13 minute read
City battens down the security hatches
Yearbook 2020 R obust but unobtrusive technologies should be designed into public spaces right from the outset, says leading New Zealand public spaces security and technology supplier, HTS Group. “We’ve passed the days where security technologies need to stick out like a sore thumb. Nowadays, they can blend in effortlessly with the surrounding space, and yet still have the strength to stop trucks weighing several tonnes and travelling at speed,” says Noel Maharaj, HTS Group Managing Director and licensed New Zealand Security Consultant.
HTS Group has decades of experience in providing open spaces security, building security, access control, parking, traffic, vehicle and other technologies designed to keep people and property safe from threats. “New Zealand has seen terrible events in recent years, where a deranged individual has taken control of a vehicle and sought to cause maximum damage to people and property in public areas,” said Maharaj. “Simple and effective technologies like bollards, street furniture, barriers and gates can protect public areas, without impacting on the aesthetics or functionality of the space. In some cases, they can even add new functionality and features to the area – such as seats or flower beds,” he says.
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“It’s important to consider when a public space is going to be utilised to its full potential. Times like New Year’s Eve or special events are a good example of this. Are all possible vehicle entry points secured? Could someone drive a car or truck through and access a highly populated space?”
Planning for terrorist and vehicle attacks on public spaces
New Year’s Eve and other major events with large crowds draw particular attention to the risks of having public open spaces unprotected by security and safety technologies that prevent vehicle-borne attacks
“Enquiries for safety and security technologies have trebled worldwide in recent years, as companies, governments and organisations are becoming more aware of security risks evident globally, and how to mitigate against them.”
Public space risk mitigation technologies Ranging from standard bollards and street furniture, right through to advanced speed gates with integrated controls, HTS Group’s technologies are designed to protect public and private spaces from unauthorised personnel that may intend to cause harm. Selecting the right equipment is vital to mitigate against threats. The right equipment, targeted to a particular area and application, can help prevent or minimise casualties and injuries that result from malicious activities. HTS Group specialises in providing top quality risk mitigation equipment, including:
Street Furniture, which ensures pedestrian safety without discouraging movement through the area. Security technologies that blend in with architectural layouts – such as planters, seats and bollards – provide an elegant, secure and functional solution.
Bollards, which are a cost-effective, versatile and easily installed security measure to protect crowded spaces and businesses situated near roads. They can be ground- or surface-mounted and static or automatic, depending on the application and what type of vehicles they are preventing.
HTS Group Ltd and Ezi Security’s wide range of security bollards are designed to provide heavy-duty maximum security against ram raids and other hostile vehicle situations, while maintaining aesthetic separation for pedestrian safety. The latest and most advanced Safetyflex bollards only require an installation depth of 200mm for the same crash rating as comparative products requiring a far deeper installation, which makes them simpler and faster to install.
Horizontal Lifting Barriers, which are one of the toughest hostile vehicle protection technologies
available. These machines are capable of fully stopping a 7.5 -tonne truck driving at up to 80kmph.
HTS Group Ltd, through its long-term relationship with Ezi Security Systems, supplies barriers with lower arms, to ensure that the initial impact on small passenger vehicles occurs at the front of the vehicle, slowing or stopping the vehicle before the upper barrier arm impacts the passenger compartment. Most other designs, without a lower arm, would hit at windshield level sheering off the top half of a smaller vehicle, which is more likely to be driven by a non-threatening innocent motorist.
Barriers are an effective method of keeping public and private spaces separate and ensuring, even during special events, that only authorised personnel enter private property and restricted areas.
Fencing, which is a standard component at most sites, industrial, commercial and public spaces. Steel posts and barbed wire are enough to stop most trespassers, but some key locations require greater security and protection, especially from vehicular assaults.
The new generation of crash fences are designed to protect perimeters from accidental, terrorist or criminal attacks from malicious individuals. These crash fences can form a second barrier behind the existing decorative fencing around the facility providing the required level of protection. Vehicle Security Gates, which have evolved in response to greater security requirements internationally, changing from standard gate products to impact-rated vehicle gates designed to withstand impact from vehicles weighing as much as 7,500 kilograms running at 48 kph to 80kph. The requirement for a shallow footing in many locations excludes many products. However, the patented arrestor system featured in HTS Group’s Truck Stopper range of gates can provide the lowest penetration classification for its class with a shallow foundation, making it an ideal engineering solution for protection against hostile vehicles.
