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Security personnel are likely to be an important part of your business security in general. They might work throughout the day to help keep your workforce safe or they may be needed out-of-office hours to ensure the building premise is patrolled and protected.

Every business is unique so what you might need as security personnel for your business may be completely different to another.

Protecting your security personnel is important because although they’re protecting your business, they also need to be looked after. Here are some tips to help ensure they’re looked after by your organisation.

Regularly review the clients/contractors you work with

It’s worthwhile to speak to your clients and any contractors that you work with in order to get this security personnel on-site. When you’re hiring security for the first time, you want to make sure that they’re the right people for the job.

Make sure you’ve reviewed the company and vetted them effectively before allowing any security staff to start working on your premises. They need to be trustworthy, professional and most importantly, fit to do the job. There are some security personnel that wouldn’t do well if you’re in a dangerous situation that relies on security to step up.

Review and update your training processes

To help ensure your security personnel are ticking off the list of responsibilities they have and to have the best approach when it comes to security operations, review and update your training process.

This is important because whenever you have new security measures in place and new security personnel, it’s critical that they know what to expect and how to operate efficiently. 

They’ll only know that though when you’re providing the best in terms of training and education.

Use a dedicated tracking system

To keep track of where your security personnel are at all times, it’s useful to introduce a dedicated tracking system. This is definitely something that can be helpful to introduce, especially in scenarios where you’re operating a large building and need to keep an eye on everyone.

Your security team wherever they’re based and watching CCTV, can make use of this tracking system to ensure everyone is working as they should and should be where they’ve been stationed.

Make use of body camera equipment

Sometimes, the extra precautions you make are the difference between ensuring safety and risking something going wrong. 

For your security personnel, it can be helpful to have body camera equipment in place to help serve as evidence. Should they ever need it or need that peace of mind that their experiences are being recorded, is useful to have.

Listen to your security guards for advice

Finally, be sure to check in with your security personnel to see whether they have any advice on how operations could be improved. They may have suggestions or highlight problems within the security of the building that have not yet been flagged with the operations team in general.

Protecting your security personnel is important so be sure to use these tips to help.

Whether you’re trying to make your manufacturing facility safer or undergoing some construction work at your business, health and safety must always be considered a priority. 

After all, as an employer, you have a duty of care over your team, which means you must: 

• Provide a safe place of work.
• Provide a safe system of work.
• Provide adequate plant and equipment.
• Recruit competent and safety-conscious staff. 

Beyond your legal obligations, failing to uphold health and safety standards also puts your team and customers at risk. 

With that in mind, here are __ ways to improve workplace health and safety.

Use the right tools.

One of the easiest ways to manage health and safety in your workplace is to use the right tools for the job. For example, if you are working at height or on a construction process, you should look into Access tool hire. This is cheaper than having to purchase the equipment outright but still ensures the safety of your team. 

Offer on-site health and safety training. 

Most people are aware of the basics of health and safety in the workplace, but it’s important that you take the time to share this knowledge with each and every employee. For example, health and safety training should be part of your onboarding process, especially if they will be using or operating any hazardous equipment or tools. Beyond this, you should ensure that additional training is offered each time you introduce new equipment.

Don’t forget about signage.

Installing health and safety signage throughout your workplace can also ensure that stringent health and safety standards are maintained. For example, it could remind users how to use specific tools or equipment or to wear PPE when doing so. This can also be used to mark out employee-only areas so that unauthorised personnel or customers do not walk into hazardous environments by accident. 

Invest in PPE.

Ensuring that your team wears the appropriate PPE can also help to keep them safe at work and is once again a legal requirement within many industries. As such, it should be considered part of their uniform, meaning it’s something that you, the employer, ought to provide. PPE could include: 

• Noise-blocking headphones or earplugs 
• Face Masks 
• High-Vis Clothing
• Gloves
• Helmets
• Steel-toed Shoes

Carry out Regular Risk Assessments.

Conducting regular risk assessments can also be useful when it comes to improving health and safety policies within the workplace. This is because it can draw your attention to potential hazards which, if unresolved, could lead to a disaster within the workplace. Not only this but identifying ineffective practices could also help to improve the profitability of your business by making it more effective. 

To carry out a risk assessment, you must thoroughly inspect your workplace for any hazards, such as trailing wires or faulty smoke alarms. You should also write down a list of things that could go wrong, alongside the steps you are taking to avoid this kind of incident. The more thorough and detailed you are when completing this task, the better.

Outsourcing, you know what it is, but you might not know how best to apply it within the realms of your business. Surveys suggest that 83% of companies, both large and SMEs, will maintain or increase their spending on outsourcing services, and over a third of UK businesses outsource at least one aspect of their business.

Outsourcing works best when you bring in third parties or take over aspects of running a business you don’t have the time to complete; it is outside your area of expertise you can’t afford to run in-house. By identifying these areas, you can make more informed decisions on the best services to partner with to help you improve standards and get the results you need.

So it goes without saying that outsourcing can have massive benefits, especially for finance, healthcare and insurance sectors, which are also more likely to outsource than other types of business.

Done correctly, outsourcing can offer the following benefits.

Improved Productivity

You need to be productive as a business. That’s a given, but by taking on too many tasks, not having enough employees or being stretched too thin, you can impact your level of productivity and negate everything you are working towards. By outsourcing to take over time-consuming tasks and the tasks you find you cannot do yourself, you can focus on other areas and get things done without being sidelined by repetitive or labour-intensive tasks.

Lower Costs

Outsourcing costs can vary depending on the services you require, the work needed, and the skill level involved in the work to be done. However, when levied against the cost of bringing in employees and training them, their monthly outlay isn’t as steep as paying wages, insurance premiums, training, etc. So whether you need paraplanning support, bookkeeping or social media marketing services, for example, you can save time and money by outsourcing.

Skills and Expertise

Collectively, companies offering outsourcing services will have a wealth of skills among their employees who are expertly trained and qualified in their area of expertise. To find this level of training and knowledge and bring them on board in-house with your company, it can be costly not only to find the right employee but to retain their services, too. You can remove all the time and cost from finding people with the talents you need by paying a monthly retainer to provide these services by a third-party company. Be it customer service representatives, cyber security experts, IT system maintenance, or anything that requires specific training and skills.

Equipment

Generally speaking, outsourcing companies will have the best equipment, software and tools for the trade. This allows them to do what they do easily and offer you the best service possible for your money. As with hiring employees, buying this equipment and installing it to operate as needed can be costly. This way, you get the best of both worlds and benefit from state-of-the-art technology and equipment without footing the bill. This will allow you to elevate what you do and level the playing field with bigger, more established competitors.

Outsourcing has its place within the business sector and will do so as long as people need to use their services. These days, there are many different services you can use to help you run your business better, and finding ones that work for you to enhance what you do can be a great source of support in many different ways.