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If it wasnÕt such a serious security concern, some security incidents are almost amusing. For example, the time there were two women in the ER. They were side by side, separated only by sliding curtains. One of the women started to swear by verbalizing obscenities. The women next to here asked her to stop and to be quiet. By the time ER personnel arrived, the two women were dueling it out with their respective IV poles.
A few years ago we had a case the originated in a clinic parking lot. There was abundant parking on either side of the clinic, as well asto the rear. There was only limited parking immediately in front of the clinic. There were about 18 angled parking spots in the front. In order to use these limited spaces, the driver had to enter through a one-way entrance, drive in direction, and hope for an open spot. On the day of the incident, Lady #1 enters the front parking area and as she looks down the row, she sees there are no available spaces, so she decides to stop near the entrance and wait for a space to open. Eventually, she stops a car leaving and prepares to occupy the newly available space. Just as she begins to move her car, along comes Lady #2, who suddenly enters the parking area by driving the wrong through a one-way exit. Lady #2 wins the race and occupies the space, albeit by cheating. Now Lady #1 is very angry. She pulls her car behind the car driven by Lady #2. She then gets out of her car and engages in an argument with Lady #2. Lady number retorts with an equally aggressive response, which provokes Lady #1 to begin beating the car of Lady #2 with a tire iron.
This sounds a bit like a skit from Saturday Night Live, but this skit did produce a lawsuit. All lawsuits are costly, no matter what the outcome. Issues raised in this example included lack of signage, lack of a security guard in the front lot at the time of the incident, and lack of cameras. These assertions were made despite the fact there had never been prior similar events and therefore was not foreseeable. This case never went to trial, but rather was settled through mediation. The only winners in this case were the attorneys and the experts.
One might argue that a reasonable security professional would not have foreseen the alleged deficiencies that may have contributed to this incident. However, in the majority of lawsuits we have been retained in as experts, the potential breeches would have been discovered in the normal course of a security audit. It most cases the countermeasure required to mitigate potential security incidents are very inexpensive because they can usually be addressed by procedural changes, staff awareness programs, and other forms of education. If there is a general sense that there is an effective security program in place, that perception alone, will have a deterrent impact.
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