With increasing improvements in technology one tends to think that any industry depends on engineering. Nevertheless the human element should still be considered seriously. Especially as far as security is concerned.

After 9/11 experts have recognised the maritime industry as a prime target to terrorist attacks. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has, on that purpose, set up regulations which will come into force in 2004. If they wish to comply with these regulations, port authorities will have to strengthen their security systems. And one of their weakest links remains the human factor, as in any other industry...

Permanent or temporary workers can be a source of consequential loss for a company. Because they will inevitably not be fully trained or experienced, contract workers can represent a higher degree of risk to both safety and security.

For example in December 1991 an explosion killed six and wounded three temporary workers in a chemical factory at Rotterdam, Netherlands. The workers had not measured the consequences of a mixture between benzoic acid and air. This lack of training and/or supervision not only resulted in loss of life, but it also seriously damaged the factory's reputation.

Another example involving the responsibilities of temporary staff occurred in the UK postal service. In 2002 the Royal Mail admitted that about 500,000 items were either lost or delayed every week. Mistakes at sorting offices accounted for one cause of the problem. To counter this, the British company promised to give better training to its contract employees. No human life was lost but the price to pay was high in terms of cost and reputation.

Turning from safety to security in 1999 at London's Heathrow airport it was revealed that all contract employees from a cleaning firm were given passes which allowed them random access throughout the airport. The consequences of such an "unprotected" system were only fully realised 2 years later! If one only has to be a temporary cleaner to hang around the busiest airport in the world, what is security about? This inevitably shows the necessity to have in place a watertight system of employee identification.

Parallels can easily be drawn with ports. Authorities have to be aware of the impacts that one human failure can have. Hence the requirement to train permanent and temporary workers properly in the security regulations of the port concerned. IMO regulations can only help in raising security standards. With the terrorist threat weighing on the maritime industry, mistakes can lead to disaster. It is therefore important to stress the relevance of a security training program set up in any port worldwide. Given so many lives potentially at risk, the appropriate program should not only be provided at a top level but also at a lower level. Since temporary employees per se do not work in ports on a permanent basis, they are rarely aware of the detail of existing regulations, including those related to security. For that reason it is essential to train these workers before they start any employment. Whilst it might be cheaper to employ temporary/part time rather than permanent workers in case of an incident who pays for the consequence if not the management?

Another important issue in security is the role of commercial disclosure. It should not be ignored. Any employee, whatever their level in the company, can provide confidential information to anybody outside the company, amongst whom may well be those ill-intentioned to that organization. Trust is essential in business relations but it is equally important to remain vigilant.

Take the food industry. What if a disgruntled or simply a talkative employee of a major drinks company gives away the recipe of a famous product to a competitor? Of course he/she will be disciplined but... too late: the product will be made by some other organization happy to steal considerable market share.

To summarize the above parallels within one incident. A major US consumer goods company used to employ temporary workers annually when the factory went on vacation in August. Their batch scheduling was planning a launch of their most profitable brand in a foreign country in October 2002. Immediately prior to the holidays the stock was placed in their air conditioned warehouse. The security staff, in addition to their ordinary duties, monitored the temperature. In August the permanent staff from the company took vacation and temporary staff, from a security outsource agency, were employed. Needless to say the temperatures were not monitored correctly and after export to the foreign country the stock was noticed to have both a peculiar taste and smell. The stock had to be withdrawn, the momentum of launch was lost and it took two months for the reason for this to be traced. As a result some millions of dollars of profit were lost.

In their examination of lessons to be learnt from the incident the company discovered that it had:

• no overall system for dealing with a crisis

• no major training program in place for temporary employees

• no effective acknowledgment of the scope of duties carried out by the security staff

It learned that it had also failed to recognise the importance of the security staff.

Temporary staff plays an important role in most organizations but they need to be involved in the same processes as permanent workers. They need to be subject to careful selection and scrutiny, detailed training for their responsibilities and given effective knowledge of the security requirement. All organizations need a security program which incorporates amongst other issues detailed training and regular evaluation.

Given the potential threat all users of ports facilities need to be assured this is in place.