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Security insight. Real-world expertise.
Advice, perspectives and stories from the people protecting businesses and communities across South Wales.
- Security advice
What does effective security look like for your business?
From the first risk assessment to the people on the ground, discover what makes a security plan work.
24 September 2026 · 6 min read
Security insight. Real-world expertise.
Advice, perspectives and stories from the people protecting businesses and communities across South Wales.
- Security advice
What does effective security look like for your business?
From the first risk assessment to the people on the ground, discover what makes a security plan work.
24 September 2026 · 6 min read
What does effective security look like for your business?
From the first risk assessment to the people on the ground, discover what makes a security plan work.
- · 3 min read
- From our team
Latest articles
Uncategorized
- · 3 min read
Stay safe this Halloween!
Although Halloween is a time of fun and festivities, it can also be a time for opportunists to take advantage. To ensure that you don’t get a fright this holiday, use these simple tips to keep yourself, your family and your home safe and secure.
Tips to Keep Your Home Safe this Halloween
With most people out trick or treating or attending Halloween parties, there is no better opportunity for some tricksters to burglarise your home. With it being darker earlier and a lot of mysterious people wandering around in costume, it is important that you ensure your valuables and your home stays as safe as they can be. Here are some essential tips to remember whether you are in or out this Halloween!
- Close all windows and lock all doors
- Set your home alarm
- Ensure entrance ways and doorways are well lit
- Keep the bushes and hedges trimmed to make your home visible
- Double check all candles are extinguished
- Don’t keep spare keys outside
- Don’t advertise that no one is home on social media
Read: Home Security Tips
Tips to Make Your Home Safe for Trick or Treaters
As the sun sets, you’ll soon be greeted by little ghosts and goblins knocking at your door and shouting ‘trick or treat!’ Therefore, with so many people out and around your property, it is your duty to ensure that it is as safe as it can be. To help you do just that, here are a few tips to put in place:
- Check all walkways are clear and well light
- Check and secure any railings
- Avoid using candles for pumpkins that are outside
- Make sure all pets are secure and confined inside the house
- Make sure to buy a variety of sweets to suit all ages and don’t leave them outside
Tips to Keep Your Family Safe this Halloween
Dressing up and going trick or treating is a fun and innocent past time during Halloween, however, accidents can always happen, so children and parents need to be aware of how to ensure it stays this way. To make sure you stay safe and respect others, here are a few basic tips to follow:
- Young children should always be escorted by an adult
- Young children should be told not to enter anyone’s house
- Ensure children stay away from candles / exposed flames
- Educate your children on good Halloween behaviour
- Only go to houses where the occupants are happy to welcome trick or treaters
- Respect residents that don’t want to participate in the festivities
- Be careful not to frighten the elderly or vulnerable
- Stay in areas that are well lit or take a torch with you
- Always look carefully before crossing roads
While it is essential to be safe this Halloween, it is just as important to have fun! If you remember these simple tips, then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Need more help with safety and security? Check out our other guides for more advice and information or get in touch!
Stay safe this Halloween! Although Halloween is a time of fun and festivities, it can also be a time for
Uncategorized
- · 3 min read
Being more prepared and resilient can give a competitive advantage to your business, so isn’t this alone worth the investment? Hopefully, after this article, you’ll agree that it is.
Depending on circumstances and risk, every business can assess their situation and decide how much time and money they want to invest into their company. Whether that is carrying out their own assessment and making changes or obtaining specialist threat training, the end goal is the same: to be more prepared for workplace threats than they were previously. Only then can they ensure the safety of their assets and their employees.
There are many advantages of being prepared in the workplace for both employers and employees so it’s crucial that both parties put in the time and effort to identify and prepare for any hazard or threat to the business. For this reason, we’ve listed some of the most important advantages of being prepared below.
Better Internal Communication and Management
Being prepared in the workplace means that not only will employees be better able to recognise an incident, but they will also be able to report it to the relevant department. This may not seem that important, but internal communication is actually extremely necessary should a threat arise. It is staggering that 38% of companies still have no security response plan in place and only 17% of managers feel fully prepared to handle a security breach; it is particularly worrying as cyber hacks are on the rise and that no plan means that employees are particularly vulnerable.
