Mine Site Security Update: Are Mine Sites Managing Internal Threats?

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Mine Site Security Update: Are Mine Sites Managing Internal Threats?

By Mining IQ                                                                          

With mine sites across Australia exporting billions of dollars’ worth of resources every year, it’s clear that security should be high up on the agenda. Having the most appropriate strategy in place is a crucial part of any organisations on-going success.

There’s been a flurry of reports in relation to gold heists over the years. In 2010 Gold Stealing Detection Unit officers played an integral role in thwarting an international heist worth nearly $1 million after a WA refinery worker noticed bars of gold had been replaced with bars of lead. And more recently when mine site contractors who stole $92,000 worth of gold from a Northern Goldfields operation were sentenced to one year in jail.

Every mine site is different, both in the assets and personnel on site; but are the risk strategies pointing in the right direction?

Jeff Corkhill, Lecturer in Intelligence and Security at Edith Cowen University says it comes down to knowing your own site: “Security managers need to be very much aware of the environment that they operate in and therefore where threats may emerge to their operations.”

“We’re looking at essentially two groups;  an internal threat and external threat, but we need to understand the context of the environment we’re operating in to be able to identify whether there is a threat that actually exists or there is potential for a threat to emerge in that environment.”

Jeff says an area overlooked is often the hardest one to look at objectively, the internal threat:

“We have this reluctance to accept that often the most significant threat we face comes from within. We’d much rather focus on a threat from outside the organisation, organised criminals or terrorists or something along those lines. But often they are a low likelihood sort of threat, whereas a large percentage of our threats to organisations do emerge from within."

“That’s a difficult problem because no organisation benefits from a paranoid security system that runs around treating every employee as a hostile threat to the business. But, equally, it’s not really effective for a business to assume that because you’re in our pay, you don’t represent a threat.”

This is a sentiment ushered by Greg Savage, officer in charge of the Gold Stealing Detection Unit: “We find that people who do steal gold or gold product from mine sites are mainly trusted employees or contractors who are working on the mill or within the mine site itself. We generally find that those people may not want to steal the product but their circumstances will change. They may well have been a trusted employee for quite some time, they are aware of anomalies where gold can be stolen and they will take the chance.”

When it comes to managing the threats from the inside, the experts say it comes down to two main areas, technology and knowing your people.

“Our access control systems can provide us with useful information in relation to potential threat based on patterns of behaviour that we see in terms of how movements occur on a site. CCTV systems that are utilised can contribute to information that can be turned into intelligence.” Jeff explained.

Such a high level of security can be seen as an intrusive part of the business, but Greg Savage explains it can actually do the opposite:

“Security protects staff from suspicion and supports their security and wellbeing. For instance, if there is good CCTV within the plant, within the gold room and the employee knows that they are under constant surveillance, it’s a form of security for them.  They know that if any product is stolen they are constantly under vision and they can say, well, clearly it’s not me, it may have been someone else.”

In terms of knowing your people “Good relations, good liaison with the workforce can be an important part of that in terms of people telling you that they see problems emerging or there are issues in relation to grievances emerging, things like that provide that early warning that there’s a change occurring and therefore preventing a security surprise coming and hitting people in the face further down the track.” Jeff explained

Of course it’s not effective to only focus on the internal threats posed to a mine site without developing a wider strategy that leaves no holes in the system. One of the biggest challenges faced with overall security of operations at mine sites is ensuring that security stays in tune with all other functions across multiple projects. To do this security has to be integrated.  Safety and security should be one, underpinning all strategies.

Bruce Braes, Risk Manager at Worsley Parsons says the key to this is integrating security plans into everyday operations:

“Particularly in the Australian mining industry safety seems to be the driver of all operations. Now, whilst accepting that safety is a very important factor, I think what needs to happen as mines move along is they need to start integrating the other factors.”

You can hear more from Jeff Corkhill, Greg Savage and Bruce Braes at the Mine Site Security conference in September. For more information visit www.mine-site-security.com.au