SCALE system

SCALE is a system developed in Australia for the assessment of terrorism risk and vulnerability. SCALE is an acronym for Security, Control, Attention, Location and Environment and is designed to be a means to assess and quantify the vulnerability of a site to terrorism to allow for effective risk management and security planning.

Following the Lindt Café Siege in November 2014, many commentators and owners/operators of critical infrastructure, businesses and major events in Australia identified an urgent need to improve preparation and planning for terrorist attacks in Australia.

The SCALE system was a joint project led by Superintendent Craig Sheridan APM, former Commander of State Planning Unit Major Events & Incidents Group for the NSW Police Force, drawing on experiences with security planning for major international events including the 2014 G20 Summit, AFC Asian Cup 2015 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The underlying aim of the project was to create a tool to assess vulnerability to terrorist attacks and assist in the planning and preparation of terrorism preparedness strategies and measures.

Whilst there were existing systems for the assessment of risk and vulnerability such as CARVER, the SCALE system was specifically developed to assess and manage the threat posed by terrorist attacks against non-strategic, soft targets such as businesses, public places, venues and major events where there is high potential for mass casualties as demonstrated in the attack on the Bataclan Theatre.

The SCALE system has recently been used in risk assessments for Vivid Sydney 2016.

The system works via the addition of the first four metrics Security, Control, Attention and Locality, which is then multiplied by the final metric Environment.

Security refers to the extent of security measures which regulates access in and out of the site. Control refers to the degree of control that a perpetrator will be able to exercise over the environment upon entering or accessing the target site, allowing them to sustain the attack and maximising casualties or take hostages. Attention is the degree of which a target site possesses characteristics which would attract attention within its surrounding environment. Locality refers to the difficulty of accessing the site in relation to remoteness, accessibility via public transportation or major roads and how widespread knowledge of the location of the site would be amongst locals and non-locals. Environment refers to the factors that lie beyond the inherent characteristics of the target site itself such as the relevant terrorism alert level issued by government and police, or events such as a recent terrorist attack or threat made against the site.

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Wikipedia