Drones as Security Tools

Headnote

Enterprise Services

Unmanned aircraft can provide enterprise security teams with a number of potential use cases, including improving incident response, investigations and more.

At Lyondell Basel I, Global Director of Crisis Management and Security Scott McHugh is using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to enhance situational awareness at a large-scale manufacturing plant. The drones have proven their value.

"Chemical manufacturing plants tend to be very large with lots of acreages and, in the past, we've used security officers to conduct perimeter patrols," McHugh says. "Drones are able to do those tedious and repetitive tasks very efficiently and rapidly. Plus, they never lose their focus. They are consistently attentive to their task."

A recent event shows how drones make the company's security efforts more efficient and effective. "As a security patrol drone was launching and climbing to its patrol height, it noticed, far into the distance, a wisp of smoke coming from an area of our property that was remote, undeveloped and difficult to access well over a mile away," he shares. "We changed the patrol path and sent the drone to the area in question to further investigate and discovered a brush fire, which was immediately reported to our on-site fire department. It's very unlikely that a manned security patrol would have seen that fire."

Security industry professionals say drones have the potential to enhance their efforts across a range of industries. With eyes in the sky, security teams can expand their situational awareness while making more effective use of their human resources.

Why Drones?

"Drones give security a unique situational awareness benefit," says Mark McCourt, Chair of the Security Industry Association's Robotics, Drones & AI Working Group. "You're gathering valuable sensor data that can be immediately shared. If you're securing a facility and the perimeter, there is no better viewpoint than being in the sky."

Drones have the potential to expand intelligence of an area, "especially in a difficult [or hazardous] environment," says Mark Schreiber, CPP, CPD, President and Principal Consultant at Safeguards Consulting Inc.

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