End users and uniform suppliers discuss image and delivery for your staff uniforms.
End users are tending to move away from a more formal uniform, to something less formal – which works out cheaper, says Peter Dalton of York-based ASYL Uniforms Direct. The changing role of the security officer has influenced what uniforms end users buy, Peter told Professional Security: ‘We have been in the security industry ourselves for the past ten years. The emphasis is away from protection of property against criminals and vandals and so on and more towards care-taking. Companies are making every effort to get their name across – they are using their manpower as an advertising tool. There is a lot more personalisation of garments, be it embroidery, screen-printing, or heat-sealing of logos.’ A visitor impressed by a smart and courteous front of house contract security guard might be a future client, Peter pointed out.
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Nick van der Bijl, security manager at Southmead Hospital in north Bristol, told Professional Security: ‘In a sector like mine [healthcare] the guys need a uniform – which may get dirty, for instance, covered in human tissue or human waste, where it’s impractical for them to wear a blazer.’ Hence a Nato-style sweater. He stresses the importance of a police-style belt for security officers to hang gadgets such as a radio and handset – otherwise security officers could have both hands full when they need to act. He raised too the need for a robust shoe – especially when tasks involve plenty of walking.
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Once upon a time you knew how to spot the security man – the commissionaire or nightwatchman with his peaked cap pulled down to eye level. Times change; security staff are in house or contracted, in a control room or meeting the public. Do they have clothes in line with the corporate image, or a ‘security’ uniform – and what’s that in 2001′ Do security officers and managers conform to the horrors of dressing-down Friday’ Mark Rowe asked round the industry.
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Getting the right uniform for staff can be time-consuming and costly, especially because of high turnover in the security industry – as Brian Geary of Broadland Guarding Services puts it, you can’t recruit by shirt size. The Norwich-based firm mainly supplies control room staff for local authorities and the private sector. Clothes have to be suitable for males as well as females, and staff of different cultures. Security staff on a retail floor, say, have to fit in with a company’s profile more than control room operators locked in a room who may only have a few visitors a week. Even the control room staff, however, use the company’s facilities and thus may have to conform to the corporate culture – whether it’s a particular colour of polo-neck shirt, or shirt and tie. Brian believes that the security company has to consult both with the client and the staff actually wearing the clothes, or the security firm could provide the clothing the client wants, only for staff to ask for alterations, leaving the security firm with a bag of clothes unusable anywhere else.
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Leisure security companies have different uniform needs than manned guards. Except at the formal end of the leisure spectrum, ties and blazers for security staff are no good – indeed ties might even be dangerous if they get stuck in something. To take AP Security as an example, their bright short-sleeved polo neck shirts with the firm’s name and SECURITY are cheap, they identify staff to customers, and they’re practical, especially if the work at the front of the crowd gets hot (pictured). Pat Carr, AP Security’s Business Development Director, was formerly the crowd management consultant at Wembley Stadium (events ranging from Bill Graham to women’s hockey to England soccer to U2 concerts). He told Professional Security: ‘Some people would argue that levels of authority are lost if you don’t have a formal jacket and tie. I don’t agree – especially if you are dealing with the younger end of the market’ – meaning that young people at events might react against anyone wearing a tie.
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Security staff at the University of Leeds dress not unlike police officers – while the university staff wear a peaked cap rather than a bobby’s helmet, both wear stab-resistant vests and black and white clothing. The university’s retiring Director of Security, George Blanchflower, is a former senior West Yorkshire police officer, who has not made great chances to staff uniforms in his five years on campus. Briefly, he believes uniform style depends on the organisation and locality; George emphasies that security personnel should be clearly identified: at Leeds staff have tunics and Nato-style sweater, with a prominent ‘security’ badge. ‘There is a debate, and it is one which I think most organisations have to face up to. There are some organisations which would like you to wear a blazer and grey flannels – that’s a more friendly message and is perhaps more suitable for the reception sort of role. My view is for the university that we want students to feel reassured by our presence and we make no bones about it. We are here as a security force and while obviously we expect that our staff will greet people diplomatically we have to equip them to do the job of a security force, not a reception. We are also sending out messages to those who we need to deter from committing crime against the university and its students. We are on the edge of the city – it may be that on a green field site where you don’t get so much attention from passing criminals you can have a more relaxed style, but it tends to be a suck it and see approach, really.’ Another Yorkshire former police officer, Brian Mole, security adviser at the University of Sheffield, takes a different approach to uniforms than George Blanchflower, though Brian agrees with his sentiments: ‘George is absolutely right – there isn’t a right answer.’ Brian sees two aspects to campus security – what he calls ‘ambassadorial’ and ‘functional’, that call for different uniforms: ‘I am coming from a culture where I have 20,000 people [students] from all walks of life. Two or three thousands are from foreign countries and they all have an image of what policing and security is about.’ Brian has sought to introduce what he calls ‘a softening line’, whereby patrol staff are non-confrontational, there to comfort and inspire confidence in students. Hence a blazer rather than a police and Nato-style tunic – but, Brian adds, ‘when you are working response vehicles there’s nothing better than the Nato jumper and an anorak for jumping in and out of vehicles checking property’.
