The past week has thrown into stark relief the vulnerabilities of public transport systems to terrorism. Last Friday three people were killed after a bomb exploded at a bus station in the southern Philippines. On Monday, Indian police defused a bomb found on a train in the eastern city of Kolkata. Yesterday five people were killed in the Turkish capital, Ankara, by an explosive device apparently left at a bus stop.For business travellers the risks associated with public transport systems are probably most acute on the land side of airports, in the area of the check-in queues. Throughout the history of terrorism there have been a number of such attacks, and many airports remain extremely vulnerable to check-in area bombs, especially in consideration of the trend toward “walk-in” suicide bombers.
Travellers are advised, wherever possible, to avoid the long queues associated with economy travel and to select airlines which allow for Internet check-in. The time spent in the check-in area can be further reduced by taking the minimum necessary check-in baggage. The objective should be to proceed to the secure air side as quickly as possible.
Sensible precautions should also be applied upon arrival at airports, and standing amongst large groups of people "landside" should be avoided.
Much best practice on business travel security can be found on the new Security Management Stage 2 Business Travel Security handout, which is available free to all past delegates of Security Management Stage 2 and Senior Security Management courses. Business travel security workshops are held twice yearly at ARC Training.
Alternatively, ARC would be happy to visit your company to conduct a bespoke business travel security workshop for your travelling staff.
