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.

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 increased demand and high levels of unplanned and short notice sick leave.

We appreciate how challenging this will be for business owners and managers and as always, we will strive to assist our members with timely and relevant guidance, information and updates on all Covid-related matters.

On a more positive note, we have some exciting updates within this newsletter including confirmation of date and venue for this year’s Security Awards ceremony.

I’m also looking forward to the reimplementation of our Regional Visit programme and the chance to meet with our members in their own business. This is a great chance for me to better understand your business, to meet with your team and to understand the key issues being faced by our members around the country. Details of the visit programme will be available shortly.

NZSA AGM and Board appointments

The NZSA AGM was held on 7 December at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. With Auckland only coming out of lockdown a day prior, the attendees were able to enjoy the freedom of a face-to-face meeting with participants from outside Auckland joining via zoom.

It was pleasing to note that the Association remains in a very strong financial position and remains well placed to continue to assist its members in these challenging times.

The NZSA Board continues to be led by our Independent Chairperson Gray Paterson, with Brett Wilson as Deputy Chairperson and a board comprising David Proud, Greg Kitto, Matt Stevenson, Evan Morgans, Caroline Halton, Lance Riesterer, Shane O’Halloran and Andy Gollings.

CoA conflict management instructor training

As part of their industry role, Skills Organisation had previously overseen and managed the approval process for Trainers delivering the CoA Mandatory Training and the facilitation of Train the Trainer and Refresher Training programmes.

With the transition of the ITOs into the new WDC (Workforce Development Councils) structure there remains some uncertainty as to where functions such as this will ultimately reside, and it has been agreed with Ringa Hora (the Service WDC that will cover protective security services) that the NZSA will pick up and manage the CoA Conflict Management Instructor Training at least on an interim basis.

Following a robust RFP process, we have appointed Hard Target (Quinton Swanson) and RISQ NZ (Ngaire Kelaher and Mac Te Haara) to deliver the training and courses for those needing to undertake the two-yearly refresher course, and those seeking to be approved to deliver the training have been scheduled throughout the year.

If you have trainers who need to complete the refresher training (one day course) or who you would like to have approved to deliver the CoA training via the train the trainer programme (two day course) can you please contact Andrea on andrea@ security.org.nz as we are currently scheduling courses for 2022. Please note that those wishing to become approved trainers are required as a minimum to hold NZCiS Level 3 (and preferably Level 4) and to have appropriate experience and qualifications in adult education (such as Unit Standards 4098 and 7108).

Training and Professional Development Special Interest Group

The TPDSIG continues to meet every two months, albeit that most meetings during 2021 were conducted electronically.

The main focus for the group currently is the development of a Literacy and Numeracy resource package designed to assist Managers, Supervisors and Team Leaders in identifying and addressing literacy and numeracy issues in the workplace. The resources will include a package of modules that can be used individually or collectively and once finalised, the materials will be made available to all industry.

We will provide more information on this exciting development in our next newsletter.

Electronic Security Special Interest Group

The ESSIG held its first meeting in November with a follow up meeting shortly before Christmas. The group has elected Mike McKim (Aotea Security) as Chairperson and Sohail Autar (BECA) as Deputy Chairperson and agreed to establish a number of

smaller working groups that will focus on the following critical issues: • Industry training and professional development • Industry compliance • Career pathways and opportunities • Industry best practice including Standards, Guidelines and Codes of Practice • Industry licensing. Updates will be provided on a regular basis.

Industrial Relations

Late last year the government announced that with effect from 1 December 2021, all new and renegotiated contracts for security officers, cleaners and caterers working at government agency sites will be based on workers being paid a living wage, currently $22.75 per hour.

With most government contracts on two or three year terms this will take some time to filter through, unless agencies actively seek to renegotiate their contracts with their providers. It was also noticeable that schools are excluded from specified government agencies at this time.

We can also advise that we are working with Etu with regards to preparing a joint submission to MBIE seeking some additional changes to Schedule 1A where Security Officers are recognised as Vulnerable Employees. Our submission will request the inclusion of a minimum threshold for staff providing Patrol and CIT services where they may service a large number of customers during a single shift and the requirement to consult with regards to every lost job is both ineffective and unrealistic.

Whilst this may require a change in regulations, we are hopeful of a successful outcome given both employers and employees are supportive of the change.

At this time, it also appears that despite being targeted by government for introduction early this year, the Fair Pay Agreement legislation still faces some hurdles and may well be deferred until next year.

NZSA 50th Anniversary

The NZSA is celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. The initial minutes of meeting of Subscribing Foundation Members of the proposed NZ Security Industry Association are dated Thursday 21 September 1972 with attendees recorded as: • D Agar, Chubb Alarms Limited • E Bensemann, Vigilant Limited • C Devine, Answer Holding Services Limited • P Henslow, Chubb Lock and Safe Company • W Jarvie, Wormald Brothers NZ Limited • D Major, Armoured Freightways Limited.

At the meeting it was agreed to invite J Slater, Executive Secretary of the NZ Fire Prevention Association, to act as Executive Secretary and both the NZ Police and Insurance Council of NZ were invited to join as Honorary Members.

The New Zealand Security Association Incorporated was formally registered on 4 October 1972.

We believe that it is important to remember and celebrate our history and would like to invite our members to send in old photos of vehicles, staff, signage, equipment etc, that we can profile in the coming newsletters and as part of our Annual Awards event in September (refer later in this newsletter). Please forward photos to nzsa@security.org.nz.