A network of cameras enable personnel to monitor the work site from the project’s Security Operations Center.
Located at the intersection of the active Hudson River and the busy New York State Thruway, the New NY Bridge project is passed by more than 138,000 vehicles every day. Building America’s largest bridge project in this bustling area compelled the project team to make security one of its top priorities. To keep the public and project safe, Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC (TZC) engaged one of the nation’s leading private security organizations, Allied Barton Security Services and its White Plains office.
“Security on the New NY Bridge project isn’t anything like your typical job,” said Lyle Hendrick, the project’s security manager. “The performance standards, the amount of surveillance equipment and the communication effort with outside agencies are all well beyond many other projects.”
TZC and Allied Barton follow a “consistency over time” philosophy, meaning that all security procedures are followed precisely at all times, ensuring they are ingrained in the workforce. Having the basics of security deeply rooted in all workers enables the project to enhance the range of security measures, such as increasing the number of perimeter rounds made by security personnel.
Also on the security team is Johnson Security Bureau, a Bronx-based firm that has been providing professional transport, guard, patrol and protective services for the past half-century. One of the project’s many disadvantaged business enterprises (firms owned by socially or economically disadvantaged individuals), Johnson Security provides additional skilled security officers to assist with 24-hour surveillance.
The security team keeps a watchful eye on the project through a high-tech Security Operations Center, or SOC, which provides situational awareness across the entire project site at all hours. The SOC utilizes a network of cameras with near sci-fi capabilities, including night vision, motion sensors and heat detection. Should an event occur that demands action, the SOC mounts an immediate response that often includes coordinating with first responders.
Many of the individuals on the security team are locals with extensive knowledge of the region. “Having a lay of the land, a familiarity with the area, helps tremendously,” said Hendrick. “We also have a handful of active members from the Tarrytown volunteer fire department working as full-time security members, including Fire Chief William Logan Jr. and myself.”
Emergency and routine efforts extend beyond the project security team. Early on, TZC established close working relationships with law enforcement, fire and rescue agencies. Several times a year, TZC hosts coordination meetings with a joint Incident Command Group, which is comprised of local first-responders and police chiefs who are briefed on the current and future project activities.
With the Hudson River open to public and commercial boat traffic, relationships with first-responders have proven quite helpful with project site security. Over the course of last summer, for example, several distressed private boaters were detected by SOC operators using long-range cameras, who were then able to direct rescue vessels to the boaters’ locations. Additionally, the intensity of project activity on the river has been a catalyst for increasing coordination among rescue units from local jurisdictions.
While the odds are small, the possibility constantly exists that a serious security incident could imperil the public or project personnel and operations. With their extensive and ongoing training, coordination and protocols, the project’s watchful sentinels are lowering those odds to as close to zero as possible.
