Safety Challenges in the Private Security Industry in SA

 

BACKGROUND

Being the “first line of defence”, exposed to various functions, the safe conduct by security personnel will always be a major challenge.  The emphasis placed on safety has a direct impact on the way in which security functions are conducted, compared to years ago.  Compounded by the emphasis which security end users place on safety, security business leaders face major challenges.

In SA there are more than 8,000 registered security businesses with in excess of 400,000 active Security Officers. Our industry deploys 40,000 vehicles (driving 120mil km’s); consumes 24mil litres of fuel; uses 40,000 boxes of paper; 30,000 pens; pays R140mil in wages and contributes more than R5,6mil (all monthly) to the Workmen’s Compensation Fund .  Add to this 400,000 potential safety risks. Conversely that means 400,000 people that could potentially save businesses from 400,000 potential safety incidents by hazard identification each month.

 

MOST COMMON RISKS THE INDUSTRY FACES: 

§  Vehicle accidents

§  Attacks on security personnel

§  Slip/slide injuries during patrols

§  Finger pinching in doors/gates

§  Being driven over (vehicle access points)

§  Falling gates in motion

§  Trips/falls 

COMMON ROOT CAUSES IMPACTING ON SAFETY IN SECURITY OPERATIONS 

§  The industry operates in a cut-throat market and safety/PPE related expenses are driven by client contract revenue and revenue provisions.  There are no increased commodity prices that enhance cash for expanded Security Officer PPE. Rarely are security users willing to adjust their security spend for additional PPE.

§  Inexperienced drivers have difficulty adapting from driving small passenger vehicles to driving LDV/4x4’s.  More than 60% of security vehicle drivers don’t own their own vehicles, adding to lack of driving experience when on leave, and to general negligence and neglect to observe obvious hazards. The absence of effective route risk assessments and night driving enhances the risks of accidents. The impact of fatigue, especially on night driving, is immense.

§  Generally most security users invest minimally in the protection of Security Officers i.t.o infrastructure. Contrary to this, certain mining companies invest in bulletproof guardhouses, and in remote rural areas guardhouses have air-conditioners, and some are equipped with running water/toilets. However, plastic 1mx1m guard-huts or dilapidated wooden structures without drinking water and electricity still exist, with the onus on the security contractor to provide electricity, water, and cleaning materials – none of which are included in revenue received from clients. It is not an uncommon request to deploy personnel where none of the above exists. A responsible company will say “No”.

§  Security users often insist that bullet-proof vests form part of PPE, claiming financial provision is made during tendering – however, on contract award and risk changes, it becomes difficult to get financial compensation for additional expensive items.

§  Despite attacks on security personnel by armed criminals seeking copper cable, there are still those that declare their facilities “gun-free”, expecting unarmed Officers to protect their assets from armed groups.

§  Negligence in performance of duties and lack of focus on the impact of employee actions is a major contributor to negative safety incidents.

§  Fatigue is one of the biggest contributors to negligence and is “enemy no.1” to safety.  Shift work, living conditions, diet and sleeping patterns negatively impact on security personnel.

§  Untrained Managers neglect to either conduct baseline risk assessments, or render incomplete assessments. A culture could develop whereby once the baseline risk assessment is conducted, the task is complete, neglecting to do task-based and follow-up risk assessments. Private security companies not large enough to employ dedicated Safety Officers, fall short in this regard.

§  The drive to impress the client outweighs the impact of negative actions – we are too scared to say “No, it is unsafe”, fearing harming the relationship.

§  Poor/substandard engineering works sometimes result in sliding gates derailing, falling on Officers manually operating gates. 

SAFETY LEADERSHIP IN THE SECURITY INDUSTRY 

Traditionally Security Managers were not safety conscious, paying the concept lip-service and sending staff on OHS representative courses.  New generation leaders put safety first, encourage safe practices, enforce the reduction of risk and come down sternly on unsafe practices. Leaders who care for their people make sure they are safe at all times. ENCOURAGING SAFETY IS A MORAL SKILL.

