NZSA CEO’s January Report NZSA CEO Gary Morrison talks Omicron, NZSA Board appointments, CoA conflict management instructor training, Special Interest Groups, industrial relations, and the NZSA’s 50th anniversary.
I hope that those of you who were able to have a break over the festive season had a wonderful and restful time with friends and family and for those who worked through, I trust that it was busy and successful for you. I would also like to pass on our thanks and recognition to all security staff who have been required to work through this period providing critical essential services.
Gary Morrison is CEO of the New Zealand Security Association (NZSA). A qualified accountant, Gary originally joined Armourguard Security as a junior accountant and held several roles over two decades prior to appointment as GM for New Zealand and Fiji, after which he established Icon Security Group.
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2022 is certainly going to be a busy year, with known and unknown challenges ahead of us. As the last two years have shown us, we need to be prepared for change and to be flexible and resilient. Whilst we have been able to enjoy some degree of normality over the holiday period there remains the near certainty that it is only a matter of time before we are exposed to community transmission of the highly infectious Omicron Covid variant and concerns as to how ready we are as a country to handle an outbreak.
Evidence from around the world suggests that even countries with a highly vaccinated population have been severely impacted by Omicron not just in maintaining core hospital services but right across basic functions and services including first responders, government services and frontline essential service workers. Employers are finding it impossible to meet increased demand for these critical services given ever increasing numbers of staff on sick leave with Omicron (current figures overseas reflect between 10% and 20% absenteeism daily). Unless we can delay the arrival of Omicron for a sufficient period to allow for a high proportion of the population to receive their booster shot and an effective programme for vaccinating children, it seems highly likely that New Zealand will soon face exactly the same challenges. Similarly, the security industry and in particular protective services such as guarding, patrols and event security, will find it extremely difficult to provide and maintain services effectively. The industry is already struggling with staff resourcing difficulties and this will only be compounded if faced with
February/March 2022
