No more business as usual

Sept. 11 forced companies large and small to take a critical look at their security measures. A year later, changes in technology, staffing and procedures have made many workplaces safer.

By SCOTT BARANCIK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 9, 2002

Verizon Communications knew that hiring extra security guards after Sept. 11 was not a long-term solution to preventing terrorism at its 17,000 buildings.

Instead, the Tampa Bay area's largest employer set out to identify its 100 most critical and vulnerable properties across the U.S. and arm them with surveillance cameras and other security devices. Company managers also began "exercises where we'll actually create a scenario of a terrorist attack, a biological or nuclear attack at a specific location," security director Roger Kochman said.

Nearly a year after Sept. 11, businesses and property managers aiming for a safer workplace have turned from manpower to brainpower. Security staff is concentrated at reception desks and other chokepoints. Barriers are being erected on the outside perimeter. Cameras, lighting and access control technology are being installed or upgraded. Consultants and law enforcement officials are helping spot gaps and assess the risk of attack.

There are sound reasons to upgrade safety with technology. Devices such as card readers work 24 hours a day undistracted. The psychological need for more visible signs of security, such as armed guards, has diminished over time. And at venues such as malls, stadiums or theme parks, oppressive security is at odds with the goal of effortless commerce.

Money also has played a role in the tactical change. Given skyrocketing premiums for property insurance and the incessant demands of Wall Street, chief financial officers are weighing in on security spending. Because outdoor spotlights are cheaper than guards, for example, technology often wins.

John Kelly, whose Tampa company handles short-term security jobs, said business surged 50 percent right after Sept. 11 but "died out" within a month.

Nudging security directors every step of the way are high-tech vendors, whose products range from high-rise escape parachutes to visitors' badges that read "Void" after 24 hours.

"Finances are a big determination in a lot of the decisions we do make," Verizon's Kochman said. "You try to balance the security and the safety of the people in the buildings, and how much it costs to do it."

Lt. Ken Glantz, deputy director of Orange County's homeland security department, put it more bluntly: "If you're not cognizant of the budget, you're out of the security director's job."

Few companies have made much effort to address the emotional fallout of Sept. 11. Psychologist Gary Wood, whose Tampa company operates employee help lines for about 50 bay area companies, said he had hoped CEOs and human resource directors would seek his advice. But his phone rarely rang.

"I would like to tell you they were all worried," he said.

Tampa lawyer Kevin Graham and Sykes Enterprises general counsel Jim Holder were discussing a legal issue in Graham's high-rise office Sept. 11 when news came of the terrorist attacks in New York City. Graham remarked he felt very safe in his 28th-story office at Bank of America Plaza, Holder says.

Four months later, a suicidal high school freshman named Charles Bishop stole a single-engine plane from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and crashed it, randomly, into Graham's office, missing the Shumaker Loop & Kendrick lawyer by one hour. Workers inside the building's penthouse Tampa Club later complained that building management didn't tell them whether to evacuate.

The bay area may not be a financial center like New York City or seat of government like Washington, D.C., but it is home to MacDill Air Force Base, central command for the U.S. war on terrorism. And as events such as the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City and the anthrax attacks of the past year show, terrorism is without boundaries.

Local businesses have spent the past 12 months fortifying their defenses.

Progress Energy, the Raleigh, N.C., parent of Florida Power, created a Business Critical Infrastructure Project, whose purpose was to rank the company's most important operations and develop backup plans in case they were damaged or destroyed. It has kept its nuclear plants in Crystal River and elsewhere on highest alert. It also upgraded entry-access devices and security cameras at the company's two St. Petersburg facilities, which together employ 736, spokesman Keith Poston said.

At the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel, Sept. 11 persuaded executives to tighten mail-room safety procedures. "As a convention hotel, we have literally thousands of boxes that come in a month ahead of time," marketing director Bob Stewart said. Among other things, mail-room staff must make sure the number of boxes received from a client matches the number anticipated.

After suffering roughly 20 anthrax scares, Bradenton retailer Beall's Inc. developed procedures for dealing with unidentified substances. One rule is to try to avoid calling law enforcement except in the most worrisome cases, said Daniel Doyle, vice president of loss prevention and human resources. When a customer at an Englewood store found a white substance in the pocket of a pair of blue jeans and called police last year, authorities closed the store for several days. Doyle said store employees would have known the mystery substance was stonewashing powder.

Retailers such as Beall's have many more worries than anthrax, said Read Hayes, president of the Loss Prevention Specialists consulting company in Orlando. "The retail operation has corporate offices, they've got distribution facilities, they've got transportation systems like trucking, they've got massive computer tracking systems, they've got their stores, and they have buyers and executives who travel around the world to buy source merchandise, so they've got executive protection issues," he said. "And they've got online stores," which are vulnerable to hacking.

Because the Sept. 11 terrorists targeted high-rise buildings, many bay area building managers and tenants are doing more to make sure unauthorized visitors don't get past the perimeter, reception desk or elevators.

