Security guards carry grave responsibilities and duties as part of their daily jobs. It is a far different work profile than 99% of other jobs. It involves danger, exposure to unusual stress, and the kind of response time and decision-making we associate with police or military work. Security officers are the front line of protection of private or commercial property and the people occupying those properties. So, they literally stand in harm’s way to protect businesses’ property, customers and employees.
But now in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic that is impacting us in the U.S. so severely, security officers are being asked to pick up duties not normally in their job profile. They are now responsible in some business cases for activities involving the health protection of employees and customers and even participating indirectly in the virus cleansing operations of physical properties. Among these duties are taking temperatures of individuals.
This health security is creating demand for security personnel, which is good for the security guard business. And, it is also creating expectations of security personnel. An interviewee in Security Management states: “As you can imagine, it’s extremely challenging, People who never had security now have the need for it. And some of them also have expectations that are kind of unreasonable.” Some companies are complying with these new pandemic-related duties, and others aren’t.
One of the challenges in this new era of security officer demands is getting the appropriate PPE gear for officers.
At WWPro we work closely with our clients and potential clients to look at all their needs and jointly decide what is appropriate for our guard personnel to be performing during these times.