Steve Scorfield Technology Manager System Sensor Europe
A recount of how a couple of the world’s finest and largest integrated security systems projects were conceived and methodically executed.
The 27 million ton Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery was the first manufacturing complex of its kind, having a fully integrated petroleum refinery, petrochemicals complex, captive power plants, and a captive port, with related infrastructure. It represents the single largest investment at a single site in India. The refinery complex is divided into eight separate units or plants spread in an area of 7,000 acres. with over 10,000 employees. The integrated security system consists of 170 controllers with 350 smart card and hand geometry readers linked via TCP/IP and programmed via customized host software to monitor Access, Alarms, CCTV and Time Attendance functions.
An internal transportation system of buses ensures smooth movement of people within the complex. The 40 passengers in a bus are submitted to access control via a portable card reader and controller. The information from this portable controller is transmitted to the main computer via antennas placed under bridges spread on the vehicle route. Alarms are raised if employees are missing or not allowed on the bus, thereby reducing queues resulting from simultaneous arrival of thousands of people on a shift.
An Electric Fence and just 20 odd high specification strategically placed PTZ cameras using digital Video over IP transferring an amazing 25 frames per second at 4SIF (full D1) resolution with a latency of under 300 milliseconds back to the control room over a gigabyte bandwidth dedicated local area network) protects the 63 kms of the perimeter.
This was the first project to have truck drivers, cleaners and laborers use the hand geometry readers. It was also the first project to store templates of black listed users in a database. The valid users are checked regularly against this databank - one to many match.
The system design was conceived and implemented over 1998-99 On 13th September 2000 the Security Control Room at Jamnagar was inaugurated by the late Sh Dhirubhai Ambani. Project Cost US$ 6 Million.
"Unbelievable, but true". At least in the case of the petroleum and telecommunications major Reliance Industries, the above cliche is true. The electronic surveillance and security systems installed at their Jamnagar Refinery and across more than 5000 sites of Reliance Infocomm have proven that deployment of electronic security systems is not only cost effective but even contributory to the bottom line. Sample this fact, - the US $6 million (Rs.30 Crores) invested on the state-of-the-art electronic security system installed at the Jamnagar Refinery in the year 1999-2000 was recovered to a great extent from just the rebates that international insurers offered Reliance, after assessing the reduced risk due to the application of electronic security systems. The US$ 18 million (Rs. 80 Crores) invested in 2002 on securing and electronically monitoring the 5000 telecommunication sites has resulted in the ROI for Reliance Infocomm in just 12 months! Simple arithmetic shows that if Reliance was to deploy roundthe- clock manned security at each of these 5000 sites, and assuming the cost per month per site was US$ 300 (Rs.13,500) at current wage rates, then their outgo over a 12 month period would be a whopping US$ 18 million (Rs. 81 Crores)! It does not need a genius to calculate the savings thereafter. This amazing security engineering business model was not created by default.
It took a team of dedicated specialists to conceive and make this happen. The navigator of this team was none other than the hard task master, Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries. He chose his men well and then backed them to the hilt with lots of faith and trust. He did not cringeand balk when the capital outlay on security was put before him. His far sighted vision told him that benefits would be huge. His unflinching belief in his men told him that their pioneering efforts would succeed in delivering the desirables. And succeed, they did! Reliance Infocomm’s integrated wide area networked (WAN) based electronic security systems project has no global parallel. It is perhaps the single largest project of its kind in the world using Video over WAN surveillance.
The provision and management of security for more than 5000 sites of the telephony and broadband major has been no cake walk. The entire security automation systems project was conceived, planned, researched, fine-tuned and executed professionally in a record 24 months. This is, in itself, an indicator of the pace at which Reliance operates. Starting from zero it has, in a short span of two years emerged as India's largest mobile service broadband provider with over 8 million customers based in 1100 towns. It has established a pan-India, high-capacity, integrated (wireless and wireline) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network, through its next generation fibre optic network backbone spanning a whopping 60,000 kms route across India.