By being prepared, information can be passed quickly through the chain of command and dealt with effectively and efficiently. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that companies have a plan and training or even an incident response team in place.
Read: How Would You or Your Staff React to a Threat Situation?
A Safer Work Environment
As employers, we have a duty of care to ensure that our workers are as safe as they can be and this includes any potential threat to the work environment. From workplace violence and bullying to external threats such as terrorism, employees need to be prepared for all potential situations so that they can act calmly and efficiently to ensure their safety and the safety of others. After all, our employees are the face and first point of contact in our businesses, so their safety is key.
Reduction or Even Prevention of Loss
Being prepared in the workplace means that we can minimise or even completely prevent loss, whether that is the loss of data in a cybersecurity breach or in extreme cases of terrorism, lives. Any kind of loss is detrimental to a business, so naturally, all types of security should be a priority including threat awareness and preparedness. Only when employees are aware and prepared for every potential situation can they respond accordingly and influence the outcome of that event.
Read: Terrorism Awareness Training: Are Your Staff Threat Aware?
Removes Fear and Anxiety
With the recent bouts of terrorist attacks, it is really important that businesses take the time to make their employees feel safe and one of the best ways to do this is to give them the necessary tools to protect themselves. Not only will this reassure your employees and make them more productive, but it will also ensure that any given situation will have the least impact.
By training our employees to be more vigilant and aware, we can remove the fear and anxiety that is associated with the unknown whilst also preparing for the worst-case scenario. Employees know what to do in the event of a fire and in some places a natural disaster evacuation, so why should it be any different with workplace threats?
Read: What Types of Threats Can We Face in the Workplace
Threat awareness and preparedness, like worker health and safety, is becoming obligatory in the workplace, so being prepared needs to be at the top of our priority lists. After all, we can always improve our businesses and our responses to situations, so why not start here now?
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What we can do for you:
If you’re interested in knowing more about threat awareness training for your staff, RGM are offering training courses developed by Counter Terrorism and Threat Specialists. If you need training or just advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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Need more information about threat awareness? Check out our other articles:
Being more prepared and resilient can give a competitive advantage to your business, so isn’t this alone worth the investment?
Uncategorized
- · 4 min read
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What is a threat?
Threat
Noun
1. A statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action on someone in retribution for something done or not done.
2. A person or thing likely to cause damage or danger.
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The word “threat” means different things to different people. After all, a threat can be anything that makes us feel threatened, anything that can suggest or actually cause both mental or physical pain; a threat is an act of coercion.
Many of us may go through life without ever being threatened or even being in a situation where someone else is being threatened. However, for others, they may not be so lucky. Typically, the workplace tends to be an environment where threats are more likely to happen.
So what can we do, if anything?
As with everything in life, by simply being aware and prepared, we can diffuse most situations that we face in the workplace. To help you be more aware of workplace threats that can occur, here is our list of the types of threats we can face in the workplace.
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Types of Threats in the Workplace
1. Workplace Violence
Workplace violence is defined as any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, disruptive or threatening behaviour that happens in the workplace. With such a wide range of acts that come under the violence umbrella, from written or physical abuse to theft or explosives, there is also different ‘types’ of workplace violence. Whether it is between employees, an employee and a client, an employee and a spouse, or an employee and a criminal outsider, if all these threats happen within the workplace, they are a part of this category. Obviously, some businesses and companies are at a bigger risk than others when it comes to workplace violence, however, it is worth being more aware if you deal with money or your work involves early mornings or late nights.
2. Workplace Bullying
Although you may think this should come under workplace violence, workplace bullying is in its own category. Unlike violence, bullying is not random. Bullying is a targeted, persistent mistreatment of someone that is intended to humiliate, control or threaten their emotional, mental, or physical well-being. It is also different to bullying in school, as often the bully is someone who has authority over the victim or by peers who are often operating within the established rules and policies of their organisation. The severe effects of workplace bullying are obviously limited to the individual, however, it can also lead to reduced employee morale and changes in the organisational culture.
