Commissioners Information Bulletin 046
Issued: 8 April 1999

Security (Guarding) Traineeship Certificates II and III - Interim Registration

Context
The Training Package for Asset Security was endorsed by ANTA on 25 November 1998. Due to a number of unresolved issues associated with some of the qualifications, the Property Services Industry Training Board NSW Ltd (PSITAB) wishes at this stage to proceed only with Certificates II and III in Security (Guarding).

As there is an urgent need to fill vacancies promptly, the PSITAB has expressed a preference for interim registration of a Security (Guarding) Traineeship, which the Department of Education and Training has granted. This will to enable its immediate implementation in NSW pending approval of the full Vocational Training Order.

There are between 879 (ABS data) and 2,336 (Telstra Business Register) security firms in NSW. The majority of these are small to medium sized businesses, with fewer than 5 major employers in the sector.

The two largest national companies - Chubb and Group 4 Securitas, both based in NSW - employ about 15% of the total national guarding workforce and probably about the same proportion of the total NSW guarding workforce. Industry estimates are that there are about 25,000 working security officers in NSW, although there are about 41, 000 licenses on issue.

Most security officers are male and work full-time. In NSW, the majority of security officer employees have low to acceptable levels of English language literacy and numeracy. Security guarding would qualify as a non-traditional work area for women, as the majority of women employed in the total security workforce are in administrative support areas.

Licensing
Under the terms of the Security Industry Act 1997 and the Security Industry Regulation 1998 - in order to be eligible for a Class 1 license - all new and existing security guards must qualify for the Certificate II in Security Guarding as specified in the National Training Packagefor Asset Security. In addition security guards will also need to complete an approved first aid course (generally the Senior First Aid Certificate).

Traineeship structure
There are two security guarding traineeship qualifications available under the package:

Certificate II in Security (Guarding) PRS 201 98
Certificate III in Security (Guarding) PRS 301 98

A copy of the minimum combination of units of competence required for each qualification is attached.

In both the Certificate II and III qualifications, individual modules that support the competency outcomes have been identified within existing curricula. These modules, with notional hours-assigned are also specified in the attachment

It is intended that the traineeships in Security (Guarding) Certificates II and III will each be of six months duration. For the Certificate II, trainees are expected to complete between 66 and 180 hours of structured training, and are required to acquire 7 core competencies and a minimum of 6 elective competencies from a total of 20 electives.

For the Certificate III, trainees are expected to complete between 103 and 275 hours of structured training and will need to acquire 7 core competencies and a minimum of 11 competencies from a total of 28 electives.

The relevant Training Record Book supporting the traineeships will be available from Property Services Training Australia and/or Australian Training Products.

Industrial arrangements
These traineeships have strong industry support and the relevant industrial arrangements are in place as follows:

• The Security Industry (NSW) Award 1996. While the Award addresses the conditions of employment for trainees, it does not include National Training Wage provisions, as the parties to the award have stipulated that trainees will be paid at the Basic Level 1 rate for Static Guarding.
• The Security Industry (Group 4 and ALHMWU) Traineeship Award NSW (1998). While this Award addresses the conditions of employment for trainees, it also does not include National Training Wage provisions, as the parties to the Award have stipulated that trainees will be paid at the Basic Level 1 rate for Static Guarding, as provided for in “The Group 4 NSW Enterprise Agreement 1997 to 2000".

Given that there is a significant component of part-time work available in the industry (for example Chubb employs 320 permanent part-time security guards on rail transport security alone), both awards provide coverage for full and part-time arrangements.

For any enquiries regarding these training arrangements, please contact the Vocational Training Board on (02) 9266-8579.

JILL GIENTZOTIS
Director of Recognition Services