Key areas to confirm that you are on the right track i.t.o safety leadership: 

1.      What company critical safety controls are in place? Would they prevent loss?

2.      All employees have a moral obligation towards safety – is the MD’s annual safety review enough to encourage moral obligation? What more can I do to encourage moral obligation in my company/department? On a recent flight to Cape Town the purser said: “You are as responsible, as much as we are, for your own safety.”  THAT resonates with me.

3.      Do we as leaders know the OHS Act? Study the Act!  

Safety considerations leaders should take into account: 

v  Am I setting the tone? Do I do more than the minimum to encourage safety?

v  Do I care for my people and remove obstacles? Leaders must check for barriers which could result in unsafe practices

v  Am I in tune with my people? Do I know my people? If not, how do I go about getting to know them better?

v  Leaders must not only be OHS Act compliant, they must ensure that their personal values towards their staff and their safety, is a higher priority than the Act. This is only achievable by being knowledgeable about the Act

v  Leaders must realise that leadership is a privilege  –  their first priority is to be a Safety Leader.

v  Leaders know when to say “No!” Can YOU say “No”?

v  Leaders must be cruel to be kind, and have those courageous conversations (otherwise they are morally deficient), take serious actions, make unpopular decisions and know when to say “No” to protect their staff

v  Leaders understand their accountability i.t.o safety and see it as their duty to hold other leaders accountable for safety too

v  Leaders do not reward safety – the highest reward for safety is the value of life. A lost drum of copper cable can be replaced, but there is no replacing a life!

v  I encourage my leaders to ensure that they spend time with their teams. I ask a lot of them. I ask them to walk night shift patrols with an Officer, to drive with a Response Officer, to see how their personnel search vehicles and test people for alcohol.  I ask this of my leaders because there is no other option for them but to care for and develop those under their watch

SAFETY ACTIVITIES THAT ENCOURAGE SAFE WORKING CONDITIONS 

Below are a few aspects recently introduced in the private security industry, supporting the moral obligation that safety leaders portray: 

§  Formulate a company safety strategy, live by and enforce the strategy

§  Appoint a Safety Officer, ensuring and maintaining compliance through auditing, training and mentorship

§  Ensure that security personnel are trained as OHS Representatives, first aiders and firefighters, and Managers receive annual Act refresher training

§  Selected Managers become SAMTRAC qualified

§  Security Managers (highest level in the security structure) must ensure the visibility and dissemination (amongst security operations, guard houses and parades) of:

o       MD’s Annual Safety Review of events in the past year, trends, root-cause outcome analysis, corrective action - as guidance for baseline risk assessment reviews and audits

o       Quarterly MD’s Safety Pledge focusing on an awareness topic and pledging staff support for the campaign

o       Structured/registered toolbox talks (parades and security manned posts).

o       Establishment of a WhatsApp group posting Safety Shares amongst Managers

o       “Safety Moment” meeting openers

o       Senior management walkabout inspections visiting posts, confirming staff familiarity with safety shares/toolbox topics/safety pledges

o       Declaring Safety “Time-out’s” for serious safety incidents or identification of non-conformances, to discuss corrective/preventative actions 

CONCLUSION 

In a time when security businesses are under pressure from the economic downturn,

above-inflation wage increases and high fuel prices, these expenses directly affect profitability but are necessities in our obligation towards employees and clients.  We must portray our true Safety leadership skills, ensuring that the industry meets minimum requirements of safe working environment

 

 

 

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https://www.amazon.com/author/dolfscheepers

Post an Armed Guard

It so often happens that after a security incident, be it a robbery, hijacking or attack on a premises, the users of security give an instruction to their security company to “post an armed guard”.
What many of these “instructors” forget is that the armed guard is mostly not the answer and probably more of a target and a risk than anything else.

The robbers plan the execution of their operations – they don’t just by coincidence rob a garage forecourt or bomb an ATM or execute a hijacking (they collect intelligence) whilst driving past a potential target. It is an operation executed by the robbers that, without probably formal training, includes the elements of reconnaissance, planning and execution and then maybe a “dry” practice run. It might include various acts of observation of the target areas before the robbery. Eliminating that armed guard will always be in the plan of the robber – how to neutralise the armed guard and mostly take control of his weapon. Criminals plan their operations - they also determine risk and also turn targets down.

