Literature review on design terror mitigation for facility managers in public access buildings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify key risks that are posed to the security of a site and building perimeters in the first and second lines of defense against terrorism, and are relevant to facility managers. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach to the literature review was applied. This involved an extensive literature search of existing peer-reviewed research papers, as well as state and federal reports to mark crucial issues relating to the security of a facility. Strategies to deal with the critical issues pertaining to the security of a facility were reviewed, based on the literature. Findings – The paper identifies major security risks suggested by the literature and lists strategies to address those risks. The paper also proposes recommendations made by the literature; their implementation may provide a higher level of security to key areas located in the first and second lines of building defense. Practical implications – The site and building perimeter areas that offer great potential for avoiding and deterring terror attacks are often neglected in terms of security planning, which seriously hampers efforts to provide an enhanced level of security to the facility. The paper points out these areas and major security issues related to them, so they can be taken care of by design professionals as well as facility managers. Originality/value – The paper provides a comprehensive and detailed review of various aspects tied to the security level of critical areas of the building and site perimeters that could be useful to facility managers of critical facilities.