21 Sep Industry Roundtable On Security Staffing
On 30th June this year the CEO of Hospitality & Racing NSW, Anthony Keon, hosted a roundtable discussion on the availability of security staff – with a particular focus on the hospitality sector.
You can view the complete report here.
Some of the key points from the Report are:
The Availability Issue:
- Venue operators reported a shortfall of security staff of 20-30%, and even greater in some areas.
- Some venues are unable to open all reas due to the shortage in availability of security operatives.
- Although the reported number of current security licences has increased since pre-COVID 2019, this is not reflected in the industry’s ability to fill positions.
Roles & Responsibilites:
- It was noted that ALL staff have a part to play in delivering a secure environment.
Here at Exact Security we have always subscribed to the belief that building a stronger security culture is essential to maintaining an environment that is both secure and able to focus on delighting customers.
Required Ratios Of Security Staffing
- Discussion highlighted that the required ratios of security staffing we inflexible, often out-dated and in many cases impractical. The feeling was that venues should have greater latitude with these requirments.
Security Licensing – Process & Training
- There are barriers to getting people through theaccreditation process. Training Time and expense were identified as the key barriers to securing a security licence.
Costs & Fees
- The whole industry has been presented with a significant blow-out in the cost of public liability insurance – reported increases of 600-700% are common. While significant to all operators, these costs can be critical for smaller players.
Capability, Quality & Professional Development
- Concerns were raised aboout the quality available for both RSA Marshalls and Security Guards.
This is a quote from the report on this issue:
These roles require people with good communication skills and the ability to de-escalate situations. eople witthose skill sets are finding bbetter paid employment elsewhere … anecdotal feedback from guards stating that the money is not worth it.
Following the discussion there was a group activity to map out priorities and idea for solutions – you can find the results of this activity on pages 12-14 of the Report.
There is a section on Current Initiatives – none of those listed has a direct or immediate impact on the situation we are facing with security operative availability.
It would be great to be able to inform you that some solutions are on the horizon but I think the results of this event are pretty well summarised in the final sentence of the Report’s Executive Summary:
An action plan will be developed and Hospitality and Racing will continue to work with industry and government agencies to address the issues discussed.