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Charlton FC
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There’s more to stewards’ uniforms at Charlton Football Club than a coat or bib, says John Little, Safety Officer for the London Premier League side. For starters, the club decides whether the weather makes it a coat or bib day – given that soccer is a winter sport, it’s usually coats. Each one is numbered, and each steward has to wear an ID card, so that each member of staff can be identified. The stadium’s security team, stewards, supervisers and car park stewards have different colours, which helps the control room, police and spectators alike to tell them apart. Car park uniforms have reflective stripes for high visibility – vital, given that cars will usually leave in the dark. Charlton have a stewards’ dress code – white shirt (white blouse for women), tie (not for women), black shoe, black trousers. If stewards want to wear a hat, the club provides one. John agrees that the image of stewards – and reactions from police and customers – depends on the smartness and cleanliness of uniforms. Partly too thanks to a sponsorship deal, Charlton stewards are dressed smartly.
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Every uniform and job title gives clients an impression – and given that security is a sensitive affair, it sometimes goes as far as giving clients security without giving it that name. Luxury Home Management (LHM), in Marble Arch, offer a Roving Porter service – porters who are communal servants for expensive central London flats, who are also key-holders and a first line of security – a human face rather than alarms, smoke detectors and CCTV – though the flats have all those electronic security measures too. Neil Davidson, managing director, says that porters-concierges do a host of odd jobs – driving, walking dogs, arranging a limo. The uniformed concierge is more suitable than an out and out security guard who may come across as a ‘heavy’, and give the wrong impression – that a security guard is deemed to be necessary may suggest that the flats are under direct threat.
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Paul Mercer, the Security Systems Manager EMEA for internet software and hardware giant Cisco, was relaxed enough to pose tieless for photographs for Professional Security in the Septem ber issue. That doesn’t mean that he never wears a tie. Rather, security department staff like all Cisco staff – going by what Professional Security saw on the day of its visit to Cisco’s west London HQ at Stockley Park in July – have a more relaxed attitude to dress than longer-established organisations. The overall ethos of Cisco, that security shares, is that staff are a valuable resource, doing creative, dynamic work; formal business dress is no more the rule than informal dress. Casual wear rules OK inside Cisco but going casual is not an option for the blazer-wearing reception greeters, or the contract guards on the west London business estate that Cisco is part of.
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At Birmingham University, security officers are employed in house, to provide cover 24 hours a day, throughout the year. Like many universities, Birmingham is near the city centre. Its website says: ‘For many on their first visit to the University, the likelihood is that the first person they meet is a uniformed Security Officer at one of the entrance gates. Much has been said about first impressions, but it is that initial contact which sets the tone for a visit, a conference, or even a leisurely walk around. A few years ago we changed the image of the Security Officer, away from the authoritarian appearance of the police style uniform of navy serge and shiny silver buttons to a much softer tone, and styled a uniform in grey, in line with the corporate identity.’
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What the market researchers say: MSI in its November 2000 report The UK Market For Manned Security says: ”The manned security industry has always been associated with uniforms which represent neatness and discipline. However, the clothing of security officers has become more casual and, therefore, suppliers of security clothing are having to react to the move towards more casual security uniforms in order to survive and compete. In a retail environment, a heavy, obvious security presence puts shoppers on edge and therefore the casual uniform approach puts shoppers at ease without specifying security measures. However, whether the demand is for neat or casual uniforms, there will always be opportunities for suppliers of uniforms.’