3. Mailed Threats
When we think of mailed threats, we think of the kind we’ve seen in films where a note is formed of cut up letters from magazines, but they can be a lot more serious than that. Nowadays, threats in the mail usually consist of death threats or attempts at sending explosives and usually targets people who handle mail and packages or people who work in buildings that do. Depending on the severity of these threats, mailed threats can sometimes cross into the realms of terrorist attacks.
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4. Asbestos & Chemical Threats
Threats can also come in the form of materials, rather than certain people targeting others with violence. For example, it has long been recognised that asbestos is a workplace threat, especially in older buildings, as breathing in its fibres can cause serious lung diseases and cancer. Other potential workplace threats depend on the type of job and materials that are being handled, such as gas or chemical leaks, burns, or inhaling toxic fumes from hazardous chemicals or gases. Although more and more measures are put in place all the time to make working conditions safer for workers, there is always a chance of coming into contact with these risks.
5. Terrorism
Although rare, terrorism is a threat that the workplace needs to be aware of and prepared for just as much as the others. With the recent bout of terrorist attacks, you can appreciate why. Being prepared is essential to prevent and manage a potential situation, and to minimise the outcome, therefore businesses should be spending a sufficient amount of time raising awareness of terrorism with their employees, training them to act in a potential situation, and running threat drills to regularly enforce this training.
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As there are so many different threats that we can face in the workplace, it is important that employees are made aware and are trained to be prepared for them all. For this reason, businesses should have policies and procedures in place to ensure that staff can respond safely and effectively to any situation.
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What we can do for you:
If you’re interested in knowing more about threat awareness training for your staff, RGM are offering training courses developed by Counter Terrorism and Threat Specialists. If you need training or just advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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Need more information about threat awareness? Check out our other articles:
a What is a threat? Threat Noun 1. A statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other
Uncategorized
- · 4 min read
Weak passwords are a huge security risk to any business, as they are the only thing standing between hackers accessing your confidential data. You wouldn’t leave the door to your business open, would you? Yet, many of us are guilty of using the same password for multiple accounts, the equivalent of leaving the door wide open to physical theft.
As passwords are usually the weakest security link within an organisation’s network (we are sure you’ve heard about the recent bout of cyber hacks!), we’ve put together some essential tips to help you keep your passwords safe and therefore your business!
Simple Rules
As a rule of thumb, a weak password is short (less than 8 characters) and uses only letters, while a strong password is longer (at least 11 characters) and uses a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters (*&^). To keep your passwords strong, keep in mind these simple rules:
- Don’t ever use ‘password’
- Don’t use common passwords
- Don’t use single/paired words that hackers can find in the dictionary (they have dictionary-based tools to try all of them!)
- Don’t use a derivative of your name
- Don’t use personal information that hackers can find on Facebook
- Don’t use easy combinations of numbers (e.g 123456)
- Don’t ever write your passwords down or give them to anyone else
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Keep Your Passwords Safe with These 10 Tips
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1) Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols and numbers
Passwords that are as meaningless and random as possible are the hardest to crack!
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2) Change your password regularly, at least every 3 months
Make sure not to reuse any old passwords. To make them easier to remember, try adding the month and year at the end and update it every couple of months. You’ll also be aware how old the password is as well this way!
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3) Use different passwords for different sites
This may seem like common sense but it’s surprising how much we all reuse the same password for things. While this makes it easier for us to remember, this also makes it easier for a hacker to access every account that you use it for!
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4) Consider using a password manager such as LastPass or RoboForm
If you have too many passwords to remember, rather than writing them down, use a password manager that encrypts and stores your passwords for you! These systems secure all your passwords safely for you, they enter them automatically for you, and you only have to remember one master password to access the programme.
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5) Create long passwords using phrases
You are more likely to remember phrases and you can use both upper and lowercase letters, such as “LiveAndLetDie” or “WhoDaresWins.”
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6) To make your passwords more complex, add on a simple number sequence
Once you have your phrase, make your password harder by adding 3 or 4 numbers. Think of a combination that only you know and add that onto all your passwords, e.g “LiveAndLetDie007.”
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7) Choose a password that you can type quickly
If your password takes a while to type or you can only do it slowly, a potential hacker could watch you type it and know your password for later.