Born in 1952 HS Pannu studied in Punjab before joining the Central Industrial Security Force, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in 1975. He rose to the rank of Sr. Commandant and in 1992 he was offered an overseas UN assignment of going on deputation to Cambodia under the aegis of United Nations. He served as Provincial Commandant in-charge of the Ratnagiri Province famous for Diamond Mines in Cambodia, before he was elevated as the UN Civil Police commissioner of the Capital City Pnom Penh under the United Nations . He returned to CISF in 1994 and served in Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir and Mumbai, guarding strategic installations of the Indian government. It was probably his good work in the strife torn Cambodia and the "fortune favours the brave" attitude that he soon after received a oncein- a life time offer as being appointed as the Police Advisor to the Secretary General of United Nations to serve in New York. With tax free salary and a highly prestigious post this opportunity was too good to let go. He immediately tried to get relieved from CISF, but could was unsuccessful in his attempt as he was refused Government clearance . The opportunity passed. In 1996 he got another opportunity as being appointed as a special representative to the United Nations to serve in Vienna, Austria. This time around he eventually put in his papers CISF. But instead of landing in Vienna he landed in Jamnagar as he was persuaded by no other than the top leader of RIL to take on the challenging job as the Security Chief of the green field Reliance Refinery. Pannu has not looked back ever since. Today he is responsible for protecting the entire Rs 99,157 crore (US$ 24 billion) worth of assets of the Reliance Group, in addition to the elite human assets.
In an exclusive interview to SECURITY TODAY, the core team relived the moments of this mammoth project. Commandant HS Pannu, the hard core Director of Security at Reliance says, "In 1997 when I got the mandate from Mukesh Bhai, that the Jamnagar refinery was to wear state-of-the-art electronic protection, I started my search for a project consultant who could come up with a system design that fitted our rather innovative, customized and futuristic protection requirements". Pannu’s global search zeroed him on to less than a handful of specialist companies.
Gabi Surujon of International Security & Defense Systems (ISDS), an Israeli government approved security consulting and counterterrorism training company that ultimately was appointed at the technical consultant to the project recounts, "While pitching for the project in 1988 I was surprised to find the requirements of Reliance very futuristic"."The task was very challenging", he adds.
Gabi Surujon is a qualified electronics and computer engineer from Israel. His brilliance can be gauged from the fact that he completed his degree in one and a half years instead the usual three. He worked for the Israeli intelligence for four years before he took up security engineering as his career. Having spent 20 years in this role, he has worked for some very prestigious names in the industry such as Israeli Aircraft Industries and Motorola, amongst others. He is currently working at a senior position with the International Security & Defense Systems Ltd (ISDS) of Israel an international, high profile system design and consultancy company. ISDS has been designing the security for the Olympic Games for the past 24 years apart from securing luminaries such as the Pope, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elton John and the US Presidents amongst others.
Once HS Pannu was satisfied with the design of the system that Gabi suggested the task of finding the right systems integrator commenced. Many such vendors were reviewed. Finally Magal Security Systems Ltd., an Israeli specialist engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of computerized security systems, which automatically detect, locate and identify the nature of unauthorized intrusions was chosen. Magal products are currently used in more than 70 countries worldwide to protect national borders, airports, correctional facilities, nuclear power stations and other sensitive facilities from terrorism, theft and other threats.
Having done that Pannu, needed a lieutenant, someone as enthusiastic as himself and possessing the knowledge of security engineering to interact with the consultant and the system integrator to ensure the practical application of the systems happened correctly and in line with the objectives.
Reliance. A Mechanical Engineer from Calcutta University by profession, Rajan has dedicated his career to the Electronic Security Automation field.
He had the worked on the security systems automation projects of Indian Oil, Coca Cola and Delphi, among others, before joining Reliance. He has now been with the group for over five years. He is responsible for the conceptualization, design, engineering, project management and implementation of their integrated Security Automation projects.
Rajan is a member of the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS) and represents Reliance in the Asian Professional Security Association (APSA) as well. He has been a speaker at various Security Technology seminars and forums organized by CII and APSA, amongst others.
In 1999 his search ended with Rajan Luthra, a B.E. (Mechanical) graduate from Calcutta University with eight years of security engineering experience under his belt. Rajan was appointed as Manager Security Engineering. "As I had worked within the Private Security Industry, I had all the basic knowledge, to help me tackle the mammoth task of implementing the mind boggling system design", says Rajan.
THE SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The mammoth proportions of the entire project can be envisioned from the Rs. 68 Crores (US$ 15 Million) investment that went into the CCTV cameras, video servers, access controllers, smart card readers, intrusion control panels, motion sensors and electromagnetic locks installed in over 5000 sites all over the country (barring J&K and the North East). Today, approximately 100,000 events such as entry-exits, alarms, intrusions etc are currently being generated from these 5000 sites.
More than 50,000 video clips associated with these events are being transmitted from the remote sites comprising of Media Convergence Nodes (MCN), Intermediate Stations (IS), Base Transceiver Stations - On Ground (BTSG), Base Transceiver Stations - Roof Top (BTSR), Media Access Node (MAN) and Small Automatic Exchange (SAX) for processing to 12 Circle Security Control Centers (CSCC) and then onto the Security Network Operations Control Center (S-NOC) located at the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai for archiving onto gigabit capacity Digital Audio Tapes (DAT) tapes. For ‘Business Continuity’ in case of a natural calamity the entire back-up is available at the Backup NOC in Hyderabad. All Reliance employees carry ‘Mifare’ contactless smart cards that are a single "key" to as many "locks" as the person may be authorized to open. 75000 smart cards have been issued till now. Applications built around these cards include Access control, Time Attendance, E-Purse, Tea & Coffee Vending, and Library Management. There is an in-house card issuance and management bureau utlilising Fargo Pro-L and Zebra P-720 dye sublimation card printers and personalization software.
