Page 11 - CITS Theft Guide

CITS Guide for Theft Prevention
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3. Governance and Security Management
Good security on a construction site is a governance outcome as much as a technical one. It depends on
clear ownership of the security plan, clear duties down the supply chain, and a shared understanding that
security should enable — not obstruct — the safe and efficient delivery of the project.
3.1. Roles and Responsibilities Across the Supply Chain
Security responsibility runs from the client, through the principal designer and principal contractor, to Tier
1 contractors, sub-contractors, and the security service provider, with police and emergency responders
as an essential external partner in response planning. The diagram below sets out this chain and the broad
security duty that sits with each party.
The client sets the security expectations and budget envelope at project outset, ideally informed by an
early security overlay to the project's RIBA Plan of Work stages. The principal designer has the opportunity
to design out crime through the layout, lighting, and materials specified, in line with the principles of Crime
Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). The principal contractor owns the site security plan
on a day-to-day basis, and is usually the party best placed to commission a competent security consultant,
in line with NPSA guidance on procuring specialist security consultancy services (see Annex B). Tier 1
contractors and sub-contractors are responsible for complying with site rules, and the appointed security
service provider delivers the guarding, monitoring, and incident response function described in Sections 5
and 10.
Figure 1: The security duty-holder chain on a construction project.
3.2. Security Aspects Letters and Procurement
A Security Aspects Letter (SAL) is a short document, issued by the client or principal contractor, that
records the security requirements, threat assessment outputs, and any specific constraints that a project's
designers and contractors must work within. Issuing a SAL early, and updating it as the project's risk profile
changes through its phases, is good practice recommended by NPSA and is one of the clearest ways to
translate the outputs of Section 4 into contractual and design requirements.
3.3. Integrating Security with Site Safety
Security measures must not compromise safety, and safety measures must not be allowed to defeat
security unnecessarily. For example, a fire escape route must never be permanently obstructed by a
security barrier, but neither should a legitimate means of escape be left as an unmonitored, unmanaged