Whether you are a small business owner or a homeowner, choosing a private security provider is an important decision, maybe one of the biggest decisions you can make. Making the right choice means making an informed decision, yet the average consumer knows little about the governing bodies and rules of this industry.
Mike Kidson, managing director of ADT Northern 1 region, said the private security industry was in fact highly regulated and controlled: “Most of the country’s larger private security companies do conform to stipulations. By being regulated, our rights as a service provider as well as those of our customers are protected and the regulations assist with maintaining a high service standard in the industry,” he said.
Kidson offered some useful guidelines to help you make the right choice when choosing a private security provider:
– All security service providers have to be registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA). A registration certificate to this effect must be made available on your request.
– All employees providing a security service need to be registered with PSIRA. Registration certificates as well as the last PSIRA audit inspection report must be made available on your request.
– Training is an absolute necessity and it is important that the security officers deployed to provide a security service are in possession of the necessary training certificates from accredited training establishments.
– Registered reputable companies will also all pay their staff at least the minimum statutory wage applicable in terms of Sectoral Determination 6 for the private security industry issued by the minister of labour. This industry has low barriers to entry and employees can be exploited at times by unscrupulous employers.
– All security officers are required to be members of a provident fund and the company must contribute 6.5% of their income to the fund and the employees contribute 6.5% of their salary to the fund. Ensure your security service provider can produce a letter of good standing from its provident fund administrator.
– You also need to check if the company you select has a code of conduct which supports the statutory code of conduct applicable to all security service providers. This is an important protection for you as a consumer.
– Finally it is important to check your security provider runs a legitimate business. Confirm whether the security business registers for tax and that they can provide their tax clearance certificate and up-to-date contribution.
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