My son is a year old and is starting to walk. We knew we had to make some changes as the stairs are quite steep and from previous experience, it is easy for a baby to have a tumble while learning to climb.
There were a
few tactics I can employ to avoid such a scary mishap but there were other
considerations besides not wanting him to have a fall.
Firstly, we recently moved in and stuff is constantly on the move as we have not yet worked out, what goes where. The older two have a lot of toys that they bring down each day and pack back at night in their rooms upstairs.
Secondly, the baby is almost always supervised and we trust the habits we have of keeping him under close watch. This though will change as he gets better and faster at walking.
Thirdly, I want him to learn to climb the steps in a safely manner and I think the early he is given a chance to try it, the better it is for all the family.
We had two child gates at the last house, one at the top of the steps and the other to the living room where the first two were able to roam without getting into the kitchen and also up the steps. This time the layout is different and the baby has a larger area on the ground floor to practice his walking.
In the end we settled on one gate at the bottom of the steps. This divides the house in two with free roam for baby boy on the ground floor and ease of use for everyone else. Upstairs we make sure whichever room he’s in, the door is kept shut.
So far, so good. As he gains confidence in his walking, he gets a supervised go at the steps but the gate remains closed not only through habit but through the swing lock design that makes it near impossible to stay open.
The choice of a single gate was not the only one. It was the one that presented the safest compromise for all involved. Information security has to make similar choices all the time in situations where different factors have to be considered and it is not necessarily the best touted option that delivers the most desirable result.
This brings me neatly to Information Security. The degree to which you rely on technology to secure data versus human habit and company culture will vary for each situation. The costs you are willing to sustain, you assessment of the attendant risks and the ethos of your business must all be weighed when such a decision is being made.
Laws and policies are useful but they can never cover all the circumstances that each business will throw up. It is up to the individual companies to work out how they want to balance all the factors so as to maintain their competitive advantages in a secure environment.
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