Vertical Markets

Why death rate so high?

by Mark Rowe

As Corps Security CEO Mike Bullock writes, the news, in May, from the UK official Office of National Statistics (ONS), as featured in the June 2020 print edition of Professional Security magazine, that male security officers have one of the highest death dates from Covid-19 in terms of occupation – 45.7 deaths per 100,000 people, higher than the more obvious healthcare occupations – made for difficult reading.

Hence the London-based guard firm has commissioned a study by consultancy Perpetuity led by Prof Martin Gill on why that should be. You can request a copy of the 30-page report via the Corps website.

Mike Bullock, pictured, writes in a foreword to the document: “Early in the pandemic, the Government classified licence-holding security professionals as critical workers which meant that many of our colleagues have been on the front line throughout this pandemic. When the rest of the building occupants have been working from home, security officers have been protecting empty buildings or supporting the skeleton staff remaining.

“When the pandemic started, we took immediate action to protect our teams and have been amending those provisions as the situation changes. As part of that we decided to commission research from leading security and risk research company Perpetuity Research to better understand why security officers are so badly affected by the Covid-19 virus. This understanding will allow us to better support and protect our people.

Hence the Perpetuity research that Corps are offering to share freely. “We must all work together and do all we can as an industry to ensure no more of our people die as a result of this terrible virus.”

Martin Gill, director of Perpetuity Research and one of the report’s authors, says: “The true picture is complex, with some risk factors almost certainly inter-related, may still be emerging, or even not yet identified. What does seem clear though from this preliminary research is that gender, ethnicity, the nature of the job have all been seen to increase risks and these are all characteristics of security officers.”

Geography may also play a part; as many security jobs are urban and in the UK particularly London, the Midlands and south-east have been hit by Covid-19, the researchers suggest.

Separately, see also the Perpetuity website for detailing of cybercrime and Covid-19.

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