Pharmaceutical companies are a potential target for extremist groups such as animal rights activists and this has created a market for specialist security services.
To protect itself from this threat Sanofi began hiring Pilgrims to protect some of its sites in the UK in 2003 and has now extended this to include the Dagenham facility.
The 110 acre site employs around 600 people who are involved in the manufacture of oncology products and will be now protected by Pilgrims, who claim to offer “a unique approach to manned guarding”.
Martin Neil, Pilgrims’ Commercial Manager, said: “With a contract like this you must provide much more than a man at a gate, whatever country you operate in. There is potential high risk to both staff and premises.
“Our teams are fully trained to identify and act on the potential and real threats faced by the pharmaceutical industry, and we consider it vital to be able to support our manned guarding with advanced information; from animal rights awareness training through to e-mail alerts and weekly reports on the latest activities from extremist groups.”
Surveillance in South Africa
Adcock Ingram has installed a new building management system from Johnson Controls that contains a security system intended to provide a secure environment for the facilities 200 employees.
The system also includes technology capable of reducing energy consumption, which is of particular importance because of the supply issues the facility sometimes faces.