Coming from a professional environment and having trained with top instructors in the industry, it really opened my eyes, and I now wonder how the security industry got to its current stage, so disrespected within the community. How did it get to the stage where Security Officer positions are the lowest paid jobs in the UK, a stage where the majority of employees are already having a pension, and where young employees are working with zero-hour contracts, completely limiting their future life prospects.
Did you know that those working on zero-hour contracts are considered unreliable and find it harder to rent accommodation? Young men and women can enlist in the army and put their lives on the line, but in the security industry they are considered unreliable, payed with minimum wage, and put on zero-hour contracts. However, despite this treatment, they are expected to be on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week and preferably without any holidays.
Why would you need any holiday when you are working an average of 240 hours a month? Can you imagine the fatigue, stress, pressure these people are under to perform day in day out, and the quality of their resulting work? Do you really expect that they will be able to do their job to the best of their ability? Well, let me tell you a small secret; when fatigue kicks in, their observational skills will shrink significantly, their motivation will hit rock bottom, and they will sleep like a baby during the night shift. And, don’t get me started on their poor response time and poor performance in the case of an emergency.
This is the average profile of your Security Officer, the person who is supposed to protect your property, identify trespassers, and raise the alarms in the case of an emergency. Not very reassuring, is it?
Recently, a friend who owns a corporate company, who is also very aware of these problems, told me there is little he can do to avoid these problems as they are consistent across every security company he hires. They all show their quality assurance certificates, their precious SIA approved contractor certificates, and other environmentally-friendly credentials but, at the core, they are all identical because they share one goal, to make as much profit as possible.
How do they make profit? They hire low-trained Security Officers, close to retirement age or preferably already retired. They put them on minimum wage, give them the cheapest eBay-bought uniform that money can buy and a simple mobile phone in case of emergency.
That’s it.
This is the hard reality.
These are the people who are tasked with protecting your employees, property, and your company image. On top of that you also pay them for the privilege…
I still remember my enthusiasm on my first ever penetration testing contract. I had to break into a facility at night to test the security measures in place and to discover potential vulnerable areas. I was so concerned about what type of hoodie or hat to wear in order to conceal my shiny bald head from the cameras. Lucky for me, the Security Officer did not move from his security hut, yet alone patrol at all. The next day, I found out that he didn’t had any batteries for his flashlight so he also couldn’t see anything, heavily relying on the fixed security cameras. The security company never provided any replaceable or rechargeable batteries and this was going back years!
As you can imagine, that it did not go down well for them. I spent hours on that site taking selfies with the potential damage I could do, from the archive room, to the server room, and the personal/confidential employee file; I had access to everything. I even took a selfie on a forklift with the keys in my hand. However, in reality, this wasn’t a laughing matter; it was terrifying because if I could enter the facility that easily, then anybody could.
Remember that ‘bad guys’ are usually properly equipped with the right tools to get the job done as silent and as fast as possible. They know that the risk of getting caught is low and the reward is extremely high, so they need only wait for the right opportunity.
In less than 12 minutes, they are gone without a trace, but with your valuables.
Eventually, after 9 to 12 months, you will receive the insurance claim for the damaged caused by the criminals, but you will still have to deal with a multitude of other problems directly and indirectly related to the incident. One of them is a higher insurance cost, and you can still consider yourself lucky if you only have material damage. It can get very complicated if you have injured people involved and you can never compensate for a lost life.
I have audited and inspected public sites where the Security Officers lock the fire escapes because they are too lazy to properly patrol and secure the area. The usual response is “I receive minimum wage I do minimum work.”
You can imagine my diplomatic response when I hear this “IT’S AGAINST THE *$%&* LAW TO LOCK FIRE ESCAPES!”
Low wage, low motivation, lack of leadership and proper training is just all just a big recipe for disaster.
So how you can you protect your organisation?
Here are some tips and measures that you will have to take in order to keep your organization safe:
- Make sure your Security Officers are physically fit for the job. You know what I am talking about. There is a reason that the military and police force ask people to retire at age 55.
- Make sure the Security Officers are properly trained.
- They must be familiar with all your procedures, especially with the emergency procedures.
- They must be fully aware of the site and surrounding areas.
- The Security Officer has to be a certified first aider. If you have employees working on night shifts, the Security Officer should also be trained as a certified fire marshal. I bet you don’t have any fire marshals on the night shift, do you?
- Make sure they have proper equipment to conduct their job (rechargeable flashlights, radios, mobile phone, etc.)
- Make sure the Security Officers have a list with emergency contacts.
- If the Security Officer has access to CCTV, I would also recommend to be trained as a CCTV operator. Having a CCTV licenced operator looks very professional, especially for third party auditors. Privacy is a big concern in today’s world and don’t forget about the GDPR compliance.
- Make sure they don’t work too many hours as fatigue can be a real killer. Most Security Officers work an average of 240 hours, which is way too much, especially for night shift work. Remember that they are payed minimum wage, that is the reason they accept so many hours, putting your business in risk.
- Make sure they have a proper uniform. You need respected professionals in your business, not clowns.
- Review the risk assessment made by the security company, usually it’s a joke. Make sure the risk assessments are integrated with your company requirements and are annually reviewed.
- Hire third party professionals with high integrity to assess your risk assessments, security measures, and procedures.
- Test the system. This is the only way you can be 100% sure that it is working. Hire penetration testing teams to break into the company and do some potential damage. It’s the best way to learn and to improve your security procedures.
Remember, you are paying for the service, so don’t be shy and let the security company know every time something is wrong. The only way the security industry will ever improve is if you raise your standards.