Before Sept. 11, for example, a drop-down wooden arm may have seemed like ample protection for the Franklin Exchange's 24-hour parking garage in downtown Tampa. But acknowledging that a terrorist traveling on foot could merely walk around the arm at night, owner Wilson Co. decided to install a metal security gate. Assistant property manager Julie Plastic will also push for security cameras as well as a panic button at the reception desk. "The No. 1 person that has something violent happen to them is the receptionist," said Plastic, who attended a two-day seminar on building security last month.

To thwart the possibility of a bomb-laden truck crashing into its two 12-story buildings, Chesapeake Atlantic Holdings is considering installing concrete posts around the perimeter, executive vice president Lonnie Homenuk said.

Other building owners are considering everything from cameras to extra lighting to what's known in the security trade as crime prevention through environmental design. That means adding aesthetic value and security at the same time.

"Ponds look nice, right?" said Jeffrey H. Wolf, a National Seminars Group security consultant who conducted the seminar that Plastic and 16 others attended. "But they also make it impossible for somebody to drive right up to the property."

Because many office buildings have open-door policies during the day, a growing number of high-rise tenants are adding security to their own suites. Bank of America, for example, may soon upgrade the gatekeeper system at its Tampa offices and require employees there to carry photo ID cards.

"Telephone companies used to move like crazy through the buildings," Chesapeake's Homenuk said. "Now, most buildings are having vendors sign in. They want to know why they're there and how long they'll be there."

Sykes Enterprises didn't let Sept. 11 get in the way of plans to move into the top floors of 400 N Ashley Plaza, known informally as the "beer can" building. But general counsel Holder said the customer service company is installing additional security measures during the buildout phase.

Single-tenant buildings are also taking steps to be safer. The St. Petersburg Times is making several changes at its downtown headquarters, such as adding an automatic ID card reader and expanding the reception desk to accommodate a second security guard.

Bay area businesses and building managers are working more closely with law enforcement agencies and each other. The Tampa fire and police departments are comparing evacuation plans to avoid potential overcrowding or clogs on city streets. A security network organized by the Tampa Downtown Partnership prior to Sept. 11 has assembled a list of about 150 building managers to contact in the event of an emergency.

But there are limits to what local businesses will do. Morton Plant Mease Health Care, for example, decided concrete posts around its Clearwater hospital would thwart not only truck-driving bombers but legitimate patients. The Tampa Sports Authority decided that pregame patdowns at Raymond James Stadium would catch not only armed ticket holders but flak. Instead, it is doubling the number of security staff who search backpacks and purses, among other steps.

Like many local executives, Tampa Sports Authority operations director Mickey Farrell declined to go into greater detail about security preparations. Talking too much about them would defeat the purpose.

"I'm secure that our game plan now is one that will keep the fans safe," he said.

To see how bay area companies responded to Sept. 11, consider the example of Tech Data Corp.

Within days of the attacks, the Clearwater computer manufacturer sent a heartfelt e-mail to employees from its CEO; set up a one-time voluntary payroll deduction to help employees contribute to a national charity; encouraged staff to dress in red, white and blue for a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance; and set up a 24-hour emergency hotline to help fulfill the computer hardware needs of businesses at or near Ground Zero. Investors might have expected no less from the bay area's highest-grossing public company, an achiever that rarely takes its eye off the ball.

Far from the carnage, however, Tech Data seemed to give Sept. 11's emotional impact short shrift. Scared to fly? Can't sleep? Worried about the kids? Call the company-provided employee assistance program for a psychiatric referral, workers were basically told. It's an approach many bay area companies took.

"Let's face it," psychologist Wood said. "Business leaders are not paid to take care of people."

Maybe they should be. Twelve months after Sept. 11, anxiety and depression have subsided somewhat but persist at the workplace. A July survey by Ceridian Corp. found that 69 percent of U.S. workers fear another terrorist attack. Frank Brocato, president of the Employers Health Coalition in Tampa, said coalition members continue to report increases in psychological visits by their 350,000 bay area workers and dependents, although concerns over corporate fraud, retirement accounts and downsizing may be playing a part.

The cost to employers is clear: higher medical insurance premiums, decreased productivity and higher rates of absenteeism. Depression is the third most common reason workers call in sick.

Some companies say they have tried to do more. Progress Energy, for example, offered grief counseling after Sept. 11, held "lunch and learn" meetings, and asked managers to be flexible about employees who didn't want to fly right away or be apart from their families.

"A lot more video conferences were held in the month after Sept. 11, I can assure you," spokesman Poston said.

But some local executives argued that upgrading security and taking a business-as-usual approach after Sept. 11 was the best -- and most appropriate -- way for businesses to help employees cope.

That, and encouraging them to donate money to American Red Cross or United Way, Tech Data human resources chief Lawrence Hamilton said. "I think it gave people some sense of empowerment again."

-- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

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