Some people read a book thoroughly from cover to cover, while others skip through scanning sections that take their interest. Are you sure that while reading each section, you reviewed your life and travel plans to identify potential vulnerabilities, threats and risks appropriate to you? It may be worth your while to read through again, to make sure that you have identified and recorded all of the problems appropriate to you. When you have recorded all of the relevant problems, you must review them, then define, prioritise, adopt and implement the countermeasures as discussed in Chapter 1. You have probably already started resolving some of the problems that you have identified.

Identifying Security Issues

Knowing what journey you are planning, and having thoroughly researched the destination, you will have identified those threats, vulnerabilities and risks that apply to you and your journey.

You should have listed them as you identified them, then directed your research and planning to resolving them. Perhaps after researching the altitude sickness problems that you could have in your chosen destination, you asked your doctor for advice. On his advice, you may have selected a new lower-altitude destination, but now you have to research that destination too.

It is still supposed to be a holiday, so don’t turn it into a tedious high-security military operation. At the same time don’t get killed on a jungle track because you didn’t check the Home Office website to see the warnings about armed criminals operating around your holiday destination.

You should review your list of vulnerabilities, threats and risks and identify possible countermeasures that will avoid, reduce or overcome them. Then you must consider each outstanding countermeasure, decide what actions are necessary to implement them and compile an action list.

What Is An Action List?

You will have to draw up an action list for each countermeasure you have identified and listed. The action list is simply a list of the tasks you have to complete to introduce or implement the stated countermeasure.

For example, taking as an example the countermeasure of ‘making up an emergency medical kit’, we have to look at the jobs, tasks and actions that we will need to introduce that.

The action list shows each of the steps needed to do that, in the order in which they have to be completed. When finished, the action list becomes a plan, a checklist and a work schedule that will help you to introduce that counter-measure. For example, you may have to collect the following items for your emergency first-aid kit:

• A packet of sterile alcohol swabs to clean the skin.
• A variety of good-quality sticking plaster dressings.
• A large roll of surgical sticking tape.
• Aspirin/Ibuprofen (painkillers)
• Anti-inflammatory cream/spray (soothing bites and burns)
• Anti-acid medicine (settle upset stomachs)
• Antiseptic ointment
• Scissors
• Cotton-wool wipes

 

A possible action list of the steps and tasks needed to make an emergency medical kit may be:

• Go to the doctor and ask if you can buy some syringes and needles.
• Also ask for needles and sutures, as well as skin-closure strips.
• Get advice about the rest of the items and if possible buy them from the doctor.
• Go to the hardware store and buy a strong plastic waterproof box that is big enough to contain all of the items, and two pairs of small scissors (they are cheap and you may lose or contaminate one pair).
• Buy and collect all of the items.
• Set out a time and place to check and pack all of the items in the box to create your emergency first-aid kit.

 

When all of those steps have been successfully completed, you will have created the first-aid kit and the countermeasure will be in place.

You will see that in some cases the necessary steps and actions required to deliver a countermeasure could take some weeks to complete, or it could be completed in an afternoon if, for example, your doctor now sells ready-made holiday emergency kits.