Identifying the threat
“The security industry is rapidly changing, both in response to global threats, and in a pre-emptive nature, to safeguard against new threats that haven’t yet been realised. We’re seeing a strong trend towards advanced technologies such as perimeter security enhancements while maintaining the open space feel,” says Maharaj.
“Determining the kind of threat that an establishment or space may be faced with is the most important first step in hostile vehicle mitigation. It means the technology can target the most likely threats and provide the best countermeasures,” he says.
HTS Group Ltd provides a complete design, system integration, installation and maintenance package to the transportation, traffic engineering, parking and sports timing industries in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Noel Maharaj Managing Director +64 (9) 634 7128 nmaharaj@htsgroup.co.nz www.htsgroup.co.nz
Safetyflex Bollards are an effective anti-terror measure to prevent vehicle attacks in public spaces
Crash-rated street furniture, can add to the functionality and aesthetics of a public space, whilst simultaneously preventing vehicles from entering certain areas
Automated or fixed bollards provide a visually unobtrusive barrier between public and private spaces, as well as deterring vehicle-borne attackers
Barriers and gates provide a physical separation between public and private spaces, as well as a visual deterrent to vehicle-borne assailants
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32 coworking space statistics that will surprise you
(14%) and writing (9%). In terms of personality types that frequent coworking spaces:
- 30% identify themselves as extroverts
- 22% as introverts - 47% as ambiverts.
From fortune 500 companies to freelancers and digital nomads, coworking spaces have transformed the way people from every walk of life work and collaborate T o really understand the state of coworking space and its impact on modern society, we’ve compiled 32 of the most illuminating statistics on coworking spaces in 2019, from market size, growth projections, to the main benefits workers feel they get by working in these flexible workspaces. Global Coworking Space Race
In 2019, Asia Pacific had the largest number of coworking spaces (11,592), followed by EMEA (6,850), Americas (6,293), then United Kingdom (5,923).
Globally, the number of coworking spaces is forecast to almost double to 49,500 by 2022, from 26,000 in 2017.
China will grow rapidly and become one of the world’s largest coworking markets by 2022, with over 5,000 spaces.
Though not quite as large in terms of absolute market size, India is posed to become one of the fastest growing regions for coworking, buoyed by its large startup ecosystem that ranks the 3rd largest in the world. 5.1 million Coworking Users by 2022
The number of coworking members worldwide leaped from 1.74 million in 2015 to 3.1 million in 2019. With the average annual growth rate of 24.2%, the 2022 forecast stands at a whopping 5.1 million coworking members.
Think about this. It means by 2022, there will be over 5.1 million workers that will no longer call a regular office (or home) their main workplace. Vertical Expansion the Top Trend for Coworking Spaces
In 2019, the trend for coworking operators is to expand their existing facilities to accommodate more members (instead of more locations). This is followed by a stronger focus on sustainability, consolidation, more community events, and an increase in niche coworking spaces.
More corporations will start to utilize coworking spaces as well. Coworking is no longer just for Freelancers and Startups
WeWork, one of the world’s leading coworking space chains, reported a 90% increase in the number of enterprise companies utilizing their services in 2017. Meanwhile, the number of members from enterprise companies rose by 360%. Some of the major corporations that have made the WeWork coworking spaces their home are Microsoft, GE, Dell, Spotify, Pinterest, Sprint, and HSBC. Who’s Using Coworking Spaces?
The largest age group for coworkers is 25 to 29, followed closely by 30 to 34. Researchers predict a dramatic increase in older and married people flocking to coworking spaces in the next few years.
As expected, freelancers still make up a greater part of coworking members at 41%. The number of coworking members from corporations is right on its tail however, at 36%.
51% of the European coworking members are freelancers while 56% of the Asian members are corporate employees. The stats for the US is relatively balanced at 37% freelancers and 35% employees. As for the members’ professions, members who are working in IT come in at 22%. This is followed by PR 81% of coworking spaces with at least 200 members are profitable
Coworking Makes People Happier
This should come as no surprise, but most people who join coworking report feeling more social, productive, and ultimately, happier. Here are the statistics that back this.
According to an extensive survey done in 2018, 89% of coworking users report that they are happier since joining a coworking space, while 83% said that they feel less lonely.
86% of coworkers feel that they are part of a community when working in a coworking space, which corroborates with another study that says the majority of coworkers feel happier since joining.
And get this, 54% said that they socialize with other members outside of the coworking space after work and during weekends.
