Page 14 - the SyI Quarterly 13 - (V4)

Know your Institute
Know your Institute
Noah was to compere the day but only after illuminating the services that his Academy delivers for
the benefit of the assembled eighty security practitioners; he was clearly a very proud ‘headmaster’
boastful about the curriculum his trans-national team deliver to the G4S community and their clients.
Now it was time for Al McBride to set the context of the Project by sharing his peerless understanding
of the biggest, most compact construction environment in the land. Having witness the transition from
green fields to today’s concrete jungle, Al spoke about the 8500 workers delivered to site in a fleet of
250 double-decker busses, the four daily servings of nutritious meals provided in the onsite canteens,
and the 4000 corporate workstations hidden behind card-activated speed lanes typically found in
luxurious corporates offices in metro-cities across the UK. He mentioned the fifty-four tower cranes
found on site, the 2500 vehicles and plant machinery on the authorised list, and the fully equipped
and trained medical, fire, and rescue services that remain on site twenty-four-seven. Together with our
Site Operations colleagues, Al explained how HPC Security play our part in providing a safe, secure,
efficient, and sustainable site to enable others to build two future nuclear power stations — an army
of enablers serving a community of builders.
Al then handed the conference-baton to me and, in my last week as the ‘Head of Security’, I was gifted
the opportunity to share some of the lessons I had learnt in my five years at HPC and the previous
decade in the overseas world of oil & gas construction. I spoke about the importance of obtaining and
retraining strong executive buy-in, the need to truly understand the business you are protecting, and
the importance of people, property, and information have on the organisational success. ‘Thinking
like your enemy’, understanding and being truthful about the vulnerabilities in your existing defences,
and recognising the impact of loss due to adversarial attacks. I also offered my opinion on how to
sell services or equipment to a busy corporate security manager; tell me how much, tell me about
the benefits beyond security, and demonstrate that you understand my business. It’s necessary to
help me ‘sell’ your product’ to my business in clear and simple language – avoid technical data and
gobbledegook.
It was then an honour to handover to two of our HPC senior operations security managers; Ian
Downing who leads our G4S Ops team and one of his very capable lieutenants, Mick Wood who
ensures only authorised people, vehicles, and equipment get into and correctly leave our regulated
nuclear licenced site. This is about how to enable efficient and compliant entry but must never be seen
as an unnecessary or burdensome hurdle. As they say, ‘time is money’, so Ian and Mick tag-teamed an
impressive narrative explaining how G4S facilitate prohibitive item screening, identification verification,
and supporting the Fit-for-Work policy by coordinating the K9 drug dog service and random selection
process for the clinical drug and alcohol screening. All this in the impressive airport-style site
entrances. They also articulated the complexities of supporting a secure-bus service —that allows
for offsite search and screen capabilities— and the theft reduction activities when workers leave site,
known locally as Operation Deny Fagin. You can research who Fagin was in your own time.
Last, but not least, was Andy Hines and Jess Croker. Andy is our G4S Security Delivery Manager
ensconced in our Site Ops Delivery Programme and, together with Rich Dray, his EDF Security associate,
ensures we meet our Licence Conditions and maintains the confidence of our Office for Nuclear
Regulation inspectors. During this session however, he spoke about the measures taken to safeguard
the nuclear protected plant and equipment that arrive at site via the Bristol Chanel and down a nearby
river estuary. Where the ‘thing’ is too big to travel by road, it is considered abnormal and, if it can not be
divided into smaller parts, it is declared an abnormal indivisible load or AIL. So, Andy is responsible for
protecting AILs and he wanted to share how he does this with the delegates.
The smaller ‘stuff’ arrives at site via heavy good vehicles, in the back of a ‘Amazon’ style van, or through
our offsite warehousing logistics partner – Wincanton. Jess, and her Delivery Management team,
coordinate the safe, efficient, and compliant arrival of the trucks, vans, and material delivery vehicles
throughout the day. She explained the constraints placed on the Project by the government issued
Development Consent Order (DCO) – a supper-sized planning approval – that stipulates how many
logistics vehicles can travel the local roads during school run, weekends, and overnights. She also ‘polices’
driver compliance for route management and journey time. I was humbled by her knowledge and felt
it necessary after her presentation to apologiese to her for me not taking the time during my tenure as
the Licence Condition [2] responsible manager to understand the true value she adds to the project
schedule. Without her, there would be no equipment on site for the rest of our team to protect. A very
impressive security professional.
A quickfire Q&A session bought the knowledge share to an end and we moved into a light, but
scrumptious lunch provided by the Court catering team. Seamlessly, and after verifying their identity,
our HPC Visitor team shepherded the delegates into two waiting luxury coaches destined for the
construction site. Whilst travelling along the c-class road, Mick and Ian —ably assisted by the EDF Tour
Guides— explained the positive impact and infrastructure improvements a project of this magnitude has
on the local community.
What the delegates witnessed on the tour is a story for another day, but the resounding feedback was
that this 90-min experience was worth the attendance fee alone. The sheer size and efficient methods
used to protect the site is awe-inspiring! Or is that just me writing what I think they should have said? If
you feel as if you missed out on this learning opportunity, then please look out for the much-improved
2023 HPC conference when we hope to have the dome on our nuclear island structures. This is truly
history in the making and something that will provide low-carbon energy for your children and their
children.