East Midlands Branch - September Newsletter

During August the East Midlands Branch of the IIRSM increased its followers to 798 followers with a 41.3% increase this month, we have also had a massive increase in reactions and reposts of our media, giving us the second highest engagement rate within the IIRSM Family.  

The England Women’s Team won 3-1 against the Australians on the 16thAugust 2023 taking us call the way to the finals “Well Done England Ladies” and on Sunday the 20th of August 2023 the World Cup brought even more Excitement and then Disbelief as Spain scored a goal and continued to dominate the field preventing England from Scoring.

Mary Earp was awarded the Golden Glove for best Goalie. Congratulations she did a fantastic job.

This Month we celebrated Yorkshire Day, Sea Serpent Day, and World Infinity Day. Note this “Might be useful in the Pub Quiz”.

Mitigating problems with Campaigners & Protestors

Just Stop the Oil Campaigners draped the Prime Ministers Home with black cloth sparking security concerns and causing motorists distress by blocking roads and using paint and dyes to cover windows, walls and other objects to progress their message, this brings about Health, Safety and Welfare concerns for employees, members of the Public and the protestors, Companies need to re-evaluate their policies and procedures in the event of being targeted by Just Stop Oil, to ensure continuity of best practice and a well-developed constructive peaceful response in the event of an incident on their premises.

 Who funds Just Stop Oil? Quoted from https://inews.co.uk/

The group says all its funding comes through donations. Its largest backer is the Los Angeles-based Climate Emergency Fund (CEF).

The Guardian reported in April 2022 that the CEF had sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Just Stop Oil.

Just Stop Oil is one of 106 climate change activist organisations funded by CEF, which itself is primarily funded by wealthy individuals and family foundations.

Risk & Safety Management of Protestors

Suggestions for the Management Team

1. Update policies and procedures to include Protesters and those known as Civilian Auditors

2. Management should seek advice from the Police on 101 or 999 in event of a dangerous or violent event.

3. Create clear Security Protocols for such an event, which may include site searches for other protesters and a lockdown procedure to prevent further incursions or escalation.

4. Emergency telephone number for a Company Media Officer especially if the Press are involved. As any comments to the press could be detrimental to the company image.

It’s important that Senior Management should prepare a response “Annex” within their BCP and Security Policy for any breech of their premises by protestors, as Hostile Actors are infiltrating these organisations and are inciting violent activity and Espionage as a form of protest (Some individuals may well believe this is legitimate, without understanding the ramifications of leaking information).  

GDPR & Information Security

During August 2023 we saw information leaks or mishandling of information involving the Northern Irish Police Force which has admitted that August’s “monumental” data breach followed an earlier leak of names of hundreds of officers and staff, deepening a crisis over the mishandling of personal information that could be used to target employees.

Norfolk and Suffolk Police have admitted to a major data breach after it was revealed that the personal details of 1,230 people – including victims of crime and witnesses – were mistakenly included in Freedom of Information (FOI) responses.

The constabularies issued a joint statement explaining they had identified an issue with “a very small percentage” of responses to FOI requests for crime statistics between April 2021 and March 2022.

Current Situation - Both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Electoral Commission are facing serious investigations from the Information Commissioner's Office following severe cyber security breaches.  As a result, PSNI and the Electoral Commission are looking at significant consequences — potential fines, possible resignations, and threats to individual members of emergency services personnel.

    Communicable disease threats report, 13-19 August 2023, week 33

The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiologists and health professionals on active public health threats. This issue of the CDTR covers the period 13-19 August 2023 and includes updates on avian influenza A(H5N6), avian influenza A(H9N2), West Nile virus, COVID-19, poliomyelitis, and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. Below is the link if you wish to know more.

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/CDTR-week-33-2023.pdf

Health & Safety Executive News Page link

https://www.hse.gov.uk/news/index.htm