Keeping employees safe at work is a critical responsibility of every employer today. It's one that's government-mandated in all developed countries. Disregard for workplace safety can result in huge penalties and possibly expensive litigation, if injuries occur.


So how do you keep your employees safe? We thought we'd share the protocols from one of GardaWorld's key business lines-our Protective Services division. This group helps businesses secure people and assets in more than 140 cities across Canada. Among those businesses is Canada's thriving oil and gas industry.

Occupational work hazards in this industry range from fire and explosions to more mundane but harmful hazards that afflict all workplaces like slips and falls.


Our security professionals are subject to the same workplace hazards as the employees of the businesses they serve. That means they can face thousands of different hazards from one work site to another. So, we have to know and understand every hazard our guards face in order to ensure their safety. How?


• We have an internal responsibility system that involves everyone, from the security officer to the CEO.

• An in-depth hazard assessment is performed on every site to help us understand the risks and potential dangers at that particular site. In addition, we ensure the following:

o All our workers use the required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that are provided to them;
o They implement and follow the proper risk-control measures;
o They understand the safety procedures required to eliminate or mitigate the site risk, so they can do their work safely


After we have completed our first assessment of our customer's particular worksite and set our benchmarks for a safe and healthy workplace, we ensure our staff keeps safety at the forefront of their minds every time they report to work with the following:


• Regular health and safety meetings;
• Field level hazard assessments;
• Periodic safety inspections


Listen to your employees


Employees participate in each of these activities because we believe they are the best source of information when it comes to hazards.  Also, by having them take part in the identification and controls of hazards, we want to raise their awareness to the workplace hazards facing them and other employees of our customers. They can then learn how to identify hazards and evaluate the risk, allowing them to offer a better protection to our clients.


In the world of physical security, we focus a great deal on what our work does for others, but we believe that leadership integrity has to start with our own workforce. The values we adopt externally in our security business have to be visibly demonstrated within our own organization first. Then, by example, we can help our customers' workplaces become that much safer.


For more information on GardaWorld Protective Services, please visit garda.com.

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