8600-337 Understanding Security Measures in the Workplace

Unit Overview

8600-337 Understanding Security Measures in the Workplace is a unit within the ILM Level 3 module that focuses on establishing critical principles of facilitating security within the organisations. Security is a critical aspect that ensures the organisation is compliant with the law as well as facilitates success in accomplishing different tasks and responsibilities as it facilitates the ability to put in place interventions that safeguard both digital and physical property belonging to the organisation. In terms of compliance, the organisation has a responsibility of guaranteeing and ensuring security information that could be stored within their systems, especially that which belongs to individuals such as customers and employees.

Legal frameworks such as the Data Protection Act of 1998 and other legal frameworks require the organisation to ensure that they protect stakeholder information. The unit has a critical focus on the security features that have been developed or could be developed within the organisations. It is the duty of the leaders to ensure that these security measures are put in place.

As such, this unit is designed to prepare the leaders for their duties in facilitating the security measures by improving understanding of the measures and principles that should be applied. This unit has the main purpose of developing knowledge and understanding that is useful in the process of establishing effective security systems and measures within the organisation. The unit is taught in 7 hours of guided learning and contributes 2 credit values towards the completion of the ILM Level 3 module.

Suitability of the Unit

Security measures are critical elements within the organisation, and it is the duty of the leaders to put up strategies and measures that guarantee security within the organisation. This involves understanding the potential risks associated with security that the organisation is exposed to, the relevant legislative policies and guidelines influencing the organisation and the resources available to put up the desired security measures and interventions. The unit is designed to build the knowledge and skills of the leaders to achieve these duties and responsibilities hence making the unit relevant and suitable for leaders within the organisation.

The unit is designed to provide the first-line managers and junior managers with the necessary training that is required to put up security measures within their areas of responsibility. It helps the most understand the policies that have been established within the organisation and ensures that it makes these policies actionable in lower levels of the organisation. However, the unit is also suitable for other leaders and managers within the organisations, including departmental hands and the general organisational leaders.

It helps them to understand the need for security interventions and the allocation of resources toward achieving the desired levels of security within the organisation. The unit can also be pursued by security consultants for the organisation both in terms of digital and physical security to ensure they understand the principles that should be used to put up security measures for the organisation.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learner should be able to:

• Identify and explain security measures within their organisations

• Describe the relevant legislation that is applicable in developing security measures within the workplace and examine the effectiveness and efficiency of prescribed security measures within the workplace.

• Identify the potential gaps between the intentions of the prescribed security measure and the actual practice hence identifying areas that present security loopholes within the organisation

• Identify improvements to security measures that are based on potential weaknesses that can be identified within the organisation

Key Learning Areas

8600-337 Understanding Security Measures in the Workplace aims at providing the learners with information that they can use to improve their understanding of security systems and approaches that they can use to effectively improve the security measures. Some of the main areas of learning within the unit include:

Principles and Legal Frameworks on Security Measures

In this area of learning, the learner is helped to understand the meaning of the concept of security measures within the organisations. They are guided to understand principles such as access control, restricted areas, identification systems, protective clothing, locks and safes, authorisation procedures, manned guarding and other systems that are put in place to provide both digital and physical security within the organisation.

The learners are then introduced to the relevant legislation that has been established to ensure that the security measures are developed and implemented within the organisation. This involves the data protection act, Human Rights, The Regulation of Investigatory Powers and the Computer Misuse Act that ensures both digital and physical security measures are compliant and protect the rights of both the organisations and stakeholders to the organisation.

Limitations to Security Measures

This area of learning helps to identify the various shortcomings that affect the ability of the leaders to implement effective security measures that serve the needs of the organisation. The unit identified the restriction in a range of security measures as well as the sustainability of the prescribed security measures to meet the actual needs of the organisations and the vulnerabilities that arise from the differences between the prescribed security measures and actual practice. Ti also helps to prioritise the weaknesses hence identifying the critical areas that need urgent addressing to ensure that the more serious vulnerabilities are addressed.

Improvement of Security measures

This area focuses on evaluating and monitoring the efficiency of the existing security measures. The learners are guided on principles that they can use to effectively set up measures that can be used to improve the levels of security within the organisation. The area also helps to identify the prioritised weakness that need to be improved first hence improving the impact of the leaders in addressing loopholes within the security measures.

Evaluation

On completing the unit, the learners are put through an evaluation to determine the accomplishment of learning goals and objectives. The learners are required to complete a written assessment which evaluates both the theoretical information and practical principles that have been acquired throughout the teaching and learning process pursued in the unit.