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8) Implement a password-protected screen saver
If your job involves you leaving your work station every now and then, a password-protected screen saver will ensure that no one can access your computer if you haven’t logged off. When possible, always try to log off or lock your computer (CTRL + ALT + DEL) before you step away.
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9) Don’t click “yes” to save passwords on websites
For extra safety, it is always better to remember your passwords rather than save them. Choose a password that you can commit to memory or store them in a reliable password programme!
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10) The best password combination: create a password phrase that you can customise for each website!
Choose a long phrase that you can remember, such as “I want to go to France” and abbreviate it by using the first letter of each word and change the “to” to 2 – “iw2g2f.” Lastly, add in the first letter of the website at the beginning of the phrase and the last letter at the end of the phrase to make it unique! E.g Facebook – “Fiw2g2fK” – or Gmail – “Giw2g2fL.”
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In every business, there is confidential and sensitive information that needs to be stored and protected. Therefore, all employers need to stress the importance of data protection and teach their employees how to be safe, and employees need to put these precautions into practice. Only once we all acknowledge this security issue and take responsibility for how we can contribute to crime prevention, will cyber security start to become less common.
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Think of your passwords as your digital keys and keep your online property safe!
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What we can do for you:
If you’re interested in knowing more about threat awareness training for your staff, RGM are offering training courses developed by Counter Terrorism and Threat Specialists. If you need training or just advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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Check out our other articles to keep every aspect of your business safe:
Weak passwords are a huge security risk to any business, as they are the only thing standing between hackers accessing
Uncategorized
- · 4 min read
Running threat drills in the workplace to respond to situations such as workplace violence or terrorism is extremely important. Especially now with the escalation in terrorist attacks, being more threat aware is the only way that we can be prepared and therefore respond appropriately.
The response of staff in a threat situation could lead to two possible outcomes:
- They REACT and escalate a situation or
- They ACT and manage it
Obviously, some people may naturally react to a situation quite calmly and are able to manage it. However, for many of us, only by being prepared would we be able to know what to do and act accordingly.
This logic obviously makes sense to many organisations, as we wouldn’t otherwise have to take in part in regular fire drills in the workplace or soldiers wouldn’t have to go through boot camp to be released into the field. These drills are considered invaluable to condition us to react under real circumstances, should they arise, therefore threat and terrorism drills should be taken just as seriously.
Having a threat response plan in place is all well and good if you never need to use it, however, if these situations were to arise, would you or your staff know how to respond?
To emphasise just how important running threat drills are in the workplace, here are some of the main benefits.
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Threat drills teach staff to expect the unexpected
Any kind of drill helps condition people to carry out desired actions instinctively and naturally in situations that need direction and clear thinking. In specific drills, such as ones for cyber security, terrorism or violent customers, you can even throw in particular obstacles to change each drill and help your staff to adapt to changing situations.
Having regular effective threat drills will give staff confidence, replacing panic and fear with a reflex for action.
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They help you identify weaknesses and improve responses
Often, when you hear of particular threat events, there are always casualties that could have been avoided and sometimes even the event itself. The best way to ensure the safety of staff and other people in the vicinity (and to do everything you can to PREVENT) is to put the most efficient and effective responses in place and practice them regularly. Each drill may uncover flaws or potential weaknesses that you’ll need to improve on.
Read: Terrorism Awareness Training: Are Your Staff Threat Aware?
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Threat drills help improve workplace communication
Communication is essential to reducing the threat of workplace violence and to ensure effective responses to any threat situation. To ensure this happens, upper management should open communication at all levels of the crisis team structure so that your staff on the front lines know the executive team is concerned for their safety. By promoting open communication on every level, staff will be more likely to say if they see something or suspect something suspicious.
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They prepare staff for all threats
Companies need to make each drill as real and unpredictable as possible to ensure that all staff develop their initiative and quick-thinking skills. You can also make each drill role-playing to make them very specific to certain threat situations and test how well employees have understood certain security risks.
Security Tip: If your company is a part of a retail centre, you could also collaborate with your suppliers, business partners, the security team or other retail stores to develop joint response processes. That way you can all practice together, learn from other’s mistakes and evaluate the best process for scenarios that involve multiple parties.
