Purpose - To explore the risk management, crisis management and business continuity management (BCM) practices of facilities managers responsible for a range of major public and private buildings in Sydney, Australia Design/methodology/approach - The research method involved a survey of facilities managers responsible for the management of 27 potentially vulnerable buildings in the Sydney metropolitan area, Australia Findings - The results suggest that facilities managers under estimate the vulnerability of buildings to terrorist attack, may have a misconception about likely targets and may be unprepared for such an eventuality Research limitations/implications - These findings are restricted to the restricted sample of facilities managers interviewed who were responsible for a range of major public and private buildings in Sydney, Australia Practical implications - Highlights the security responsibilities of facilities managers in the new security environment and practical measures which can be taken to improve terrorism preparedness, recovery and response Originality/value - Buildings, infrastructure and public spaces have increasingly become the focus of terrorist attacks. Yet little is known about the level of preparedness to deal with this eventuality. This paper presents a critique of the literature on terrorism applied to building facilities, integrating the literature on crisis management, BCM and risk management