Ultimately, 80% said that having other coworking members to interact with is the thing that they liked most in a coworking space.
Coworking Leads to Better Connections Apart from the social aspect, many people join coworking spaces to forge new business connections and be more productive, by immersing themselves with talent from a broad range of related industries. It seems to be working.
By coworking, 82% of surveyed members say it has expanded their professional networks.
Sponsored Article Chemical industry leads by example
The chemical industry continues to lead by example, helping to ensure essential chemicals encountered at work and at home are safely managed - safeguarding employees, communities and our environment
While 130,000 businesses are reportedly captured by the Hazardous Substances and Major Hazard Facilities regulations, the official mantra of “600-900 persons seriously harmed each year by unwanted exposure to chemicals in their workplace” presumably applies to all of the country’s 530,000 workplaces.
Downgrading the flawed but effective HSNO Certified Handler requirement has inadvertently undermined an invaluable capability. The action deprived businesses, particularly SMEs, of an immediate and recognisable source of workplace chemical safety and compliance advice -- a safe chemical handling capability and emergency response knowledge – critical when a chemical incident occurs.
PCBUs and SMEs must now devise their own solutions to ensure employees are competent to safely handle the chemicals with which they work.
So where to from here?
Responsible Care is a global voluntary chemical industry initiative developed autonomously by the chemical industry for the chemical industry.
Chemical suppliers continue to help customers achieve workplace chemical safety aspirations through product stewardship initiatives.
To help solve the in-house chemical compliance dilemma in New Zealand, Responsible Care NZ www. responsiblecarenz.com delivers specialist and costeffective Certified Handler standard training, complete with a certificate.
Internationally, chemical industry leaders are moving away from relying on lagging indicators of safety performance in favour of identifying safer work practices and workplaces, by responding to workers’ suggestions about improvements.
WorkSafe NZ has warned against business operators falling victim to uninformed and always expensive ‘consultants’.
Responsible Care NZ site compliance assessments are non-threatening, effectively capturing and assessing chemical safety performance in a variety of workplaces.
Conscientious business operators can add value by sourcing accurate, cost-effective workplace chemical safety advice and compliance tools from their suppliers, industry partners and Responsible Care NZ.
The core problem
Hundreds of business operators turned out for a free Responsible Care NZ compliance workshop, eager for accurate and practical advice, indicating an unsatisfied demand for assistance and education. Attendance highlighted the need to provide SMEs and others with the ability to access, correctly interpret and successfully implement complex regulations with clear and concise compliance advice. Inviting enquirers to “read the regulations” is falling well short of the industry educational expectations arising from WorkSafe’s Statement of Intent 2016-2020.
A proven strategy is government agencies collaborating with proactive
industry associations to best achieve workplace safety aspirations.
The problem is that SMEs rarely join associations. However they all obtain their chemical requirements from suppliers and can benefit from product stewardship advice and cost-effective industry compliance initiatives. Responsible Care NZ extols less regulation in favour of enabling business operators to be increasingly self-sufficient, using cost-effective products and services such as site compliance assessments and specialist training. The focus is keeping people safe around the chemicals we encounter every day, by once again adding value to businesses. Proven, collaborative and cost-effective initiatives to raise awareness and improve workplace chemical safety performance include: • Joint agency and industry-focused local compliance workshops at times convenient to SME operators.
• WorkSafe NZ inspectors distributing free copies of user-friendly ‘compliance tools’ such as the Storage of Hazardous Substances HSNO Approved Code of Practice and posters explaining GHS pictogrammes
• Supporting industry initiatives such as product stewardship
• Referencing industry ‘compliance tools’
• Upskilling workplace inspectors in chemical safety. • Encouraging ‘no blame’ reporting of incidents • Acknowledging successful, proactive industry compliance initiatives
• Restoring the status of Approved Industry Codes of Practice
A refreshed and energized government strategy for improving workplace chemical safety is both welcome and essential if we are to significantly improve
sub-standard performance and learn from our successes and shortfalls. Expanding mutually beneficial governmentindustry partnerships helping business operators ‘do the right thing’ with minimal fuss and expense should be ‘a no brainer’. Chemical suppliers are ‘Impatient optimists’. They know we can all collectively do better through continuous improvement.
Responsible Care NZ provides practical products and services to enable compliance with New Zealand’s world class chemical management regime. Talk to us today about your compliance requirements.
Phone: +64 4 499 4311 Email: info@responsiblecarenz.com Website: www.responsiblecarenz.com
