Companies are reinforcing security at their facilities in theworld's trouble spots and reviewing evacuation plans after at least23 workers were killed in an attack on a natural gas plant inAlgeria.

The incident is prompting businesses operating in North Africaand other politically volatile regions to enact safety programs toprotect employees, said Tim Husted of Carlson Wagonlit Travel.Companies are “very aware” of the militant attacks and are carryingout contingency plans, which may include relocation ofnon-essential personnel, he said in a telephone interview.

“In a situation where something like this happens in an areawhere these risks are very known risks, our clients tend to be veryprepared,” Husted said.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the Johannesburg-based gold prospectorwith interests in three mines in Mali, said it's reinforcingsecurity even though its operations are far from the conflict. Thecompany is limiting travel, avoiding certain routes and deployingadditional guards around the mines and residential villages, saidAlan Fine, a spokesman for the mining company.

Companies and many of the consultants that work for themgenerally won't discuss their security measures, preferring not toshare that information publicly. After the attacks in Algeria,corporate statements reflected caution and concern.

“We're looking at all appropriate measures according to thesituation,” Sebastien Duchamp, a spokesman for Fairfield,Connecticut-based General Electric Co. said in a telephoneinterview. “Our number-one priority is ensuring the safety of ouremployees at all times. We can't discuss specific securityprotocols.”

Algeria's special forces ended the takeover of the gas plantoperated by London-based BP Plc, Statoil ASA of Norway andAlgeria's Sonatrach in a final raid on the facility Jan. 19.Security forces freed 685 Algerian workers and about 107 foreigncaptives, according to Algeria's Ministry of Interior. Officialswarned the death toll could rise.

While threats to corporate facilities and employees are not anew problem, improved technology and weaponry creates constantlyshifting challenges that must be managed.

'Emerging Dangers'

“There are new dangers, emerging dangers, and in many cases, thecompanies and organizations just are ill-equipped to handle thatincreased threat,” said Bruce Branson, associate director of theEnterprise Risk Management Initiative at the Poole College ofManagement at North Carolina State University in a telephoneinterview.

Algerian security forces weren't prepared for the scale andseverity of the attack on the gas plant, said Rob Harford, adirector at Salamanca Risk Management, part of the London-basedSalamanca Group Merchant Bank and operational risk consultant.

“When faced with a specific and direct threat, security levelsand protection measures need to be enhanced,” he said.

Global corporations are increasingly relying on their ownintelligence networks to anticipate and respond to events thatthreaten workers' safety or damage their business, said FredBurton, vice president of intelligence at Stratfor, an Austin,Texas-based corporate security consultant. Companies from energyand mining to transportation and hotels are hiring former militaryand government analysts, and investing in the most sophisticatedsurveillance and safety technology to improve their ability toavoid danger.

“They have to operate in these areas with a very robustcapability to develop information on their own,” Burton said. “Whatthey're looking for are tripwires for events to start unfoldingthat may give them even three hours, if not 72 hours, to be able tobatten down the hatches or start removing their personnel from someof these volatile areas.”

Terrorist attacks are only one part of the array of threatscompanies face. Corporate security forces must develop intelligencenetworks in regions with increased potential for violence, shoringup detection and defense capabilities.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has declined thanks to theshipping industry's increased use of armed guards and internationalnaval patrols. Violent pirate attacks are rising, though, off theWest Africa coast, where dozens of tankers transit every day.

Oil and natural gas companies including The Hague-based RoyalDutch Shell Plc, San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corp. andTotal SA of France have battled Nigerian thieves and militants fordecades who attack their facilities and sabotage pipelines.

Hindering Repairs

MTN Group Ltd., Africa's largest mobile-phone operator, saidsuch attacks are hampering its abilities to provide service inNigeria. The Johannesburg-based company has suffered damage to itsfiber-optic network with more than 70 cuts to lines a monthnationwide, it said last year. Bomb and gun attacks blamed onIslamist militants have hindered repairs and slowed newconstruction.

“As you fix it, it goes down again,” said MTN NigeriaCommunications Chief Executive Officer Brett Goschen in a May 15interview in Lagos.

Foreign workers have long been a target of kidnappings andattacks by paramilitary groups and criminal gangs in Latin America,especially in Colombia. Colombia's armed forces are searching forrebels that kidnapped five people working for Toronto-based goldprospector Braeval Mining Corp. last week, including threeemployees and two consultants.

“The company is fully cooperating with efforts of theauthorities to ensure the safety and health of its employees andconsultants,” Braeval said in a statement Jan. 18. The kidnappingwas carried out by 25 members of the National Liberation Army,according to Armed Forces Chief Alejandro Navas.

Anticipation and prevention is a growing focus of companiesoperating in regions where foreigners can generate resentment andhostilities, especially energy and mining workers who tap naturalresources, said Daniel Karson, a chairman with Kroll AdvisorySolutions in New York.

Kroll advises companies to throw out preconceptions and startfrom scratch in evaluating safety at their facilities. Prioritiesare “lives first and assets second,” Karson said.

Companies start by assessing potential threats in their chosenlocation, including political risks and any history of violence inthe area. Security officials are diving deeper into the backgroundsof the people they hire or work with, searching for red flags suchas a history of accepting bribes, Karson said.

Panic Buttons

Remote facilities like the gas plant in Algeria, where help isnot close at hand, get special attention. Buildings are reinforcedand technology is used to control access to the perimeter andinterior of the facility, including alarm systems, panic buttons,and retinal or fingerprint-scanning systems to secure doors.Cameras can stream live images of the premises to security monitorsanywhere in the world, Karson said.

“There are any number of 21st century technological approachesyou can use to protect the facility,” he said.

Avoiding dangerous places is one of the basic security measurestaken at Parker Hannifin Corp., a motion and controlequipment-maker based in Cleveland, Ohio, said Chief ExecutiveOfficer Don Washkewicz. Washkewicz canceled a trip to the MiddleEast after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi inSeptember that left the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three otherembassy staff dead. And he won't travel to Colombia.

The company, with 311 manufacturing locations in 48 countries,provides security guards for executives traveling to places likeBrazil and Mexico.

“You never can be 100 percent safe, but we try to be as safe aspossible,” Washkewicz said.

Companies are working harder at preventing violence with moreawareness of the issues that can trigger social unrest and make acompany a target, said Iain Donald, a senior vice president whoworks in risk analysis at Control Risks Group in New York.Executives need to manage projects with as much sensitivity aspossible to local concerns about the environment, jobs andpolitics.

Many community grievances can be managed, and “in the perfectworld that happens from the outset,” Donald said.

Donald joined other security experts in pointing out that somethings are beyond a company's control, such as organized crime inMexico or Colombia, or the political grievances of rebelgroups.

“It's very difficult to make things safe,” said Simon Hawkins,an oil analyst at Nplus1 Singer Ltd. in London who was captured bygunmen when he worked for Shell in Nigeria in the 1990s. “Armoredguards, security gates, locked fire doors — that's all you can do,really, and sometimes that's not good enough.”

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