As a follow-up to the City of Columbus Division of Sewerage and Drainage risk and resilience assessment, B&N performed a robust physical security assessment that covered all seven security zones at Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant (SWWTP). B&N identified security risks from its perimeter inward to the façades and interior spaces of 53 critical buildings, including:
- Perimeter fencing
- Perimeter gates
- Security cameras
- Exterior lighting
- Building facades
- Doors
- Window
- Hatches
- Interior spaces that housed critical equipment, such as operational control rooms and MCCs
Inspectors captured data using B&N’s Facility Assessment of Security Tool (FAST), an ArcGIS-enabled Survey123 application installed on mobile devices. This streamlined gathering, analyzing, photographing and sharing inspection data and reduced the likelihood of data capture errors. Using FAST, the B&N team completed the inspections in two business days, ahead of schedule.
B&N also captured aerial imagery to assess nighttime lighting conditions to support security cameras using a drone. The drone captured images from 90-degrees above the ground to show general site lighting and from 45-degrees to see lighting near specific doors and building roll-up gates.
B&N provided detailed security recommendations, including lighting; the estimated number of security cameras and door locks at each building; access card readers for MCCs, control rooms and critical equipment rooms; Knox Boxes for public safety access; bollards; signage; fence repairs and landscaping; gate locks; and intrusion detection.
Operational recommendations were also made. These recommendations included closed and locked doors to protect critical equipment and supplies; better gate access and logging of visitors; and removal of material that could aid in scaling the perimeter barrier.