Training

Training and standards

by Mark Rowe

As of April 2021 new training requirements will be introduced for all SIA licensed sectors except vehicle immobilisation and close protection where requirements come into effect in October, writes Daniel Pike MSc MSyl.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) have brought in these changes to ensure that people working within the private security industry can; Keep the public safe, follow new working practices, understand recent changes to law and make the best of new technology.

The SIA’s ability to regulate the industry has faced criticism. In light of the new training requirements it could be considered, that the changes could have been implemented sooner; when taking into account previous UK terror attacks such as the Manchester arena terror attack.

Though the SIA has faced past criticism; based on its 2016-2020 reports it has also made a positive impact on the industry when considering its two main duties of regulating compulsory licensing and managing the approved contractor scheme. The reports revealed that the regulator has been meeting targets of license issuing. The reduction in license warnings and prosecution figures could also suggest that the regulator is acting as a good deterrent to license breaches and unlicensed activity.

The introduction of the new training requirements offers a chance for the SIA to highlight the professionalism of those working within the security sector and help towards changing the negative views and misconceptions people have on the security industry.

One phenomenon that is raised within the industry is low pay. Considering the new changes in training requirements this could present the notion of increased pay within the industry, more so when highlighting the cross functional tasks that security carry out i.e., facilities and health & safety roles; with the addition of the higher risk key worker roles face during pandemics such as covid-19. One thing to consider is that the new training requirements presents additional costs to both security officers and security companies which could reflect on service costs.

When considering the misconceptions of the security industry it is often seen that a security officer is low paid, poorly trained and disrespected, which requires a change in culture, the industry could benefit from the SIA’s assistance with this. Many security professionals come from highly trained backgrounds i.e., policing or military back ground, who can often be overqualified to for carrying out certain security roles. A security role is more than just sitting in a gatehouse. Firstly the officers resilience is challenged daily by the long working hours, where no day is the same and is often over-worked.

Security officers can bring valuable experience from other roles. This could be observations and communication skills, counter terror knowledge, health and safety knowledge; there are many of examples of what an experienced officer can provide. The improved training requirements being implemented by the SIA could help towards supporting this experience, thus offering a better calibre of officer. Security officers play an important part in business continuity often being the blood line of a site, whereby if a sites security is poor this could create many problems for a business.

Industry competition also contributes to low pay within the security sector which could perhaps raise the notion of a set minimum wage for licensed security officers. I once heard a client state that ‘security are two a penny’ when considering officer replacement on site. It is understandable for a client to want to get the most they can for as little as possible, which may be another contribution to low wages in the security sector. It could however be worth educating the client on the quality of training the security officer has gone through and the risks security mitigate to warrant increased wages.

This presents the following question: Would you like to put your life on the line for low wages, long working hours, were you are treated poorly and overworked?

The SIA’s new training requirements could also present an opportunity to review security regulation on the use of in house trained security personnel. The training for in house trained security varies across sectors and sites. To further establish the aims of the new SIA training requirements, this could call for the notion that in house security officers need to meet the minimum SIA training requirements and perhaps fall under the remit of licensing; before carrying out additional in house training. Supermarkets and other organisations have been known to use in house security personnel but renaming the role i.e., “safety marshals”. It could be argued that this presents confusion on whether the staff member is carrying out a security defined role and could further question the quality of the in house training compared to standard UK regulatory requirements.

In house security training has also been known to be above UK standards such as the training provided to those working in the civil service and government agencies. With the SIA collaborating with other government agencies it could be suggested that the SIA could reflect some of this training into its own standard of training.

To further support the new training requirements, the industries professionalism and claim for better pay; moving forward there could be calls for a generic license, which merges security guard, door supervisor and CCTV into one, thus providing a fully trained security professional capable of dealing with many eventualities and carry out diverse roles. This could raise the notion that close protection could be merged as well. This would appear to be an overkill for some security roles; however there have been many occasions were licensable roles have merged when providing ad hoc requests for clients, i.e., a security guard acting as a close protection officer during a VIP escort from a car to a building. Bearing in mind it only takes seconds for a security incident to welcome itself, the unqualified security guard may not be able to address the situation or know what to look out for. You wouldn’t partially train a gas technician, as incorrect training could lead to disastrous consequences.

A security officer’s role is to safeguard a client, their customer and assets, partially training an officer to carry out this role has shown, that this can cause catastrophic consequences. Therefore by providing a newly trained security officer with the correct knowledge and skills to adapt to the challenges they may face in modern life, could potentially save lives, mitigate risk and change negative perceptions on the industry.

About the author

With a policing background Daniel has focused on a career in security where he has gained knowledge and experience in manned guarding, close protection, risk and commercial security. He has ambitions to gain a doctorate in security and risk management and become a Chartered Security Professional.

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