The Men
In 1977 when Commandant Pannu went out looking for security personnel who would be able to handle the futuristic electronic security systems that they were about to install at Jamnagar, the candidates coming for interviews were those that had not made it to other branches of business such as administration, HR and finance etc. "We even tried recruiting Short Service Commission Officers from the armed forces, but that did not work either as attitudinal problems were encountered", say Pannu. Security was considered as a stigma. Reliance Group President (Management Services) V.V. Bhatt says, "Security, even today, is viewed as a low-end job of a gateman or a watchman in an Army-like uniform. But with the advent of technology in all arenas of life, this will assume a great importance and become a necessity."
Therefore an idea to recruit young graduates possessing "C" certificates of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and put them through a specifically designed one year in-house training course was born. The game plan was to take on board young guys with fresh minds and good physique. The mandate was to train and mould them into protection professionals with up-to date knowledge and technical skills to manage modern day security functions and equipment.
In response to its recruitment call, Reliance received more than 6000 applications from all across the country. The first group of officers were selected and put into rigorous training at the Reliance’s security training campus located at Lodhivali, Maharashtra. The first batch of the Reliance Group Security Service (RGSS) officers was ready in 1998.
Today the fifth batch is all set to pass out of their training academy. The young recruits have to meet stringent entrance criteria to the RGSS. This included physical attributes such as a minimum 170 cm height, 6/6 vision and a robust physique. During training, apart from theory, the recruits are put through obstacle courses, public speaking programs for improvement of their communication skills, martial arts training and athletics. Their performance in the 100 mtr sprint tells about their stamina, the 800 mtr run tells about their stamina while the high and the long jumps demonstrate their agility. The trainees are also put through psychometric tests. Each batch consists of 35 to 40 trainees. In about 5 years since the first batch passed out of the academy Reliance has absorbed close to 200 young officers in RGSS. These officers are today unobtrusive as they quietly and efficiently go about their duties at various Reliance establishments all over the country. They can however be identified through their ramrod straight postures and their grey safari suits. They supervise and manage about 9000 contractual security staff that Reliance uses. The efficiency of the whole system is quiet apparent as Commandant H.S. Pannu proudly claims, "When Reliance took over IPCL (Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited), the security management functions at the facility were being managed by 1535 personnel of the CISF, but after RGSS surveyed and conducted a risk assessment of the site only 42 RGSS officers and approximately 500 personnel from a cluster of private security agencies are today deployed to protect the site". The savings in recurring expenses are quite evident.
QUALITY CONTROL
With a good system design, reliable equipment, qualified men in place and a set of pliable Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) all that is needed to ensure the entire system works to perfection is a Quality Policy. The Operations & Maintenance (O&M) group of Reliance Infocomm that now maintains all the sites including the security automation systems achieved the ISO 9001:2000 certification from BVQI in a record time and is now progressing towards Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a rigorous and a systematic methodology that utilizes information (management by facts) and statistical analysis to measure and improve a company's operational performance, practices and systems by identifying and preventing 'defects' in manufacturing and service-related processes in order to anticipate and exceed expectations of all stakeholders to accomplish effectiveness.
INTELLIGENCE NETWORK
An important part of any security set-up is the timely receipt of authentic information that has a potential to harm the interest of the establishment and its stakeholders. Speaking to Security Today, Pannu proudly says, "We have a unique intelligence model based on the 54000 strong Reliance Mitras". Reliance Mitra (friend of Reliance), are innocuous common folk across the country who swear allegiance to the company. The tribe of Reliance Mitras include roadside mechanics, farmers, hawkers and anybody who operates his business besides the 60,000-km stretch of the mammoth Reliance fibre-optic network. Try digging a pickaxe into a road where fibre optic cables are laid, you will soon be accosted by a paan-wallah whose shop is across the road. The paan vendor is a Reliance Mitra, he maintains vigil over the area underneath where the fibre optic cables of Reliance are running. And in case he finds that some one is unauthorisedly digging in that area, resulting in the possible damage to the fibre, he immediately informs Reliance. The response from Reliance is immediate, a Field Engineering Officer (FEO) is dispatched and the unauthorized digging stopped. "We have received more than 12,000 reports till now, this year. Out of these more than 9,500 were confirmed violations and we were able to thwart possible damage estimated to over Rs. 58 Crores to our cables", says Pannu. "While these Mitras may not be directly employed by Reliance, we reward them for every confirmed reporting, creating a win-win and a mutually rewarding situation between us", he adds.