The “armed guard” is normally not in a position of power - except maybe for his firearm which he can only use in self-defence or when his life is endangered. In other words if he is by all means in a (doubtful) position of having the initiative to un foil the robbery he cannot shoot unless endangered.
Unless the defence (the users of security or the armed guard or security company) is in possession of intelligence that would point at a probable robbery risk to which additional counter measures could be introduced, the “armed guard” is more of a liability or a risk than anything else. It attracts the criminal and a special neutralisation plan from the robbers will normally include the theft of the security firearm. They will anyway always be in more numbers than the armed guard.

What is the answer – businesses with high risk activities or lucrative products or cash must conduct proper risk assessments, identify the safeguards required and to also determine the adequacy of the safeguards – that will probably negate the “armed guard” and rather focus on the hardening of the target, provision of electronic early warning and external armed response, and obviously proper insurance policies.

Let us think twice before we just say “place an armed guard” – the criminal operational plan can easily outsmart the armed guard.

Ignite the flames of your passion

Recently published guide to leadership, Lions Leading Lions – creating winning tactics for leaders is a case study on the application of leadership practices (tactics) in the private security industry. If these leadership practices work in the almost toughest industry, the private security industry, imagine how it would fly in other industries? This is a compelling and powerful leadership guide that will get the leader thinking about leadership in an entirely new way.

The leadership guidance, which is built on a trip down memory lane in the military and the private security industry the past 30 years, addresses various aspects of leadership and opens up a few new concepts. Future concepts of leadership that could see development from the MBA graduates or academics is a Sprinkler and Tap approach to leadership, Time out and Recalculation, Safety Leadership, a 101 Leadership Style (100% responsibility, 0% excuses and 100% passion) and a total focus on Passion as a prerequisite for leadership – could possibly play as important role as integrity as a selection criteria.

The leader and quality is a concept that has developed over many years in business and therefor almost 20% of Lions Leading Lions is devoted to quality and the leader. Recognising the relevance between profits and quality is a reality and the assurance is that quality assures long term profits versus short term gains.

The book addresses various leadership challenges from effective communication, managing the golden handcuffed employees, extending the sell buy dates of staff, avoiding the expiry date to how great leaders can be great achievers and great teachers. It also once again emphasize the new role of leaders – a developmental role in communities and the people around your business.

Lions Leading Lions is an essential guide for any future leader or a leader refreshing his skills and an essential practical guide to those who want to teach their leaders the tricks of the leadership trade.

Contact lionsleadinglions@gmail.com

 

 

Lions Leading Lions - creating winning tactics for leaders

Lions Leading Lions will give you an insight in how winning tactics unfold for leaders in any industry but specifically the private security industry. The book  (to be launched) 14 July 2016) will give you an insight in.......@lionsleadinglions

Lions are fighters..... The lion hunt for his food – food is not a given as with the other animals in nature. The masses such as the Impala have more than enough to graze – grass. Lions have to go and find food, they have to observe, they have to be patient, the have to take calculated risks, they have to track and follow – all of these actions before they can attack and then put a fight up. In the private security industry you have to fight for survival – fight for a contract, fight to retain a contract, be patient, fight for an increase and sometimes security officers also have to fight – for a better dispensation, recognition, fight to achieve operational success.

Many times we fight for and achieve success, we are happy and wait for the right opportunity for another success later – then, in that period of waiting for another opportunity we become complacent and inconsistency creeps is – that complacency (sic) that the industry is renowned for. It is that period where the users of security and the security leaders get frustrated – that period where leadership pulls it through for the industry and also for the security officers. This will unfold in Lions Leading Lions.

Creating Winning Tactics for Leaders. We have too many strategists, too many want to be strategists and too few tacticians in business in SA. We too often want to talk Strategy and actually forget what should happen on the tactical level – there where the “takkie” meet the tar or the safety boot hit the ground.

Leaders in business, not only the security business, needs more practical guidance on how to create and lead great teams – not the strategies but the tactics to out manoeuvre the opposition, to win the hearts of their staff and to ultimately succeed in that developmental obligation that leaders have.

I wrote this book as a practical guide to help security leaders navigate their way through the sometimes complex world of winning the heart and minds of those that they serve: their teams.

