A Model of Security Management System for Transportation Systems

Abstract

The Transportation Systems Sector, a sector that comprises all modes of transportation (aviation, maritime, mass transit, highway, freight rail, and pipeline), is a vast, open, interdependent networked system that moves millions of passengers and millions of tons of goods. The transportation network is critical to both our way of life and economic vitality. Ensuring its security is a mission charged to all sector partners, including governments (national, regional, local) and private industry stake-holders. Transportation systems represent an important part of critical infrastructure. The security and safety of transportation influence all other social and industrial pro-cesses. Disruption of this system causes disruptions in all other segments of social life. Specific characteristics of this system which influence its security are: easy accessibility, interconnection and vastness. Hence, the tolerance of this system to malfunctions and security and safety risks is very low. In order to achieve security and safety, along with reliability, efficiency and punctuality of these systems we need to consider applying an 40integrated approach to security and safety management systems. Like many other criti-cal infrastructure sectors, the Transportation Systems Sector faces a dynamic landscape of potential natural disasters, accidents, and terrorist attacks. The terrorist threat poses special challenges. Taken together, the risk from terrorism and other hazards demands a coordinated approach involving all sector stakeholders. Stakeholders throughout the sector have been and continue to be actively developing methods to improve their oper-ational security and overall resilience. However, since the Transportation Systems Sec-tor is segmented by individual modes, an increased emphasis is needed on a risk-based approach across the entire transportation spectrum. Security management systems, by integrating security awareness throughout the organization and verifying compliance through quality assurance, can be a significant force in achieving the highest possible level of regulatory compliance. Specific security practices, training and audit functions within a security management system should all be built so as to ensure compliance with applicable national transportation security programs. As an attempt to deal with these problems, this paper presents an integrated approach to safety and security and a model of safety and security management system for transportation organizations.