quantitative design to break free of these restrictions and get a much better result. The challenge of evacuating people from HSBC’s 44-storey London HQ shows how facilities management was helped to adapt procedures in an existing building, in a radical way, to new concerns about terrorism. At King’s Cross St Pancras, a modelling tool revealed an unexpected though beneficial interaction between human movement and the design of a circulation route, which changed long-held views on flow rates and space allowances. For the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link, comparison of traditional hand calculation and computational analysis results gave hitherto unforeseen insight into the behaviours of high densities of people escaping from a possible tunnel accident.

These projects are exciting – through the creation of visual spaces that would not have been possible under traditional prescriptive design; safe – through ensuring escape capacity is fully utilised, which frequently has not happened under traditional design practice; and cost-efficient – through optimal use of existing building human movement capacity.

The importance of human movement and safety

Traditionally, human movement in buildings has been of concern only in the context of regulations for escape from fire, and that is still often the main driver. This regulatory (ie safety) context has expanded to include crowd safety in larger assembly buildings. Commercially, however, operators in the retail sector have developed considerable expertise in other, non-safety, aspects of movement that have been shown to increase revenue, and now find a use in transport hubs and elsewhere.

Human movement