Introduction
The building to be assessed in this paper is the Menards hardware store located at 3210 North Clairemont Avenue, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The store belongs to the Menards hardware chain stores. It stocks essential hardware supplies such as nails, gardening tools, light fixtures, furniture as well as groceries. The primary users of this building are shoppers and employees.
Risk Analysis
The likely perpetrators of violence at this site are domestic and international terrorists and individuals. The terrorists are likely to use explosives while individuals are likely to use guns such as shot guns or automatic rifles. The target victims are likely to be innocent shoppers and employees. Unintended victims may include persons delivering supplies to the store and young children who may have accompanied their parents to the store. The type of violence that may occur includes shootings, stabbings using knives, and blasts. The probability of terrorist related events is minimal but the risk for shootings by deranged individuals is high in light of recent experiences witnessed throughout the nation. A terrorist attack involving the use of explosives would have a severe impact while a shooting would have less severe consequences. Loss of innocent lives and damage to property is likely in both cases.
Results
Natural Access Control
The check-out counters of the store are located at its front, near the main entrance, and are visible from the outside. This enables employees to watch activities better. At the same time, it allows people from outside to see into the store. The public paths are clearly marked using special paving and landscaping. The private areas are secluded making it difficult for non-employees to access them. The public entrances are clearly marked with architecture, graphics, and signs. Signs have been used to direct patrons to the parking area. Landscaping has been used to divide the parking area into smaller lots. The loading zones are separate from the public parking areas. There is no direct access to the roof top of the building from its within or from its adjacent structures particularly the parking garage.
Natural Surveillance
The signs at the entrances and windows occupy less than 15% of windows. The interior shelves and displays are less than five feet in height allowing natural surveillance. More importantly, the first floor of the building is clearly visible from the ground floor. The exterior section of the building, external parking area, and grounds are fully illuminated using well-positioned high-quality lights at night. This increases visibility and at the same time eliminates shadows. All entrances and exits are under visual surveillance. All pay telephones are within clear sight of employees. The entrances to the restrooms are visible from the main pedestrian areas, however, they are enclosed rather than open. Their security can be enhanced through the use of baffle type entrances since the latter fosters surveillance. The loading areas could have benefitted from a more open design because it would eliminate the current blind spots. The parking garage is designed in such a way that it is visible from the street and ground floor. Its security can, however, be enhanced through the use of permeable fencing because the current live fence limits the visibility of cars parked next to it. The parking area in front of the store is designed to facilitate perpendicular parking as opposed to parallel parking. This allows better visibility between cars. The exterior walls of the store are devoid of windows. This limits visibility of the parking area from the inside of the store.
Exterior Lighting
The exterior lighting has been made in such a way that it enhances natural surveillance. The light standards, poles and other elevated light fixtures have been made to have a useful ground coverage which is double their height, also, they have been positioned in a well-coordinated manner so as to provide the coverage desired. Lighting has been made by first putting into consideration every element which may hinder lighting including vegetation, in their recent and mature forms. The lighting has been made to shine on possible entrapment spaces and pedestrian pathways. All common parts of the building have been properly illuminated.
Access Control
All street numbers have been made of luminous and durable materials; they have been made legible and plainly visible from the street and road located at the front of the building. Unit numbers has been clearly made on every floor as well as all individual residential units.
Entrance
All entrances have been given appropriate design features and directional signage which makes them easily recognizable and makes them clearly identifiable in order to make the location of the building entrances very easy. All entrances to the store are easy to recognize via the directional signs and design features, one main entrance is available for all patrons, and there is an exit designated “emergency exit only”. The latter exit is always locked and is recognizable through the signage. The number of entry points has been made minimal. An “emergency exit only” point is included.
Landscaping
Landscapping has been appropriately used to demarcate the store grounds particularly the parking area. No vegetation is planted next to the store or adjacent structures. Some section of the hedge, however, blocks the view of some section of the parking area from the street and can also provide hiding areas for criminals. The landscaping has been made in such a way as to not provide access to neighboring buildings and the building itself. Also, it has been located in a way that it won’t obstruct the views of pedestrians. It has been made in such a way as to not provide secluded areas which can be used as hiding place for crimes. Some vegetation, thorny plants, has been used as barriers to prevent access.
Maintenance
The building and walks are well maintained; they are always clean and repaired. The parking area is also well maintained, it is devoid of potholes and trash. The posters, signs, and other displays are well maintained. The plants in the parking area are in good condition. The landscaping design used is cheap to maintain. The shrub used for the fence, however, needs to be pruned it is blocking visibility of the parking area from the street particularly for vehicles parked besides the fence.
Security and Signage
The store entrance and exits are always guarded by one or more security guards. The store is also under CCTV surveillance which enables employees to assess happenings in the street. The parking area is also well marked with signs directing pedestrians and drivers towards resident and guest parking areas, stairs, elevators, and exits. The parking area also has a big sign advising shoppers to lock their cars.
Discussion
The building design utilized for the store facilitates security through fostering natural surveillance, natural access control, and territorial reinforcement. It achieves this through for instance use of landscaping and signage to differentiate between public areas and restricted areas, use of glass to allow visibility of the parking area from inside the store and the street, perpendicular parking that allows more visibility of activities in the parking area amongst other CPTED elements. Some aspects of the building design do not, however, foster clear sight lines. For instance, a part of the wall of the building facing the parking area is devoid of windows. Windows, if present, would allow the parking area to be clearly visualized from the first and ground floors of the building. The entrances to the restrooms also lack baffle type doors. On the other hand, the hedge used as fence can act as hiding area for criminal elements.
