Introduction To Security Risk Management

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to this self-study e-learning Executive Programme in Security Risk Management (SRM). It is designed for learners who have some experience within a security role whether on home turf or in diverse and hostile environments, and want to learn more about managing security for themselves or their client and their co-workers in hostile or insecure environments. While much of the guidance and protocols described in this course are based on the United Nations’ and UNHCR’s security guidelines in particular, the content presented is of a general nature and should be valuable for any Security Risk Manager or Consultant in any insecure or hostile environment.

Learning Objectives for this Course

After successfully completion of this course, you should be able to:

• Better understand the global trend of insecurity in hostile environments, the general types of responses that are being taken to meet security threats in the field by consultant.
• Understand, appreciate and explain the overall Security Risk Assessment (SRA) and Security Risk Management (SRM) approaches to security management for hostile environments.
• Use standardized terminology and tools to assess threat patterns, analyse risk, and prioritize measures to reduce risks of different threats in your working environment as a manager.
• Develop basic security plans, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and scenario-specific contingency plans for serious security incidents.
• Understand the basic strategies for responding effectively to critical security incidents in the field should they actually occur.
• Understand and deal with the relationship between stress and security for field-based staff.
• Understand the overview of a Security Risk Assessment, Threat assessment and Vulnerability Assessment.

Organisation of this Course

This course is divided into eleven modules, each one based on a different aspect of managing risk in the field. The modules are designed to be read and completed from beginning to end, and in most instances a good understanding of the material presented in any module is required to fully appreciate the next. You may click back to previous pages within the module at any point.

Module 1: Developing a leadership Style – This module provides an overview of developing a leadership style, the module covers the different leadership styles, common mistakes new managers make, the difference between management and Leadership and how to be a leader in a crisis situation.

Module 2: Managing your people – This module discusses the various ways in which the modern day manager can manage his team and gain the best from each individual.

Module 3: working in hostile environments and undertaking high risk activities – This module provides an overview of the global security situation facing Risk Managers today. It also explores some of the current hostile environments and identifies the risks, mitigation measures and potential ‘Actions On’ used in these environments.

Module 4: Overview of Security Risk Assessment – This module provides a step-by step outline of the SRA process. Each part of the cycle is discussed in detail in the following modules of the course.

Module 5: Threat Assessment – This module provides guidance on practical ways to collect and analyse security threat information.

Module 6: Vulnerability Assessment – This module illustrates some of the key aspects of vulnerability relevant to humanitarian programs, and shows their importance in the overall SRA process.

Module 7: Risk Assessment and the Risk Matrix – This module discusses how Threat, Vulnerability and Program Assessment are brought together to yield an overall picture of risk. It introduces the Risk Matrix as a tool to analyse, prioritise and explain threats in terms of their impact and likelihood.

Module 8: Risk Reduction Measures – This module begins by discussing Criticality Assessment as a process for weighing programmatic benefits against the associated risks to staff. It then provides an overview of a range of prevention and mitigation measures – a field safety toolkit – that can be used to reduce risk to tolerable levels.

Module 9: Security Plans and Planning – This module describes the importance of security planning and provides the learner with both generic and specific templates that can be used to begin or improve the security planning process.

Module 10: Critical Incident Management – Even with good security planning, serious security incidents can still occur. This chapter gives some guidance on the immediate actions to take when critical security incidents happen.

Module 11: Security and Stress – Situations of high risk increase stress on field staff. High levels of stress among field staff increase risk to the team/organisation. This module provides some advice and guidelines on managing stress in hostile environments.

Course Syllabus:

Module 1: Developing a leadership Style

• 1.1 Leadership Styles
• 1.2 What do managers do?
• 1.3 Leadership in a crisis – How to be a leader
• 1.4 The common mistakes of new managers
• 1.5 The difference between Leadership and Management

Module 2: Managing your people

• 2.1 How to motivate workers in tough times
• 2.2 Motivating employees and team members
• 2.3 How to develop future leaders

Module 3: working in hostile environments and undertaking high risk activities

• 3.1 Definitions of the High Risk Policy
• 3.2 Key Requirements of the High Risk Policy
• 3.3 Potential Risks in Hostile Environments (Identifying the risks, mitigation measures and potential ‘Actions On’)

Module 4: Overview of Security Risk Assessment

• 4.1 Threat Assessment
• 4.2 Vulnerability Assessment
• 4.3 Programme Assessment
• 4.4 Risk Analysis
• 4.5 Criticality Assessment
• 4.6 Decide and Implement Measures 4.7 Review and Modification of assessment

Module 5: Threat Assessment

• 5.1 Approaches to Threat Assessment
• 5.2 Historical Analysis
• 5.3 Pattern Analysis
• 5.4 Change Analysis Module 6: Vulnerability Assessment
• 6.1 The Importance of Vulnerability Assessment in SRA
• 6.2 Key Factors to Consider in Vulnerability Assessment
• 6.3 Vulnerability “Benchmarking”

Module 7: Risk Assessment and the Risk Matrix

• 7.1 Understanding Risk
• 7.2 Determining Impact
• 7.3 Determining Likelihood
• 7.4 The Risk Matrix
• 7.5 Practical Guidance on Using the Risk Matrix
• 7.6 Risk Assessment and Bias

Module 8: Risk Reduction Measures

• 8.1 Criticality Assessment
• 8.2 Types of Risk Reduction Measures
• 8.3 The Risk Reduction Toolkit

Module 9: Security Plans and Planning

• 9.1 Does every project/location need a Security Plan?
• 9.2 The Plan
• 9.3 Scenario-Based Security Contingency Planning
• 9.4 Security Planning and Your Budget

Module 10: Critical Incident Management

• 10.1 Critical Incident Management and Security Planning
• 10.2 Stages of a Critical Incident and Response
• 10.3 Tools and Methods
• 10.4 Information Management

Module 11: Security and Stress

• 12.1 The Relationship between Stress and Security
• 12.2 Some Basic Information about Stress
• 12.3 Individual Adapting and Coping Strategies
• 12.4 Managing Staff Stress in hostile Environments
• 12.5 Provide Support to Staff/team members after Critical Events

How to Use this Course

Self-study is more demanding than traditional classroom instruction in that learners must provide their own framework for study instead of having it imposed by the course or workshop timetable. One of the problems with self-study courses is that people begin with great enthusiasm at a pace that they cannot sustain. The best way to undertake this e-learning course is to plan your own study schedule over a pre-set period by thinking ahead and making your own schedule for study.

The course is designed to take approximately 30 hours to complete. This includes the time for reading, reflecting and answering the module related assessments. This course is designed for professional and personal development, also to develop and enhance the knowledge of risk managers deploying in the field. The course will be a great addition to a CPD folder.

Assessment Brief (How will you be assessed)

The assessments will need to be completed at the end of each module. On successful completion of the course you will be able to download and print your certificate. Please note that at the end of each sub module/module there will be a key points section. This area is in place to refresh the areas covered. The following image will be present next to the key points.