“The very idea that these inspectorates are out there operating of their own volition and to their own rules, and not as a result of Governmental regulation or approval, has been a real surprise to me. As a layman, like many other people I’d always imagined that the security industry would be tightly regulated and approved by a single body.”
Barely five months into his tenure as chief executive of the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) and Tom Mullarkey’s views on the industry have already crystallised along the same lines as those held by practitioners of many years standing. A highly intuitive individual, it didn’t take long for the 45-year-old Irishman to recognise that this industry of ours is populated by a relatively small number of high quality systems and services providers driven to improve standards – not just for commercial gain but, as Mullarkey tells it, “because they like to do things the right way”.
However, there exists a large number of ‘questionable’ organisations operating on what is often referred to as the cowboy fringe. “The frustration that everyone feels, and which I share, is that we cannot eradicate them at the moment,” sighs Mullarkey. “Hopefully, regulation will take care of that.”
Having shadowed former chief executive David Holt for a month or two prior to taking over the NSI hot seat in May, Mullarkey is making it his mission in life to position the organisation in such a way that it becomes, in his own words, “the inspectorate of choice” for the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
“Whoever conceived it, the idea that competition improves quality in the security inspection sector is a nonsense,” opines Mullarkey. “Competition in this arena can only lead to a reduction in quality and a lowering of standards. There should be only one inspectorate. We have 30 years’ of self-regulatory experience behind us at the NSI, and we want to make sure that the SIA engages us to be the outsource solution for the inspection element of the regulation process.”
How Mullarkey will manage this challenge is a moot point. Although David Holt has laid many a solid foundation stone for his successor – not least by bringing together the Inspectorate of the Security Industry (ISI) and the National Approval Council for Security Systems (NACOSS) under the ‘global’ NSI banner – there isn’t time for the Maidenhead-based operation to rest on its laurels. The “philosophy of continuous improvement” is an edict to which Mullarkey is tightly bound, and one that he wishes to place “front and centre of everybody’s thinking” – both at the NSI and in the wider industry.
“The single most important thing that I need to influence in the short term are perceptions about the NSI so that its public understands how well it is served by the organisation, and how powerful and influential a player the NSI is – and can be – in helping to raise standards,” states Mullarkey. “That’s what we all want. The tremendous reputation that David Holt and his team have built up here is effectively currency which has yet to be spent. And I’m going to enjoy spending it.”
The rules of engagement
The NSI brand is strong, certainly, but – as you’d expect from a man who spent 17 years in the army – Mullarkey recognises the importance of (and constantly refers to) ‘the rules of engagement’.
“All of the stakeholders in what we do have the right to a proper, engaged relationship with us,” he states. “The NSI doesn’t have any other interests apart from raising standards in this industry. We’re not restrained by membership fees. True, we do whatever we do because there is a need in the marketplace, but maintaining the highest standards and engaging our audience must be the major drivers.”
According to Mullarkey, there are several ways in which he can achieve his goal of positioning the NSI at the forefront of Government thinking on regulation “as the guarantor of inspection standards” for the private sector.
Of late, the market has shown a tendency towards facilities management-style operations, with more security companies providing services which none of us would refer to as ‘pure security’. Meantime, in-house security managers are being asked to take care of building maintenance, contract cleaning, fire protection/prevention and Health and Safety issues once the preserve of other professions.
With these changes likely to be irreversible, Mullarkey has made his first moves towards the NSI becoming a ‘one-stop shop’ for on-site inspections. In July, the NSI became the first inspectorate to be United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)-accredited for the installation of both security and fire systems – by attaining EN 45011 (product certification) for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and alarm systems in accordance with the British Approvals for Fire Equipment (BAFE) scheme SP 203: 2002.
In addition, through its NACOSS and ICON strands the NSI has been accredited to EN 45012 (quality management systems) for several years in respect of fire systems, and over ten years for security systems installation.
“This shows our commitment to improving standards in the fire sector, and that we are changing with the times,” adds Mullarkey. “End users can be confident that companies brought in to design, install, maintain or commission their fire systems have attained the necessary degree of competence. The fire arena is a natural extension for firms already installing security systems, and I’ve every confidence that the BAFE scheme will be a huge success.”
Mullarkey’s self-confessed “five-year plan” for inspection market domination doesn’t stop there, though. Apparently, both Health and Safety and environmental management certification schemes are “within months” of launch as Mullarkey rounds on his goal of allowing insurers to view “a total risk” on site.
