When I first returned home after a long business journey that I had to take this past week, I immediately started sorting through my mail magazines and advertisements like I routinely do to see which is worthy of keeping and which is not. I picked up a magazine and started skimming through its articles. There was a particular article that caught my attention. It compiled a decent quantity of stories and eye witness accounts from several states in the nation about the federal official’s order for particular neighborhoods to flee their homes due to discharge of toxic fumes. The biggest evacuation happened in a town of 28,000 in North Carolina; it required 17,000 residents to evacuate their homes. The reason for the evacuation was due to the fact that a fire erupted at an industrial facility that dealt with hazardous waste. That facility was home to a variety of volatile chemicals, such as chlorine. Although not related to acts of terrorism, these toxic discharges do bring to light the obvious threat of residing near chemical industries.

Approximately 15,000 facilities produce, use or store more than threshold amounts of chemicals across the nation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that if these chemicals were accidentally released into the air they would pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment. Most of these facilities are very important for any society. They include but not limited to, refineries, storage and distribution facilities, fertilizer and pesticide facilities, pulp and chemical manufacturers, water and wastewater treatment facilities, and paper manufacturers. However Experts are particularly concerned about chemical facilities. They argue that chemical facilities are among the most attractive targets for terrorists who aspire to cause massive damage to innocent civilians. 3,400 facilities have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security that if seriously attacked with explosives, could unleash the greatest threat to human life and health. It has instigated several security projects to support both the local communities and chemical industry to defend these facilities and preserve the tranquility of the citizens. In spite of the threat that chemical industries create, no agency or government official has really worked to ensure the constant presence of a high tech security system in these facilities. About three years ago the homeland security department declared that it has some evidence suggesting that famous terrorist groups may have intentions of initiating significant attacks on chemical industries. These facilities would obviously be a primary target for these groups due to the devastating effect it will have on an entire country. Description, contamination, terror, massive evacuations, mutilation, and loss of human, animal, and plant life are only a few disastrous outcomes of such an attack. Despite the fact that these facilities practically endanger the lives of a large numbers of Americans and put them at risk of injury or death in the event of a chemical discharge, the chemicals these plants generate, utilize, accumulate and deploy are vital to the economy of the world, not to mention the actual country.
If a Terrorist attack does occur on a U.S. chemical property the economy and public health will be hit the hardest. Previously, the EPA initiated the federal efforts to keep the chemical facilities’ security in check, but recently DHS took over and became the primary federal agency in charge of coordinating the efforts protect and defend chemical facilities from any eminent dire attack. In reality, the DHS only has limited authoritative power over the security programs of chemical industries. They mainly had to depend on the chemical industry’s voluntary security efforts to address their security needs. But still, the amount to which companies are dealing with the security issue is unclear.


Equipping chemical facilities with a complete set of security cameras will ultimately be the best security measure to ensure that everything is operating well as planned. These security devices are becoming more and more popular due to their decreasing prices and ease of management. They also come in several colors, shapes, and sizes to fit every security need out there. A chemical industry should incorporate a variety of these cameras to ensure maximum security.
Many average citizens invest in a single stand alone camera which might address their security needs for a certain extent, especially if they want to monitor a small property or a single location. However for a large facility or for a huge location such as a chemical facility, an entire network of these cameras must be installed. These security cameras are generally categorized into indoor and outdoor cameras; of course in such a risky industry both types of cameras should be installed. There are also color and black and white cameras, hidden and visible cameras, and others with an impressive list of features, including digital security cameras .

Indoor cameras are great for monitoring the inside of the chemical facility. Should an intruder come in or an employee enter an unauthorized area the system will immediately catch their every move. In case of an accident with the facility’s equipment, security cameras will help officials by showing them exactly what happen or what led to the occurrence of the unintended event. Some security cameras come with a terrific intelligent security software designed to detect dangerous patterns that may lead up to an attack. The capabilities of this software are amazing and it greatly assist authorities in addressing urgent issues before it is too late.

Outdoor cameras are equally important. To start with, the simple presence of outside cameras will send a clear message to all thieves and would be robbers that the facility is protected and monitored by a set of mobile cameras. Thieves will have to think twice about evading such a dangerous and risky property, and may end up avoiding the whole idea of breaking in your home. This in itself will end up saving you substantial amounts of money that could have been lost due to a burglary. Not to mention that by deterring crime and potential burglaries security cameras will end up paying for their cost over and over again. This leaves no excuse for companies who delay investing in a security cameras system because of its cost.

Adding on, outdoor security cameras are designed to withstand severe weather conditions this is possible due to a covering made from a hard material that the cameras are encased in. Outdoor cameras are great for capturing license plate numbers of criminal’s cars. An added bonus is that your neighbors will benefit from is the fact that, depending on the cameras capabilities and the lighting conditions, some outdoor security cameras can even catch suspicious behavior from a far distance, perhaps the criminals are attacking another location within the cameras view range. Most outdoor cameras come equipped with infrared light, this feature allows the camera to capture clear video footage in dim lights or pitch black conditions.

People have argued a lot about color verses black and white cameras and which option is the best for their security needs. In the past, black and white cameras were considered supreme when it came to recording in dim light conditions. The uncolored camera produced a good quality footage even in low lights because it captures the dark and light patterns from the location of its view range without having to worry about the different color complexion which might take away from the sharpness of the footage. On the other hand color cameras are also very advantageous to any facility. They are great at identifying the skin color of a suspect, what clothes was he wearing, or even the color of his getaway car.
All of these events and more can be easily monitored by a security software enabling the security guards and property management of viewing the property by any device that has an internet connection such as a laptop or a mobile phone.