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Part 2: Security Update |
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Are You Prepared to be Prepared?
David A. Moore Chemical Facility Vulnerability Assessment Project Overview Sandia National Laboratories is developing a methodology for the assessment of the security of facilities handling chemicals from terrorist attack. This work is performed by Sandia National Laboratories for the Office of Science and Technology National Institute of Justice. The method is a complex, risk-based approach to assist in the identification of threats, the assessment of hazards, and the development of recommendations to reduce risk where appropriate. This method is based on the methods Sandia developed for other industries, such as nuclear power generation and military defense. For further information on the VAM, see (http://www.sandia.gov/media/NewsRel/NR2002/chemplant.htm). The VAM is not released at this time. A draft report has been submitted to the DOJ for review, and the Attorney General's office will prepare and submit the final report to Congress. The VAM has been validated at actual facilities during the development process. This effort has included facilities of various sizes. Companies that were subject to this trial reported the effort to be useful. "The VAM prototype helps you identify critical areas and provides a means to not only assess the risk of an adversary attack but also helps in selecting the most cost-effective upgrade options for those areas where the risk is unacceptable," says Cal Jaeger, Sandia Project Leader. The method defines risk as a function of the severity of consequences of the event, the likelihood of adversary attack, and the likelihood of adversary success in causing a catastrophic event. The process involves multiple steps including facility characterization, threat definition, determination of threat levels (estimate likelihood of attack for each undesired event/adversary group), use of a chemical process security characterization matrix, determination of security system effectiveness, estimation of risk values, and making recommendations. The ultimate outcome is the recognition of hazards and, for each undesired event/adversary pair judged to have lower than a certain risk value, recommended upgrades to the system. These might include: A. Physical protection improvements:
B. Process control system:
C. Reducing Consequences:
The method is risk-based and, so, seems to appreciate the fact that security hazards analyses, risk determination, and risk reduction should not be prescriptive. CCPS Security Committee Activities CCPS has formed a new Security Committee. The committee is comprised of volunteers from CCPS sponsoring companies, including representatives from both industry and government. The committee has been very active since November of 2001 to primarily develop checklists and tools to support a security hazards analysis. One of the challenges facing the committee is to determine the threats that industry now is exposed to, and the approach CCPS recommends for handling these issues. While the threat of an armed attacker to a chemical facility may be apparent, what about the possibility of a cyber attack causing a release? Should theft of materials be included in the scope of the guidance? These and other issues are now being addressed. We previously organized the possible threats and many combinations and permutations into a threat matrix. Key to this matrix is the first variable - what is the target? Is the company a direct target or is it affected by a terrorist attack. From a pure risk management standpoint, companies need to be prepared for both contingencies, not only for the possibility of physical attack to their facilities. This shows the multi-faceted aspects of the problem, and the need for industry, community and government cooperation to address the problem. CCPS recognizes the need to support industry with appropriate guidance that complements the ACC guidance and the Sandia VAM, but both provides alternatives as well as further detailed information. For further information on this activity, please contact Mr. Scott Berger, CCPS, at scotb@aiche.org. As further information on the Sandia VAM and CCPS effort is made available, AcuSafe will report the details. To be Continued Stay Tuned to AcuSafe for more information about chemical plant security! To provide feedback, please email us at editor@acusafe.com. Go Back to AcuSafe. AcuSafe is a presentation of AcuTech Consulting, ©2002, All Rights Reserved
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