Winter patrols can be challenging for security guards, as they must contend with harsh weather conditions, reduced visibility, and increased hazards. Therefore, it is crucial for every security guard company to take steps to help their guards stay safe and comfortable while on patrol during the winter months. How? If that’s what you’re wondering, in this article, we will provide valuable tips for your security guard company to ensure that.
Providing Proper Training
Every security guard company should provide training on how to stay safe while patrolling in winter weather conditions, such as how to dress properly, how to maintain visibility, and how to identify and avoid hazards. This training should cover topics such as the importance of layering clothing, the best types of footwear and outerwear to wear, and how to stay visible in low-light conditions.
Providing Proper Equipment
In addition to the training, you should provide your security guards with the proper equipment to stay warm and dry, such as insulated, waterproof boots, warm jackets, hats, gloves, and scarves. You should also provide the guards with equipment such as flashlights, radios, and reflective gear to improve visibility. This equipment should be of good quality, well-maintained, and regularly checked to ensure that it’s in good working condition.
Providing Regular Weather Updates
Regular weather updates are one of the many things that a reliable security guard company must share with their guards, including forecasts, alerts, and any necessary information that might help them to be prepared for the weather conditions. This could include information on expected temperatures, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and any other conditions that may affect the guards’ safety on duty.
Checking-In Regularly With Guards
Establishing regular check-ins with your guards to ensure they are safe and comfortable while on patrol is highly recommended. You can call or have a mobile app like that of GuardsPro with a real-time messenger to text the security guards to check on their well-being or have a supervisor check on them in person. This can help to ensure that guards are not experiencing any problems or discomfort while on patrol, such as hypothermia or frostbite, and can help to prevent accidents or injuries.
Having Emergency Protocols In Place
Every security guard company is required to have protocols in place for emergencies such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or pandemics. To ensure their safety in such situations, you should make sure that they are familiar with the protocol and know how to respond in case of an emergency without putting their life and others in danger. This protocol should include information on emergency communication procedures, evacuation routes, and emergency shelters or warming stations.
Providing Transportation
In case of extreme weather conditions, it’s important that you as a dependable security guard company provide transportation for the guards to reach their patrolling location safely and on time. You can either provide a company vehicle or arrange for transportation via taxi or rideshare service. This can help to prevent accidents and injuries caused by walking or driving in poor weather conditions.
Providing Regular Breaks
With the help of GuardsPro guard tour system that enables creating custom breaks for security guards at various intervals and forcing them to take a break, you can create regular breaks for guards to warm up and rest while patrolling. For example, you can schedule patrols to last for one hour, with a 15-minute break in between. This can help to prevent hypothermia and frostbite and can also help to reduce fatigue and improve overall safety.
Utilizing the same guard tour system, you can further schedule patrols in such a way that every guard gets a break without compromising the security of the client site.
Proper Nutrition And Hydration
Providing security guards with proper nutrition and hydration is essential to keeping them healthy and alert while on patrol. To ensure that, especially in winter, you can provide your security guards on duty with a small cooler filled with water bottles and also provide them with warm drinks and snacks, such as hot chocolate or tea. Whether that sounds feasible or not, you can at the least remind guards to drink water and eat regularly through regular check-ins or messages via real-time messenger.
Offering Mental Health Support
Cold weather and long hours can take a toll on any person’s mental health. Security guards are no different. So you can provide support to help them maintain their mental well-being by arranging for an employee assistance program that offers counseling or therapy services. You can also provide literature and brochures on mental health and stress management or direct guards to online resources.
Regular Maintenance Of Equipment
Next, every security guard company should ensure that all equipment used by security guards is properly maintained to ensure they are in good working condition. For instance, if your guards use company vehicles for patrols, you should ensure that the vehicles are equipped with appropriate winter tires, have emergency kits and have a plan in place in case of vehicle breakdown or accident.
Regular Safety Review
Security guard companies should regularly review safety procedures and protocols to identify any potential hazards and take appropriate action to address them. This includes conducting regular safety audits, analyzing incidents and near-misses, and providing additional training as needed. You can also establish a safety committee that will continuously monitor and review the safety procedures and recommend changes for improvement.
Conclusion
By implementing these strategies, every security guard company can help their guards stay safe and comfortable while patrolling in the winter and be better prepared to respond to any incidents that may occur. Regular check-ins, emergency protocols, and transportation can also help in ensuring that the guards are not missing their patrol schedule, which can help to maintain the security of the location they are responsible for.
