Measures to protect physical safety
It is important to possess good physical safety in a workplace to ensure a good working environment at all times. Physical safety concerns issues like tripping dangers, electrical safety and awareness of equipment positioning.
Tripping dangers: Tripping over wires and injuring yourself can happen so it is important not to trail wires across the floor. Ideally, all wires should be tied up and put away so it doesn’t obstruct or cause damage to someone or they can be attached around skirting boards around a wall to ensure physical safety. Equipment should also be kept away from walkways as they provide a tripping hazard especially in an emergency.
Electrical safety: Faulty or neglected electrical safety can result in someone being electrocuted or starting a fire. Do not overload plugs, as it is a fire hazard, making sure to take it out immediately if it sparks or you notice an irregularity with the electrical appliance. Make sure liquid isn’t near the machinery because if there is a spillage and it gets into the machinery there is a chance of electrocution.
Equipment positioning: Equipment or boxes shouldn’t be placed where they may fall over and injure someone. Simple awareness of equipment positioning can significantly reduce physical safety risks in a workplace. So avoid putting anything that is smaller than that of what you are putting on it and try not to put heavy objects up high as this can seriously harm someone if it falls.
Measures to protect files from loss
Files can be infected and erased by a virus, inadvertently deleted or misplaced so it important to protect your files from loss. It goes without saying that you should have a good working anti-virus but there additional measures that need to be taken to protect files from loss these include backing up files and organising them up.
Backing up files: To avoid the risks you should back up your documents. Firstly, while working you should regularly save your work meaning if there is an unforeseen incident and the computer crashes not all your files will be lost. There are other ways to back up files such as USB Flash Drives, Floppy Disks, CD/DVD Writers, External hard drives and ZIP Drives. The most commonly used is USB Flash Drives, otherwise known as memory sticks, and it’s easy to see why. USB flash drives provide a fast and easy way to back up your files with their low cost and storage capabilities, they are therefore a good choice to back up your files and protect them from loss.
It is also advised to back up your documents on an external drive just in case there is a malfunction in your machine and the computer hard drive is wiped. Your files will therefore not get lost as you can upload them again later on, on a different PC or your own. It is wise to back up once a month or thereabouts, and ensure the back-up device is kept in a dry and secure place.
Organising Files: A very likely danger is that you might not be able to find a file that was created before. To reduce the chance of this happening you should keep your files organized in a folder structure. This means you sub‐categorize your work by having folders inside folders. Documents are then easier to find, as you don’t have to scroll through hundreds of documents to find the file you want. It would be pointless however if you don’t give the folders and files meaningful names to help you recognize and locate them (see example below).
I have given each of my folders the name of the unit and these are located in a folder named ICT GCSE Coursework.
Measures to protect files from unauthorised access
It is important to take measures to protect files from unauthorised access as unwanted access can lead to important information being stolen e.g. bank information, which could potentially lead to identity fraud. In a business sense, it could lead to rival companies knowing the inner workings of their competitors. It cannot be overstated the importance of protecting from unauthorised access, such as in a personal sense to prevent others seeing files you’d rather them not see.
To protect files you could add a strong password made up of upper and lower case characters and also containing numbers – it should consists of a minimum of six characters. It is therefore harder for your files and folders to be hacked and viewed by other people.
In order to set a password to access a word document you have to:
- Click the File button, click Protect Document, and then click Encrypt with Password.
- In the Encrypt Document dialog box that pops up, type a password, and then click OK to confirm your choice.
- In the Confirm Password dialog box, re-enter password and then click OK.
- To save the password you need to save the document.
Another measure that could be taken is to add an encryption code - an encryption is a series of coded passwords to make your files secure. This measure protects your files and folders from being hack and deleted by other people.
Measures to protect files from modification
Some of the dangers of unauthorized modification are that wrong data could be sent or vital information can be deleted. Measures should be taken to prevent people from altering your document but also allow others to view the document. A good example of this is if you had a document containing instructions that you wanted to be viewed but not altered. To protect from the risks you could make the files read-only to ensure the files can be seen but not edited. You could also use password protection to prevent alteration and modification on your document.
Guidance on choosing a strong password
A strong password is needed as it makes it harder for your files to be hacked and deleted, accessed or modified. To pick a strong secure password you should:
- Make sure the password consists of both upper and lower case letters.
- Make sure the password includes characters or symbols as well as letters.
- Make sure it is easy to remember so you don’t have to write it down.
- Make sure it is six to eight letters long.
- Make sure you can type it quickly so people can’t look over your shoulder.
For reference, a password like StarBoyFreddy would not make a good password, because although it consists of both upper and lower case letters, it is a nickname and fairly easy to guess if someone were to try. Furthermore, it is too long and would take a while to type. A good password would be something like Dref@919, it contains a balance of upper and lower case letters, numbers and a symbol. It is easy to remember as it is Fred backwards, then @, then simply 919 and at eight letters, it would be fairly quick to type.
Type password here after clicking Encrypt with Password
• Click the File button and then click Save As.
• On the bottom of the Save As dialog box, click Tools .
• On the Tools menu, click General Options.
• When the General Options dialog opens type a password in the Password to modify box.
• Check the read-only option.
• Click OK then in the Confirm Password dialog, re-enter the password and click OK again.
• Click Save.
Going to review and clicking Restrict Editing also restricts the ability for someone to modify the document.
By Joachim Maiye