CONCLUSION
Such bold and successful deployment of electronic security systems at such a large scale has not been done in any private or government project, so far in India. Perhaps this coverage by Security Today will encourage others to deploy security automation in their applications, thereby opening up the industry and creating business opportunities for those in the profession. It may not be ethical if I did not mention the invaluable contribution that the local security systems industry put in this project. Companies like DATS, Tyco and Kawach etc. were instrumental in supplying components and the actual installation and commissioning of the Reliance Infocomm project all over the country. It’s no wonder, if Reliance is applying such expense saving techniques on other aspects of its telecom business then the Rs. 0.40 per minute charge can be comprehended!
EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON THE "TRIANGLE OF LIFE", Edited by Larry Linn for MAA Safety Committee brief on 4/13/04.
My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.
I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries. I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.
In 1996 we made a film which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul, University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did "duck and cover," and ten mannequins I used in my "triangle of life" survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the results. The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions, relevant to building collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover. There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the "triangle of life." This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe, and it was seen in the USA, Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.
The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under their desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn't at the time know that the children were told to hide under something.
Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the "triangle of life". The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the "triangles" you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building. They are everywhere.
TEN TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY
Most everyone who simply "ducks and covers" WHEN BUILDINGS COLLAPSE are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.
Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.
Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.
If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.
If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.
Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!
Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different "moment of frequency" (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads - horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.
Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible - It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked;
People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.
I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper. Spread the word and save someone¹s life...
Courtesy - Baman K Mehta Email from Mr. Rakesh Goyal, Mumbai
The provision and management of security for more than 5000 sites of the telephony and broadband major has been no cake walk. The entire security automation systems project was conceived, planned, researched, fine-tuned and executed professionally in a record 24 months. This is, in itself, an indicator of the pace at which Reliance operates. Starting from zero it has, in a short span of two years emerged as India's largest mobile service broadband provider with over 8 million customers based in 1100 towns. It has established a pan-India, high-capacity, integrated (wireless and wireline) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network, through its next generation fibre optic network backbone spanning a whopping 60,000 kms route across India.
The mammoth proportions of the entire project can be envisioned from the Rs. 68 Crores (US$ 15 Million) investment that went into the CCTV cameras, video servers, access controllers, smart card readers, intrusion control panels, motion sensors and electromagnetic locks installed in over 5000 sites all over the country (barring J&K and the North East). Today, approximately 100,000 events such as entry-exits, alarms, intrusions etc are currently being generated from these 5000 sites.
More than 50,000 video clips associated with these events are being transmitted from the remote sites comprising of Media Convergence Nodes (MCN), Intermediate Stations (IS), Base Transceiver Stations - On Ground (BTSG), Base Transceiver Stations - Roof Top (BTSR), Media Access Node (MAN) and Small Automatic Exchange (SAX) for processing to 12 Circle Security Control Centers (CSCC) and then onto the Security Network Operations Control Center (S-NOC) located at the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai for archiving onto gigabit capacity Digital Audio Tapes (DAT) tapes. For ‘Business Continuity’ in case of a natural calamity the entire back-up is available at the Backup NOC in Hyderabad. All Reliance employees carry ‘Mifare’ contactless smart cards that are a single "key" to as many "locks" as the person may be authorized to open. 75000 smart cards have been issued till now. Applications built around these cards include Access control, Time Attendance, E-Purse, Tea & Coffee Vending, and Library Management. There is an in-house card issuance and management bureau utlilising Fargo Pro-L and Zebra P-720 dye sublimation card printers and personalization software.
In 1977 when Commandant Pannu went out looking for security personnel who would be able to handle the futuristic electronic security systems that they were about to install at Jamnagar, the candidates coming for interviews were those that had not made it to other branches of business such as administration, HR and finance etc. "We even tried recruiting Short Service Commission Officers from the armed forces, but that did not work either as attitudinal problems were encountered", say Pannu. Security was considered as a stigma. Reliance Group President (Management Services) V.V. Bhatt says, "Security, even today, is viewed as a low-end job of a gateman or a watchman in an Army-like uniform. But with the advent of technology in all arenas of life, this will assume a great importance and become a necessity."
In response to its recruitment call, Reliance received more than 6000 applications from all across the country. The first group of officers were selected and put into rigorous training at the Reliance’s security training campus located at Lodhivali, Maharashtra. The first batch of the Reliance Group Security Service (RGSS) officers was ready in 1998.