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Threat drills remove fear
It is important for employees to learn how to make smarter security decisions – therefore companies shouldn’t worry about causing panic among staff, as these threat situations could actually happen and they need to be prepared for their safety. At the end of the day, knowledge is key and by being prepared, you’ll find that staff will be less afraid.
Security Tip: Assign certain daily roles to people, such as implementing a “BOLO” or “Be On the Look Out” person. This simple task not only gives a sense of importance to this training, but it is also an effective way of actually identifying suspicious behaviour, and saying something early enough to potentially prevent something from happening.
Read: Be Threat Aware, Not Afraid
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When it comes to preparing your employees for every threat situation, the key is to create an effective plan, then train regularly upon that plan and perfect it.
So, while we may not be able to completely prevent a terroristic event or workplace violence, we can be vigilant, well-prepared and able to respond to such threats that we greatly reduce the damage caused.
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What we can do for you:
If you’re interested in knowing more about threat awareness training for your staff, RGM is offering training courses developed by Counter-Terrorism and Threat Specialists. If you need training or just advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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Need more information about threat awareness? Check out our other articles:
Running threat drills in the workplace to respond to situations such as workplace violence or terrorism is extremely important. Especially
Uncategorized
- · 3 min read
Threat drills are routine across many industries, from the police practicing for active shooters to school fire drills and retailers preparing for Black Friday’s crazy shoppers. It makes sense, being prepared for the worst case scenario, as people need to respond effectively, but what actually makes these drills a success?
When we think back to our fire drills back in school, although everyone was conditioned to calmly walk as fast as possible to the nearest assembly point, they weren’t really taken seriously.
So what makes a good or a bad drill and how do you run an effective one?
The Keys of a Good Threat Drill
1. Make them fun
It’s no secret that when people enjoy something they are more likely to remember it, so although threat drills are preparing people for very serious situations, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be fun! Something as simple as splitting people into groups and making it a race or shutting an emergency door that would normally be open will make the simulations more challenging.
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2. Do monthly threat drills
By doing a drill a month, you can cover a wide range of potential threat situations. For example, one month could be employee or customer violence, while the next could be a terrorist attack. The most important aspect? Always make them spontaneous to promote initiative and quick thinking.
Read: Terrorism Awareness Training: Are Your Staff Threat Aware?
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3. Review them regularly
The only way you can improve on a threat response is by practicing, reviewing and implementing the changes. Therefore, every good threat drill should have a review on what could happen and what everyone should do to be safe. If you want to make this process more fun and effective, why not make it a quiz? Just be sure to reinforce the specific actions and directions that people need to know so that they can put this into action next time.
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4. Make the threat drills as real as possible
When carrying out drills for the threats that are specific to your area, the more real and serious you can make them the better. Whether that is hiring professional actors to play a violent ex-employee or potential terrorist, or shutting off the power, your staff need to understand that these situations aren’t going to be easy or scripted and that they’ll have to prepared for anything.
Read: How Would You or Your Staff React to a Threat Situation?
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5. Carry out night drills if appropriate
Threat situations don’t always happen in normal work hours, so neither should your drills! If your retail store is open till late or you have security staff on overnight shifts, then night time drills are especially important. Again, try to make these drills as real as possible so that you condition real responses from your staff.
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6. Always conduct an evaluation
Evaluation is perhaps the MOST important part of any threat drill, so make sure to evaluate your drill reviews every couple of months. Ask yourself, how did your plan work? Were there any situations that you couldn’t simulate and if so, how will you make your staff aware and prepared for this? What took you by surprise? Were there any weaknesses or hazards? What changes do you need to make to your threat response? What would be the next step, if this was a real disaster?
Read: 6 Easy Ways To Find Security Weaknesses In Your Business
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If you never test and evaluate your threat drills, then how can you expect to fix any potential problems and ensure an effective response?
This is something that no one can afford in a threat situation. So make sure you implement these easy tips and practice to make perfect!
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What we can do for you:
If you’re interested in knowing more about threat awareness training for your staff, RGM are offering training courses developed by Counter Terrorism and Threat Specialists. If you need training or just advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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Need more information about threat awareness? Check out our other articles:
Threat drills are routine across many industries, from the police practicing for active shooters to school fire drills and retailers
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