Transportation safety

The absence of security in cash vehicles endangers valuables and is a threat to security guards and drivers

In Ahmedpur East near Bahawalpur on June 25^th, an oil tanker overturned due to failure in adhering to safeguards and more than 200 lives were lost. The investigation report exposed not only no training of drivers, but a lack of implementation of present safety regulations on vehicle conformity. Along with traffic emergency response, these were important factors to consider and learn from. Contrary to the basic standards of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, the vehicle contracted to Shell Pakistan was found to be overloaded, making the tanker unstable. Moreover, the tanker did not meet the National Highway Safety Ordinance 2000 requirement of five-six axles for a 50,000ltr oil tanker, as it had only four axles. Outsourcing of critical functionality without check and monitory to operators that are inefficient can increase risk and liability, unless the contracting company has adequate safeguards and monitoring thereof.

In the last three decades, the financial sector in Pakistan has made strides in various aspects of the cash cycle vis-à-vis the management of cash, and its transportation. Previously being undertaken by the financial institutions themselves, these functions are now outsourced to professional security companies. All of these companies operate in an unregulated environment resulting in losses and inefficiency. Moreover, with respect to a function as risky as transporting cash and valuables, the regulators do not have proper rules and regulations in place to deter against abuses and possible attacks, which may result in the loss of lives.

Different states and unions all over the world use comprehensive security systems to minimise risk and ensure secure and timely delivery of high value assets. The rules associated with entities practising such escorts are termed in the security industry Cash-In-Transit (CIT) regulations. These regulations describe the principles for fulfillment of obligations and quality standards by a private security company towards financial institutions and other transacting partners. Effective regulation of the asset transport industry, and specifically the CIT industry, can have a positive impact in a high-risk market like Pakistan.

In Europe and other developed regions, the security service provider, usually through a contract, agrees to terms and conditions regarding the nature of duties. Transfer of cash is allowed in soft-skinned (non-armoured) vehicles only when security methods like Intelligent Banknote Neutralisation Systems are in place. In Pakistan some courier companies are transporting cash without being regulated by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The All Pakistan Security Agencies Association has issued an advisory to its private security member companies to simply refrain from providing services in soft-skinned vehicles to money changers because of the additional risk associated with handling money. The policy outlined by the SBP deems the availability of proper armoured vehicles for transportation of sums exceeding Rs5 million necessary. There are about 1,600 cash vans being operated by five CIT specialising companies in Pakistan. Two of these six enterprises (1,000 vehicles) have a majority of their fleet as fully ‘armoured’ cash vans and the four other companies, which have 600 vehicles, all transport cash in ‘semi-armoured’ vehicles. Semi-armoured vehicles are not universally defined and are not suited for transport of cash and assets. Proper guidelines and baseline standards must be implemented by the SBP to ensure the safety of employees involved in private security, the public and the assets that are being transacted. In Pakistan, some sectors lack proper rules and regulations as well as guidelines. However, wherever these are necessary, the lack of implementation is glaring, a case of benign neglect.

The absence of effective security in cash vehicles endangers valuables and is a threat to the lives of security guards and drivers handling the consignments. Pakistan has seen many such incidents where vehicles inadequately secured were robbed and guards were killed. A glaring case is of a foreign security company in the 80s and 90s where as many as 45 lives were lost in soft-skinned vehicles. When civil society started petitioning the courts on behalf of the family of the victims, the foreign company pulled out overnight to avoid liability claims in the US.

There are international standards for the level of ballistic and explosive stress an armoured vehicle can withstand. Designed for military and private security, armoured vehicles may be protected against penetration by groups of gunshots that strike a specified length apart because when the bulletproof glass cracks and ballistic metal sheets absorb the impact of bullets, repeated shots on the same spot give way to bullets and security can be compromised. The European standard EN 1063 is the security standard that prescribes requirements for protective strength of a glazed shielding rated against types of munitions. There are seven classes: B1-B4 for protection against handgun shots and B5-B7 for effective protection against rifle calibre rounds. Vehicles with B5-B7 level of protection are extremely resistant to explosions. For a CIT vehicle, the minimum requirement is a protection level of B4+. Companies using semi-armoured cash vans (B2 and B3) should either be barred from carrying out CIT operations to avoid untoward incidents or be restricted to amounts less than Rs10 million per carry. Insurance companies ensuring such transactions will be penalised if they attempt reinsurance and are discovered.

In the absence of SBP regulations of a strong protective system for transporting cash and valuables in Pakistan, financial companies are using the services of some CIT companies without certified armoured vehicles for the transport of high-valued cash and valuables, as well as unduly risking the lives of its staff.

The SBP must guarantee secure financial trade through mandating proper logistics, set standards and specifications for safe transport of cash and valuables from one place to the other. Implementation and enforcement of regulations imposed in the future to standardise the CIT business should also be promised by authorities. If deaths occur due to the lack of proper armoured protection safety according to international specifications, the management must face FIRs for murder and the penalty thereof. Transport authorities have an obligation to inspect and certify protective capacity and road worthiness of armoured transport vehicles. An effective enforcement mechanism for the CIT industry needs to be in place that prevents catastrophes like the Ahmedpur East oil blaze.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2017.

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