In Mullarkey’s eyes, security systems are only as good as their weakest link. “CCTV, intruder alarm and access control systems installed by NACOSS companies at any given site should be backed up by ISI-registered manned security and keyholding operations,” suggests Mullarkey. “Now, the fire systems can also be installed to NACOSS standards. In this way, the entire Health and Safety and security systems at the end user’s site are working to the same universal standards, and being inspected by one body. That’s the kind of environment where insurers will place a risk.”
Like Security Management Today, Mullarkey is firmly behind the view that the insurance community has a big part to play in driving standards upwards in the security sector.
UKAS regulations prevent the NSI from becoming embroiled in any sort of training or consultancy, but this is one further avenue of expansion that Mullarkey refuses to accept as being a dead end.
In truth, NSI inspectors’ advice is regularly sought by in-house professionals, and Mullarkey is looking to see if the NSI can play a part in providing them with ‘experts’ who can solve related security problems. States Mullarkey: “That’s just the sort of service we should be offering outside of our UKAS-accredited inspection work. That is what end users and our recognised companies need.”
Managing by empowerment
The first thing that struck Mullarkey when he joined the NSI is that it’s “populated by excellent staff who really know their business, and are proud to serve the industry’s public”. Holding a barely suppressed urge “to change everything” – a trait born, perhaps, of an ongoing desire to break free from the shackles of what was a strict Catholic upbringing in his home town of Dunmore, County Galway – one element that has changed of its own accord down the years is Mullarkey’s own management style.
“I’ve always been a perfectionist, and held on to the belief that things should be done very precisely and very well at the time of asking,” he states. Exhibiting a refreshingly honest view, he continues: “Until now, from my perspective the only way that could happen is if I was involved in all the detail. I’ve discovered later in life that this approach doesn’t really work though, because the more you rely upon yourself to do something the less onus you bestow upon the team. There’s more chance of making mistakes that way, too.”
Mullarkey knows that the NSI will only become the inspectorate of choice if its staff are motivated for the task at hand, and they’ll be looking to him to provide the inspiration. To this end, he aims to conjure an environment in which the staff can flourish by allowing them to be creative, and put their own ideas into practice. “That’s how management should work,” adds Mullarkey, “and indeed how organisations should work. I genuinely believe in empowerment. There will not always be a 100% success rate with that stance, but there’ll be many achievements along the way.”
It would seem that management by open-handed guidance is Mullarkey’s new governing style then, shaped at least in part by a good deal of leadership training combined – of late – with feedback from a lecturing stint at the Manchester Business School. However, he’s quick to point out that members of the team must shoulder their own responsibilities.
“Your staff have to take charge of what they’re doing,” states Mullarkey. “If someone is continually buzzing around them being supportive and offering advice they’re never going to learn to stand on their own two feet. You have to strike that fine balance.”
Influences from the past
The NSI chief executive’s well-rounded views on life and business are strongly informed by his upbringing and career to date. His parents gave him what he describes as “a strong moral and ethical grounding”, and there were certainly expectations that the young Mullarkey would display high standards at all times.
“My grandfather would always drag himself up by the bootstraps when he had to,” says Mullarkey, “and he imparted that philosophy to my father. He then instilled the same ideas in me, bit by bit. Each generation of the Mullarkeys has had to be more effective than the last, and deliver a step forward”. Looking at his life to date, Tom Mullarkey has certainly done that with interest – so much so that his teenage sons Rory and Patrick have their work cut out in following the family tradition.
Mullarkey’s father – a farmer by trade – and mother emigrated to England a year after his birth. “I’m an Irishman,” he stresses proudly, “but I’m culturally and structurally British. I have spent most of my life here, after all.”
Educated at Maidstone Grammar School, the budding professional developed an initial thirst for army life when he joined the Combined Cadet Force, and was granted a scholarship to the prestigious Sandhurst Military College. “I loved the excitement and the adventure of it all. I used to spend my weekends with the Cadet Force trekking over the Brecon Beacons” (a hill walking hobby that has carried through to later life, and an estimated “40 mountain days a year now, work permitting”).
“You had to endure a good deal of physical and intellectual pressure at the same time,” he adds, “and I relish a challenge like that.”
Armed with a BA (Hons) degree in organisational studies from Lancaster University – “I wanted to do a course with a meaningful output at the end of it” – the young Mullarkey was commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Artillery and strode forth to complete the first 13 or 14 years of his National Service. In a colourful career, from 1979 to 1985 he was posted in Germany, where he was stationed in charge of 70 troops as part of a heavy regiment. He was then transferred to another German base and placed in charge of a missile regiment. “During that time I also served in Northern Ireland and ran recruiting courses,” explains Mullarkey.
Come 1985 and he was making his way to The School of Artillery at Salisbury Plain to work in procurement. A short two years later and it was off to Canada in the first of two spells representing the UK as an Exchange Officer.
