Supporting critical infrastructure with expert maritime security advice

As the leading industry experts in maritime security, Corporate Protection Australia Group provides training and advisory services to most of the nation’s Maritime Industry Participants (MIPs).

• We have trained many of Australia’s Port Facility Security Officers (PFSOs) for the nation’s ports and marine facilities.
• We have assisted our clients in the development, writing, and auditing of Maritime Security Plans (MSPs) since the inception of MTOFSA (2003).

One of the MSP requirements under MTOFSA is regular testing of the plan through drills and exercises. CPA Group is often asked to facilitate and review the performance of its MIP clients under their individual MSP.

This month, CPA Group conducted an exercise to observe the response and coordination of security staff to a simulated security incident for a high-profile client in the Port of Brisbane.

CPA Group provided 4 Exercise Controllers who were tasked with the command, control and communication of the exercise as well as provide observations and recommendations for improvement.

As the exercise was to simulate a hostile vehicle containing two unidentified males, CPA Group were reviewing client security staff to ensure they complied with Security Operation Protocols and the MSP, conducted an immediate threat assessment, coordinated an initial response and deployed an adequate response to manage and control the incident.

While there is always room for improvement and some recommendations were made, we were able to report that the performance and participation of the site security staff was good and supported the MSP well.

The exercise and CPA Group’s comprehensive report provided great reassurance to our client that their systems and personnel have been appropriately trained and deployed.

CPA Group notes that regular drills and exercises are an important component of the MSP for MIPs. Over and above the compliance aspect, these regular events keep staff competent and ensures systems and procedures are current.