SAFETY Act

Following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the courts upheld a decision against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the landlord for the World Trade Center, which placed a majority of the blame for the terrorist attack on the Port Authority. The case found the Port Authority 65% liable for the damages that occurred as a result of the bombing, while the terrorists that committed the crimes were only assessed 35% of the liability. The case against the Port Authority took twelve years to resolve and cost millions of dollars in legal fees and punitive payments. It was just recently reintroduced to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 and may not be over. This jaw-dropping legal situation placed an extraordinarily large amount of liability and pressure on an organization that was otherwise a victim. Similar lawsuits popped up by the dozens following the September 11^th, 2001 attacks.

Fearing that companies would remove themselves from the security and homeland security market, Congress created the SAFETY Act, a little known, but an exceptionally valuable element of the 2002 Homeland Security Act (Public Law 107-296). The “Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY)” Act offers liability protection to entities that could possibly be terrorist targets. While an act of terrorism may take much from an organization and leave lasting scars, the claims and litigation that may follow could be the things that truly destroy the organization. The SAFETY Act’s purpose is to ensure that the threat of potential liability suits does not limit or deter the development and implementation of products, services, systems, procedures, and advice that could prevent or mitigate a terrorist attack. The use of “technologies” in the Act's name merely refers to the deployment of any innovative solution meant to mitigate a terrorist attack and is not limited to equipment. The Act provides unprecedented immunities, liability protections, caps and other incentives for approved entities that develop and employ innovative and tested “technologies” (equipment, systems, protocols, plans, advice and services) to prevent, deter, mitigate, respond to or recover from a terrorism event. The Act's protection can apply to a physical attack on persons or property or to acts of cyber-terrorism that cause physical and/or financial harm.

• Life and property protection (reduced vulnerability or improved ability to respond to a terrorist attack after implementing appropriate solutions) Significant insurance premium savings as a result of reduced risk and liability protections

• Protection from crippling lawsuits (in the millions to hundreds of millions of dollars), years of courtroom expenses, and years of negative publicity by receiving a cap on liability (designation) or complete immunity from liability (certification) for those areas in which designation or certification was obtained in the event of a terrorist attack

• Trickle down protection for all users of the SAFETY Act awarded solution (e.g., customers, subsidiaries, individual facilities or operating locations)

• Improved marketing, market share, and/or sales through a demonstrated commitment to the safety of patrons and clients

SAFETY Act Designation - If approved, an organization will receive liability protections in the form of a numerical cap, set by DHS, which limits the potential exposure the organization could face should its anti-terrorism solution be defeated in the face of an act of terrorism.

SAFETY Act Certification - If approved, an organization will receive complete immunity from the same kind of liability.

Organizations that have the most to gain from receiving SAFETY Act “designation” or “certification” are those that may lure the interests of possible terrorist groups or individuals (domestic, international, insider threat), including:

• Large public venues (stadiums, arenas, theaters, theme parks)

• Critical infrastructure (electricity, water/wastewater, transportation, telecommunications)

• Building management companies (shopping malls, high rise buildings, convention centers)

• Transportation hubs (mass transit centers [bus, rail, subway, air])

• Ports of Entry (airports, sea ports)

• Landmarks/Facilities of iconic value (corporate headquarters, national icons/monuments)

• Organizations dependent on cyber systems to provide public services (financial institutions)