Jury: You Better Prepare for Terrorism

Emergency Action Plan... Driving across Oregon, Idaho and Nevada on our Fourth of July vacation, we saw Old Glory flying from every ranch. And in this burst of patriotic fervor, I half expected to see a bumper sticker saying Keep Honking, I'm Reloading.* Terrorism seemed a world away. We relaxed.

But New York City landlords (and probably landlords nationwide) better not relax. That's because a New York jury recently found the Port Authority guilty of ignoring warnings from its security consultant prior to the 1993 bomb explosion in the garage of the World Trade Center.

Translation: "Since New York courts have imposed on commercial property owners a duty to take reasonable steps to protect occupants from injuries stemming from a foreseeable terror attack, New York property owners should actively seek to minimize their exposure to negligent security claims."

That's according to Zetlin & De Chiara's article Jury Sends Warning Notice to New York Commercial Property Owners (Quarterly Review, 2006, Volume 11, Number 1).

"At a minimum, New York property owners should consider conducting a risk assessment and should actively seek to determine what security measures are required to meet the standard of care for their particular properties."

And the New York City Fire Department now requires all NYC high rises to file comprehensive Emergency Action Plans (effective April 6, 2006) and to designate a Fire Safety/EAP (Emergency Action Plan) Director who "must receive additional training and Fire Department certification in areas relevant to the duties of the Fire Safety/EAP Director."

So maybe someday the emergency plan at One Sansome in San Francisco described in my June 13 Dispatch, How Can Your Building Manager Protect You in an Emergency?, will be the norm. That would be terrific.

*Blue Light Special... You can buy this bumper sticker at CafePress.

Spread the Word... Many thanks to CoStar for sponsoring this week's Dispatch. If you would like to tell PikeNet subscribers about your service, send me an e-mail. Only eight open issues left before the end of the year.

-- Peter Pike