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New Zealand Security Association CEO’s November Report
NZSA CEO Gary Morrison talks “Saved a Life” Awards, Fair Pay Agreements, review of industry training qualifications, Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism Conference, and more.
Gary Morrison is CEO of the New Zealand Security Association (NZSA). A qualified accountant, Gary was GM of Armourguard Security for New Zealand and Fiji prior to establishing Icon Security Group.
In opening, congratulation to all of our finalists and award winners for the annual New Zealand Security Awards event held at the Hilton Hotel during September.
It was a fantastic event where we had the chance to recognise and celebrate the efforts of who work in the industry and in particular, the twenty award winners who have excelled in their roles.
As is normal, many of the 250 plus attendees were bought to tears listening to the acts of bravery and the humility of those being recognised. The event also highlighted the real diversity that exists within our industry across gender, ethnicity and age (where those recognised ranged from their early 20’s to our supreme award winner who is in the later stages of his career).
It was also great to see a range of companies represented across the categories, including smaller privately owned companies such as Crosbies Security who were awarded the Outstanding New Product or Service Award for their Smart Solar Towers product.
I’m pleased to advise that the 2023 NZ Security Awards will be held on the 15 September at the newly opened Te Pae Convention Centre in Christchurch – make sure the date is in your diary!
NZSA “Saved a Life” Awards Commencing in the New Year, the NZSA will launch a new award programme that recognises and celebrates those workers within our industry who have saved a life, or lives, through their actions.
This follows on from the wellreceived and very successful Covid Guardian award programme that we ran during the lockdown periods.
Nominations can be submitted at the time and with recipients recognised within each newsletter. Recipients will
receive a certificate and trophy to be retained and will also be recognised at the annual awards event through a roll call.
We are also hopeful of receiving ongoing media coverage for the awards. Look out for more details in the next month or two.
Update re Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) This is a very important issue that may have significant implications for those providing physical security services such as guards, patrols, cashin-transit and possibly monitoring/ communication centres.
The Fair Pay Agreements Bill has passed its final reading and will likely come into force at the end of November with applications for a “Fair Pay” Agreement (FPA) able to be lodged from early December.
The Bill means that Unions will be able to start (initiate) sector-wide negotiations with employer associations (such as NZSA) to create mandatory agreements that set minimum terms and conditions for all employers in a sector, not just for a single employer.
It is important to note however that even though we expect the Security Sector to be amongst the first industries to be initiated, in a practical sense there is nothing that our members need to do immediately to prepare for this change in employment relations.
As the peak body for the security sector, the NZSA has sought expert guidance and consulted with key stakeholders such as MBIE to ensure that we can provide our members, and all industry employers, with the necessary governance, systems and processes should we be required to represent and support them.
We will keep you informed on developments over coming weeks and also remind our members that more information can be found under the FPA tab on our website (provide link).
Review of industry training qualifications With the new WDCs (Workforce Development Councils) now resourced and operational, one of their first actions has been to review qualifications on the NZQA framework to identify those which are being used and to ensure that they retain relevancy to industry.
The security industry is represented by two WDCs – Ringa Hora (Service Industry) for the physical security sector and Waihanga Ara Rau (Construction and Infrastructure) for the electronic security sector.
We, and a number of our members and industry stakeholders, have been fully involved in the review process and we are pleased to advise that we fully support the outcomes to date.
The next stage of the review process will commence in 2023 and involves looking at the Unit Standards that make up each qualification. From experience, this can become a long and drawn-out process but given the unit standards across both physical security and electronic security are fairly recent there is a degree of confidence that we can conclude this reasonably quickly and start to move onto the qualification development phase, including a Level 5 for the NZ Certificate in Security.
As a general comment, the move from Training Organisations to the
WDC’s has caused a significant hiatus in industry training over the last two years however there is cause for optimism in that we can now start to look at delivering training in a manner that can achieve the best outcomes for industry and our workers.
CATE Conference (Careers and Transition Education Association) I’m sure that most of our members will agree that the greatest challenge they face currently is in attracting sufficient staff to meet service requirements. This issue isn’t unique to the physical security sector, with almost all electronic security providers experiencing extreme staff pressures as well.
Whilst it is very difficult to quantify exact numbers, we estimate that the wider security industry is currently short of at least 2,500 workers.
One of the challenges for the industry is the lack of understanding by the general public of the diverse range of services and roles that fall within the scope of the security industry. We have developed a very comprehensive website (www.securitycareers.co.nz) that includes an in-depth overview of roles and pathways but need to better educate those seeking employment, and particularly school leavers, on the opportunities that exist within the security industry.
One initiative we have implemented is to create greater awareness of our industry, and the Security Career website resource, across all school career advisors. As part of this, I will attend and man our stand for three days at the CATE Conference in Christchurch in late November. This event brings the majority of school career advisors together on an annual basis and provides the ideal opportunity to sell our industry and career options.
Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism Conference I’m pleased to be attending the Whenua Taurikura Hui 2022 being held in Auckland at the start of November. The focus of the hui will be on all of society approaches to preventing terrorism and violent extremism in New Zealand.
I have previously provided representations to government working groups on the capability and capacity of the private security sector and how we can contribute towards improving our national resilience towards terrorism and violent extremism.
It is also worth highlighting that the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and within the last week published a document “Know the signs – A guide to identifying the signs of violent extremism”. The guide aims to raise awareness of indicators of violent extremism and to help people identify some of the key warning signs.
I would certainly recommend that employers should read this document and consider distribution or promotion to their staff and customers. The document can be downloaded from the NZSIS website.
Master Electricians – licensing requirements
Several years ago, the NZSA and Master Electricians produced a joint release that provided clarity with regards to the licensing requirements that pertain to electricians when selling, installing or servicing security systems including alarms and cameras.
In very simplified terms, an electrician who is registered with the EWRB is exempted from the need to hold a CoA as a Security Technician when installing or servicing security systems. Should that electrician however be involved in selling or giving advice on that security system, they need to hold a CoA under the Security Consultant category.
We are currently working with the Master Electrician Association on updating the joint release and expect to be able to promote and distribute the document within the next few weeks.
Virtual Reality (VR) Training The use of the e-learning and virtual reality training platform for the delivery of the CoA training continues to grow and is now part of the accepted delivery model for a number of security businesses.
The VR platform is also being used for attracting workers to our industry with MSD hosting a series of Virtual Reality Job Expos around the country. The expos provide a safe and welcoming environment where attendees get to experience what it is like to work in an industry using the VR headsets. There are 12 industries represented and to date, security has been one of the most popular with the attendees.
As always, we welcome all comments and feedback on NZSA or industry issues and activity. Keep safe and well.
Loktronic Limi t e d 30 years servicing NZ’ s S e c u r ity Industry