The current building design is weak in that it does not provide a stand-off distance for vehicles, it uses non-glazed glass, and rolling walkways made of steel. A building design that provides a stand-off distance between the building and potential bomb threats can through the use of low walls, bollards, and planter boxes greatly enhance the security of the building. This is because it would limit the damage to the key structural elements of the buildings posed by bombs and in effect, protect the building from collapse. The use of glazed glass which are more resistant to shattering for the windows and entrances would also offer protection against flying glass in case of an explosion. The escalators in the building are in the form of rolling walkways. These escalators are a weak point from a security point of view in that they can be damaged in case of a blast entrapping people on the upper floor. The building should, therefore, have stairs made of reinforced concrete which are less amenable to damage.
Some of the administrative measures that can enhance the security of the building include security checks at entrances located at safe distances from the building and installation of a gate pass system for restricted areas. In addition, periodic assessments of the key structural elements of the building that can collapse in case of a blast and carrying out of repairs when necessary.
The engineering controls currently instituted in the design of the building include fire proof insulated steel structural elements, reinforced concrete lift shafts, highly positioned air intakes, a reinforced concrete emergency escape route, and separation of some of the high risk areas such as the loading zone from the main building.
Summary
The main security risks identified for the Menards building are terrorism-related blasts and shootings. In addition to the current security strength of the building, I recommend that the fire proofing insulation around structural steel members should be monitored and checked on a regular basis. Also, I recommend that some more natural surveillance, external lighting, more access control, territorial reinforcement, and maintenance measures should be taken. For instance, barriers can be placed at stand-off distances from the building so as to provide a good distance between a potential vehicle bomb and the building. CCTV cameras should be strategically positioned to focus on the building perimeter, entry/exit points and other high risk areas such as car park entrances. Signage indicating that these areas are under CCTV surveillance would serve as deterrence. An effective intruder alarm system supplements the physical security of the building premises. Different kind of alarm systems such as magnetic contact, break-glass sensor and motion detector systems can be employed to deter and detect intrusions. Also, I recommend that, the design of the store be made in such a way that it would permit easy visibility of the parking area from the street and inside, the building should have clearly marked entrances and exits, the perimeters of the store should be clearly defined amongst other strengths.
\\\\Other major security issue of the store include the impermeable hedge used for the fencing, the rolling escalator made of steel, use of non-glazed windows, and lack of a stand-off distance. My recommendation goes thus; the hedge acting as a live fence should be pruned to permit visibility of the parking area from outside. The rolling escalator should be replaced with stairs made of reinforced concrete. The glass at the windows and the entrances and exits should be made of glaze-reinforced glass. Lastly, I recommend that high risk areas, such as loading and unloading areas, car parks and so on should be made distant from the main building complex.
APPENDIX
Natural Surveillance
- Pathways should be direct. All barriers along pathways should be permeable (see through) including landscaping, fencing, etc.
- Consider the installation of mirrors to allow users to see ahead of them and around corners.
- Consider installation of motion-detector lighting in both directions on pathway.
- Entrances should be clearly identified through proper signage.
- Proper locks with dead-bolt throws should be adopted.
- Front fences should be predominantly open in design, e.g. pickets or wrought iron, or low in height (no higher than four feet).
- Design high solid front fences in a manner that incorporates open elements to allow visibilityabove the height of five feet.
- If noise insulation is required, install double-glazing at the front of the building rather thansolid fences higher than five feet.
- Trees with dense low growth foliage should be spaced or their crown should be raised to avoid a continuous barrier.
- Trim trees, shrubs, hedges and other vegetation so that it does not obstruct view of windows or from windows.
- Use low groundcover, shrubs a minimum of 24 inches in height, or high-canopied trees (clean trimmed to a height of eight feet) around children’s play areas, parking areas, and along pedestrian pathways.
- Avoid vegetation that concealsthe building entrance from the street.
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- Locate elevated light fixtures (poles, light standards, etc.) in a coordinated manner that provides the desired coverage. The useful ground coverage of an elevated light fixture is roughly twice its height.
- For areas intended to be usedat night, ensure that lighting supports visibility. Where lighting is placed at a lower height to support visibility for pedestrians, ensure that it is vandal-resistant.
- In areas used by pedestrians, ensure that lighting shines on pedestrian pathways and possible entrapment spaces.
- Place lighting to take into account vegetation, in its current and mature form, as well as any other element that may have the potential for blocking light.
- Avoid lighting of areas not intended for nighttime use to avoid giving a false impression of use or safety.
- If danger spots are usually vacant at night, avoid lighting them and close them off to pedestrians.
- Avoid climbing opportunities by locating light standards and electrical equipment away from walls or low buildings.
- Security bars and security doors should be visually permeable (see through).
- Wooden sticks or iron bars should be placed in tracks of sliding glass doors to enhance security.
- Enhanced window locks should also be considered for sliding doors, though fire exit considerations should always be balanced in this equation.
- Common hallways, inside buildings, should be illuminated.
ACCESS CONTROL
- Street numbers should be plainly visible and legible from the street or roadfronting the property.
- In residential uses, each individual unit should be clearly numbered. In multiple building complexes, each building entry should clearly state the unit numbers accessed from the entry.
- In addition, unit numbers should be provided on each level or floor as well as individual residential units.
- Street numbers should be made of durable materials, preferably reflective or luminous, and unobstructed by foliage.
- For larger projects, provide maps and directional signage at public entry points and along internal public routes of travel.
