UrRISK01

SRA 311.001
SP15

Table/Row # 3
Scott Henderschedt [sah5589]
Erica Marousek [enm5105]
Table of Contents
I. Introduction..............................................................................................................................................3
A) Purpose............................................................................................................................................3
B) Scope of the Risk Assessment..........................................................................................................3
Reference List..............................................................................................................................................4
Appendix 1: Information Sheet...................................................................................................................5

2
I. Introduction

This risk assessment will be looking at the viewpoint of customer safety at the King of
Prussia Mall. There are many unrealized risks associated with shopping malls that the general
public may not be completely aware of. When customers are in the mall shopping, they are
inadvertently putting themselves at risk for a multitude of threats. In this risk assessment, we will
be looking specifically risks such as fire, natural disasters, criminal activity, power outages and
terrorism.
The King of Prussia Mall’s top priority is that of customer safety, and they are devoted to
making their shopping mall the most safe environment for their customers. They are working on
plans to continue to further to improve the safety of their mall to fulfill the growing risks of a
changing society.

A) Purpose
The purpose of this risk assessment is to identify hazards associated with the King of
Prussia Mall, located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. This mall is gracious in size and
has many customers on a day-to-day basis. The owner of the mall, Joseph Hill, has
recently contacted my team and has asked us to conduct a risk assessment of the mall.
The risk assessment of this mall is important. The King of Prussia Mall, as reported in
2012, has over 400 retail stores, 40 dining options, and had 20 million visitors that year
(Goldstein, 2012). Due to the size of the mall, the many different stores within, and
visitors they receive yearly, it is vital for the owner to know any possible hazards that
may arrive while the mall is opened and even when closed. Refer to Appendix 1 for
details on the mall structure.
B) Scope of the Risk Assessment
Our scope on the mall includes: fires inside any section of the malls, natural disasters that
could damage the infrastructure, criminal activity (theft), power outages inside the mall,
and the possibility of a terrorist attack. In providing risk assessment of these hazards to
the owner, they will have a functional awareness of what may happen to the mall.
 Fire
o All structures can be at risk of catching on fire. A mall has many assets
that need to be protected and has a lot of inventory at stake to be lost in
case of a fire.
 Natural Disasters
o The most devastating natural disasters come without warning, it is
important for a mall to be prepared to assume the risks of a natural
disaster striking.
 Criminal Activity
o Theft has always been a major concern for shopping malls. Teenagers
or financially struggling customers could be more inclined to steal
from malls.
 Power Outages

3
 o Power outages are a major concern of any large public structure. If a
power outage occurs the mall needs to be able to come up with a
secondary power source, without power the mall is exposed to many
risks.
 Terrorism
o Most large shopping malls are located in highly populated/urban areas,
posing as a giant threat to a potential terrorist attack.

What is not included in the scope of our assessment are aspects such as legal risks and
decrease in demand. In performing our assessment, we feel it is more important that we
focus on aspects like human life and the infrastructure of the mall, not the sales and legal
aspect.

4
Reference List
Bennets, I., Poh, K., & Thomas, I. (2000). Design of Sprinklered Shopping Centre Buildings for
Fire Safety, 41-41. Retrieved from
http://buildwithstandards.com/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/Design Tools/Fire
Guides/fireguide_shopping0601.pdf

Crime Prevention Tips — Prevent Shopping Crime. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.sjpd.org/bfo/community/Crimeprev/PreventionTips/Prevent_Shopping_Crime.
html

Goldstein, E., Hersh, B., & Lubbe, S. (2012, March 29). King of Prussia District Annual Report
2012. Retrieved from http://www.visitkop.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/03/KOPBID_AnnualReport.pdf

Hayward, J. (2009). Fire Safety in Shopping Malls & Premises Liability. ExpressO. Retrieved
from http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=john_hayward

LaTourette, T., Howell, D., Mosher, D., & MacDonald, J. (2006) Reducing Terrorism Risk at
Shopping Centers. Retrieved from
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2006/RAND_TR401.pdf

Mall Map. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.simon.com/mall/king-of-prussia-mall/map

Romero, D. (2014, January 28). List of Possibly Quake-Prone Buildings Includes Malls, Schools,
Hospitals. Retrieved from http://www.laweekly.com/news/list-of-possibly-quake-prone-
buildings-includes-malls-schools-hospitals-4389349

5
Appendix 1:
This appendix is to be used for reference of the structure of the King of Prussia Mall. It also
details each of the shopping malls within the different sectors and where each sector is located
(i.e. floor level). Looking at this image, we can already see that if a fire were to happen, the
upper levels would be in more danger than the first floor (simply because of exits being on the
first floor, usually).

King of Prussia Mall Layout Map (Mall Map, n.d.)