For more information, or to purchase a copy of this book, send enquiries to - LionsLeadingLions@gmail.com

There is a sell-by date . . . but worry more about the expiry date 

Every business, every contract and every person has a shelf life or sell-by date – some have extended dates and other reach theirs’ soon. Nothing is forever, neither is the existence of a business (they all change shape), contracts are lost due to running for “too long”, we lose our touch and don’t perform as on day one of appointment. Beware – you are going to reach your “sell-by” date! When you joined your company or when the contract was awarded to you, there was an unspoken sell-by date – it wasn’t declared or announced, as you would to a large extent “display” that date yourself. As an individual, you would be the person exposing that date.

In most cases a sell-by date can be extended, it is not likefresh meat. In the platteland (rural areas) the shop owners make sure that the cans or bottles on their shelves are dusted off regularly to ensure that they still look attractive for the potential customer. The same applies to us – from time to time we also need a bit of a dusting off. Normally our “duster” is in the form of a serious reprimand, a service review, internal transfer, a personal review or even a training session.

Many times we are proud to refer to our 10 or 20 years’ experience gained in a company or in an industry but how many times has stagnation resulted in the repeat of 1 years’ experience 10 or 20 times? Reaching a “sell-by” date and the ability to extend it before it becomes an “expiry date” is a leadership skill many managers lack.

 Remember, as a leader we have the responsibility to lengthen the sell-by date of subordinates – they need your help unless you want the date to expire and that is too late. I used to have a manager working for me and when asked why he often takes long weekends he indicated that if he is at his ultimate low then neither me nor the company has the ability to get him out of the low – that expiry date.

It so often also happens that managers have gained experience in one field and in one operational aspect, repeating that year on year and fail to acknowledge that there are others that have had opportunities to grow in a wider variety of fields and thereby being more knowledgeable or having new (fresh) ideas. For example in the security industry, outsourced companies managing various contracts gain valuable experience at the various operations which would be to the benefit of their clients. Sometimes pride and resistance to change results in businesses not sharing in that valuable experience from their outsourced suppliers – exactly one of the reasons why companies should outsource. It is obvious that if a company provides security services to twenty different mines, that somewhere they will find best practices that work – compared to the person being deployed at one operation for many years.

Have you reached your sell by date and see the expiry date on the horizon?

Was negligence the cause of death?

The Sunday Times in South Africa on 2 February 2014, under the heading “Guards send on death mission” reported on the alleged death of three security officers at the Blyvooruitzicht Mine in South Africa where the security company (for ethical reasons name withheld) hired to protect the assets of the mine against illegal miners  “underestimated the security threat at the mine”.

 

The brother of one of the three diseased security officers commented as follows “We were told that the ‘security company’ didn’t do a risk assessment and the guards were not ready for the task”. The security officers were killed with pangas and R5 rifles. They were overpowered (a spokesperson from the new owners of the mine alleged they were sleeping) and gold bearing material were stolen from the processing plant.

 

The lessons to be learnt once again is the importance of the risk assessment – the baseline risk assessment on all existing posts and the task or issue based risk assessment on new or changing situations as the supplement to the baseline risk assessment.

 

A few other issues that can be considered based on the information in the Sunday Times article:

• The spokesperson from the new owners of Blyvoor indicated that they have used four security companies since December as companies withdrew their services – always the question one has to ask why did someone withdraw from a security contract in times when business is tight – there should have been a reason
• The General Manager of the security company commented “I was given the instructions to deploy people, ……….the guards were armed and attacked while they were being deployed”
• The ‘security company’ allegedly phoned the deceased, who were unemployed after being retrenched by another company,  the Saturday morning and he died that same night on his first shift at work – was he inducted, did  he do a medical, if he was equipped with a fire arm (armed guards were used at the processing plant) was he trained and had a competency and most importantly would he for the sake of his family have a funeral benefit cover from the Private Security Industry Provident Fund

In conclusion – risk determine safeguards to be employed, training to be conducted and most importantly to determine if one has to say “‘no thank you” in the interest of our employees, and the reputation of our company. Secondly to ensure that employment practices and legal compliance is 100% in order before an employee is taken on in the company.

 

”One can replace the stolen  gold bearing material by writing a cheque, but there is no cheque big enough to replace the lives of the three security officers”