PMCI - October 2014

to spot basic surveillance and strategies to counter it. Having spent
time on protective security details in parts of Central and Latin
America knowing that you are being watched and that one false
move could cause problems, is not a pleasant feeling but one I
would rather know about in advance than not.
Think about your digital footprint in a world where cybertheft
and illicit exchange of personal information is becoming the
fastest-growing criminal frontier. Consider how you make your
travel reservations, how you pay for them, what information you
include on your lost luggage labels. Limit, as far as is possible,
the amount of details you either actively or passively divulge to
third parties, as you never know where they may end up. You
should actively engage with the local community, of course, but
beware of persistent requests for personal details or patterns of
behaviour. They are most likely completely innocent but can
equally be easily deflected to minimise risk. Finally, never, ever
travel by road at night through known trouble spots, unless no
other options are open to you.
Emergency
Response Procedures
In the unlikely event all your planning fails you, it will be
vital to devise an emergency response plan that ensures that the
unexpected has already been planned for. Your response plan
should consider, first and foremost, communications and healthcare.
Part of the reason I feel safer when at the office in Bogotá is
not because it is intrinsically any less dangerous that other places
in Latin America but because I know where the 3G network functions
(and where the blackspots are), I know where the Hospitals
are located, which ones have advanced trauma facilities and how
long it´s going to take me to get to them. That is some reassurance
in an unpredictable operating environment.
“Crisis Management” may sound excessive but you have to
go down the road of contingency planning, no matter how innocent
your trip may appear. For a business, a crisis management
team would be made up of senior individuals from various areas
of the business (a Board Director, Head of Security, HR, various
specialists). For a family holiday, your “team” would be your
family back home, who know where you are and know what is
expected of them in the event there is a crisis while you´re away.
Families can be left with detailed lists of instructions, emergency
procedures and contact numbers. A professional crisis management
team should have formalised procedures and receive regular
training, including red-teaming a variety of scenarios. The first
twelve hours following any crisis are critical, and knowing what
actions you will take is essential.
Evacuation Planning
At the extreme end, evacuation might be called upon
in the event of anything ranging from a medical emergency
to a military coup. However, “evacuation” could also involve
safely leaving a vessel. Do not assume that people
in positions of authority will give you the right advice, or
will have practiced drills for the kind of crisis situation
you are facing. The evacuation of the Sewol ferry off the
coast of South Korea in April 2014 was badly botched by
senior officials, who failed to recognise the scale of the
problem. The Captain of the Costa Concordia, rather than
manage the orderly and safe exit of passengers from his
ship, decided to leave them to their own fate in the waters
of the Mediterranean while he fled the scene.
During the recent unrest in Venezuela, I supported
various clients in building safe rooms and creating country
evacuation plans by land, sea and air. One of the scenarios
we had to consider was a military shutdown of ports and
land borders, as well as the refusal to allow aircraft to
refuel. If this had materialised, with no easy route out,
the recommended course of action may well have been
be to “hunker down” rather than attempt evacuation immediately.
If you decide to stay put, you need to be secure and
have access to some sort of safe room, with its own internal
locking system and multiple modes of communication. It
needs to be well-stocked with non-perishable food and
bottled water and you will need to keep with you copies
of all your relevant travel documents, visas, and tickets,
for the moment you decide to leave. Having reviewed the
residences of some extremely high net-worth clients to
check their safety, I am always surprised by how frequently
such easy, positive, security measures are overlooked.
I have two final pieces of advice.
First, in spite of any training course you have ever
been on, no matter how much advice has been thrown at
you, forget everything you have learnt in a classroom and
trust your instincts. They will most likely be right. But
here’s the funny thing; the more experienced I get, the
more my instincts change.
Finally, the world is a stunning, beautiful, exciting
place that is there to be experienced and enjoyed. As
communications improve and distances shorten, we are
able to get to places only accessible to a select few a
generation ago.
Never lose that sense of hoping for the best, otherwise there
is no point boarding the plane - but always plan for the worst.