“I have very strong ties with the Canadians,” says Mullarkey. “My eldest son was born there. He must be kept in touch with his birthplace, so my wife Sue and I frequently take the boys back there for a holiday.”
The second spell of ‘exchange’ came in 1991, when Mullarkey was seconded to the Indian Staff College at Tamil Nadu (and where he completed a Masters degree in defence studies). “It was a great time in my life,” he says. “The Indian army numbers 1,000,000 soldiers among its ranks, and it was a great challenge to command and get to know some of them.”
Mullarkey adds: “As a British officer, I was expected to have a comment or view on every subject. I would be singled out for my opinion after presentations, which was an excellent grounding for my work at the NSI.”
There followed a “serious elevation in status” when, in 1992, Mullarkey was chosen to be personal staff officer to the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff in Whitehall. He was responsible for strategic issues concerning the UK’s defence mechanisms. Another challenging experience, but not quite as life-informing as that which was about to unfold in Rwanda.
The Rwandan experience
Having built a reputation for himself as an effective project manager and taken part in large-scale planning operations, Mullarkey’s final posting was during 1994-1995 when he accepted the mantle of director of the United Nations’ (UN) humanitarian operations following the appalling genocide that had taken place there. “It was a formative moment in my life,” he confirms. “The most important life experience I’ve ever had.”
He continues in sombre voice: “I went to Rwanda in September 1994, and it seemed to me that there was nothing being done. There was no diplomatic initiative of any significance. There was no opportunity to engage the UN donor countries in the fight against genocide. There was no political novation from the Government with regard to the UN’s activities there. There was no engagement of the Hutu population, who were living in refugee camps, either in the work of the international community or the restoration of the country, and in terms of bringing the killers to justice. It was a logical step for me to try and pull all these disparate strands together.”
Mullarkey did just that. He wrote a strategic plan – entitled Op RETOUR – for the political restoration of Rwanda which he was asked to present to the UN Secretary General and Council in Geneva. They liked his ideas, and Mullarkey was subsequently tasked with putting his theory into practice.
“I suddenly found myself responsible for several million refugees and the operational control of 6,000 troops, as well as thousands of aid workers. We managed to repatriate the first 250,000 refugees in the initial months of Op RETOUR,” states Mullarkey with obvious pride, “and put in place the necessary infrastructures for their safe return and life post the atrocities.”
Water supplies and food networks were established, transport routes repaired and educational streams for the local people devised and put in place. A brilliant effort.
It was nothing short of a model operation, one which rightly earned Mullarkey the MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List of 1996. He has since immortalised his story in print – writing a book entitled ‘A Thousand Hills: A Story of Crisis in Rwanda’. A frank account of how to bring hope from despair, it’s a fascinating and beautifully written tome that presents a forceful argument for a more robust role for UN peacekeepers.
From The City to The Commonwealth
On leaving the military in 1995, Mullarkey traded his beret for a bowler – running a foreign exchange project for UBS Warburg in The City. “There are certain organisations and institutions that seek out people like me,” says Mullarkey. “It was a very different culture to the army, though. Akin to walking into a room of wet spaghetti and trying to work out which bits were the important lines of communication and information. In the merchant banking world, knowledge is power, and everything hinges on you being an expert in your field. Everyone keeps their own knowledge close to their chest. In the army, everyone is willing to share their experience if you have a problem.”
Immediately prior to the NSI posting, Mullarkey changed tack yet again to “take on one of the most complex projects” with which he’s ever been involved – the XVII Commonwealth Games. Acting as one of the Manchester Games’ directors – indeed, he now lives a stone’s throw away in Stockport – Mullarkey used his planning skills to full effect having been placed in charge of 48 major tendering streams covering transport links, catering, security, accreditation, marketing and merchandising and the ticketing procedures. There was also a focus on the volunteer worker and VIP security programmes. Quite a task.
“It’s an amazingly complex requirement to make sure that everyone involved understands not only their own responsibilities but those of others and the team within which they’re working,” states Mullarkey. “It’s all about multi-dimensional thinking. The Commonwealth Games were great, because they allowed me to start off with a clean slate, graft my ideas onto the project and help mould the outcome. I’m a perfectionist, yes, but that’s cultured by a certain degree of maturity these days.”
Apart from his mission at the NSI, one wonders if there are any more mountains to climb for a man who has achieved so much and yet remains so modest. “I’d like to write another book,” says Mullarkey, “but this time all about World War I. Written from the perspective of a soldier in the heat of battle. No-one has managed that so far.” Yet another task, then. One that you’d put your shirt on Mullarkey achieving. With some aplomb.
