Public safety could be at risk because of persistent problems with the training of security guards, including the prevalence of “extremely short courses” and people crossing borders to get licences, the national skills regulator has found.
The Australian Skills Quality Authority said four out of five training organisations it audited were not complying with at least one of the national training standards.
The authority launched its review after coroners repeatedly raised concerns about patrons dying while being restrained by security guards.
In a report issued on Thursday, the authority said inconsistent licensing arrangements across the states and territories were contributing to poor-quality training and assessment.
“While the qualifications for security roles are national, the regulation of security licensing is state and territory-based, making it more difficult to ensure consistency and alignment between qualifications and licensing requirements,” the report (PDF) states.
“One of the biggest threats to quality training in the security industry is the prevalence of extremely short courses, which do not allow people to gain the required skills and competencies. While this issue is systemic across the VET [vocational education and training] sector, it is endemic in security training, potentially compromising public safety.”
Some states have imposed extra regulatory requirements on registered training organisations, such as minimum course lengths and mandated assessment materials, but people can travel to places with less stringent rules to obtain a licence that is then recognised in their home state under the Mutual Recognition Act 1992.
New South Wales had 32.1% of the national share of security jobs, despite having issued only 10.7% of the licences nationally in 2013-14, fuelling concerns that “increased requirements in one jurisdiction simply create an incentive for individuals to cross borders to seek their licences elsewhere”.
“Affected states are concerned that their licensing standards are being circumvented through this practice and that this is resulting in compromised public safety,” the report said.
“Until the inconsistent licensing arrangements are resolved, people will continue to cross borders to attain licences in jurisdictions with fewer requirements. This leads to discrepancies between where training is occurring and where the jobs are located.”
The report also raised concerns about “inadequate content in qualifications, including language, literacy and numeracy skills and the skills to manage the dangers of restraint including positional asphyxia”.
The authority said 121 training organisations were registered to deliver either the certificate II or certificate III in security operations as of mid last year.
Of the 67 organisations covered in the initial audit, 81% were not fully compliant with the standards they were required to meet at all times.
Some of the issues related to “relatively minor issues that were rectified quickly” while others were “very serious shortcomings” and providers were given 20 working days to deal with the noncompliances.
After the rectification period, 10 registered training organisations (15%) remained in breach. Six of these have since demonstrated their compliance, while three have been removed from the national training register and one has pursued a challenge against the authority’s decision to cancel its registration.
The authority made eight recommendations, including calling for agreement on a single set of qualifications and units for use in all jurisdictions.
Chris Robinson, the authority’s chief commissioner, said the report had confirmed many of the concerns raised by coroners and other stakeholders in the VET sector.
He called for changes “to more clearly specify assessment and volume of learning requirements; what can be delivered and assessed online and what cannot; the language, literacy and numeracy skill requirements of job roles; and skills in safe restraint techniques”.
