MI5 warn open-plan offices 'raise bomb risk'

Published on 17/03/2006 01:40

THE trend towards open-plan offices without internal walls could put employees at increased risk in the event of a terrorist bomb, MI5 has warned business leaders.

The advice comes as the Security Service steps up its advice to companies on how to prepare for an attack.

MI5 has produced a 40-page leaflet, "Protecting Against Terrorism", which will be distributed to large businesses and public-sector bodies across Britain.

Among the guidance in the pamphlet is that bosses should consider the security implications of getting rid of internal walls.

Open-plan offices are increasingly popular as businesses seek to improve communication and cooperation between employees. But MI5 points out that there are potential risks, too.

"If you are converting your building to open-plan accommodation, remember that the removal of internal walls reduces protection against blast and fragments," the leaflet says.

All businesses should make contingency plans for keeping staff safe in the event of a bomb attack, the Security Service advises.

Instead of automatically evacuating staff, companies are recommended to gather workers in a designated "protected space" until the location of the bomb can be confirmed.

"Since glass and other fragments may kill or maim at a considerable distance from the centre of a large explosion, moving staff into protected spaces is often safer than evacuating them on to the streets," the leaflet cautions.

Interior rooms with reinforced concrete or masonry walls often make suitable protected spaces, as they tend to remain intact in the event of an explosion outside the building, employers are told.

But open-plan offices often lack such places, and can have other effects on emergency planning: "If corridors no longer exist then you may also lose your evacuation routes, assembly or protected spaces, while the new layout will probably affect your bomb threat contingency procedures."

Companies converting to open-plan are told to ensure that there is no significant reduction in staff protection, "for instance by improving glazing protection".

The booklet has been produced by MI5's National Security Advice Centre to advise organisations that "own or operate key assets, services and systems which form part of the UK's critical national infrastructure".

Copies are now being distributed to businesses including banks, transport companies, water and power suppliers and communications providers. The document can also be downloaded from the MI5 website.

MI5, police chiefs, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office's Civil Contingencies Secretariat are all increasing their efforts to encourage businesses and individuals to review their preparations for a potential attack.

Some government counter-terrorism experts are concerned that despite the suicide attacks on London last summer, public opinion about the threat of attack still lags some way behind the official analysis of the danger.

Some Whitehall insiders hope that may change in coming months, as a number of groups accused of plotting terrorist offences in Britain come to trial and the allegations against them can be openly reported.

Peter Clarke, the Metropolitan Police's most senior anti-terrorism expert, last month revealed to a London security conference that there are up to 60 accused terrorists awaiting trial in British courts at the moment.

The first such major trial is provisionally due to begin in London on Monday, after several legal delays.