RiskUKNovember2017

Meet The Security Company: Omni Security Services
In association with the
an endorsement of an organisation’s
commitment to achieving excellence. There’s no
room for complacency, though, and continued
energy from the NSI in widely promoting the
scheme would be valuable.
Risk UK: In practice, what are the main
differences between ACS registration and NSI
Guarding Gold approval?
Peter Hale: I see the framework of the NSI’s
Guarding Gold scheme as a facilitator for
excellence if the application and endeavour are
accurate. Adherence to the requirements can
provide the machinery for efficiency, qualitative
outputs and delighted customers. It’s a nonnegotiable
indicator of commitment to quality.
The ACS provides a presentation of
achievement, but could arguably be said to be
more focused on the outcomes rather than a
consistently applied process.
To chase ‘points’ and provide the evidence
required for a particular score for a particular
element only is to miss the fundamental
sustainability and underpinning commitment
that should be part of the business process.
Risk UK: How do you think technology has
changed the industry over the last couple of
years and what do you feel will be the
direction of travel in the future?
Peter Hale: I believe that technology has
radically enhanced the industry. In the future,
increasingly symbiotic solutions involving
manned and technological resources are going
to be key to providing a total service.
The time of the ‘technophobe’ has long since
passed and, in fact, the word itself is likely to
have little relevance in the very near future
within the guarding sphere as all credible
suppliers will need to be able to demonstrate
service-enhancing technological resources and
embrace the changes they realise.
Risk UK: When it comes to negotiating
contracts and responding to tender requests,
what aspects are of most value to customers
and how are these changing?
Peter Hale: Unsurprisingly, many customers
still zero-in on the bottom right hand corner of
a proposal. We’re aware the security industry
can be driven by intense price competition that
may serve to drive down standards and quality
to provide the barest quotation.
At Omni, we’re endeavouring to drive
standards and quality in the industry upwards.
By focusing on RoI for customers and
demonstrating the clear layers of added value
that sustainable partnering can bring, we find
that negotiations move away from price points
and races to the bottom and settle more on our
complete support across all levels of a
customer’s business.
I’m pleased to say that there appears to be a
slowly-building appreciation of the benefits of
investing in a proper and well-designed
solution to security needs as opposed to a
cheap, quick and, ultimately, unsustainable fix.
Risk UK: How has Government legislation (eg
the National Minimum Wage, the National
Living Wage and holiday pay) affected your
business? Do you believe such legislation is
a good thing?
Peter Hale: I endorse any means to ensure that
decent officers are remunerated appropriately.
However, we shouldn’t just be relying on the
Government to achieve that goal for us.
Of course, there’s an inevitable ‘hit’ for
accounts based at the lower end of the wage
spectrum, but generally we in the industry are
the architects of our own issues if we’re pricing
work too narrowly to pay a decent wage just to
win the business in the first place.
I believe that the standard security guarding
licence is too easily obtained. This is an area
that should be reviewed in terms of rigour.
Risk UK: What are the most important
attributes you look for in your security
officers and staff members in general?
Peter Hale: While integrity, work ethic,
reliability and communication skills are all core
and basic requirements, I personally love to see
ambition in people. Specifically, I’m referencing
an ambition to be better and to be honest
about wanting to be better.
The private security industry offers genuine
career paths and healthy, focused and nurtured
ambition is the bullion for driving standards up
and taking the sector forwards.
Risk UK: How can the SIA, the NSI and
industry standards best serve the sector in
addition to the needs of your company’s
clients and the wider public interest? Will
the introduction of business licensing be a
positive step?
Peter Hale: Education of consumers and other
interested parties is key. We must shine a light
on professionalism and capability within the
industry and set alignments to be assimilated
within the mainstream consciousness.
The planned introduction of business
licensing could be a positive step, as long as
the regulatory focus is accurate. To my mind,
there seems little point in increasing the
regulatory burden if the outcome of doing so is
only recognised within the industry itself.
Name
Peter Hale
Job title
General Manager
Time in the security sector
18 years direct industry
experience at senior level
overseeing national accounts
for global brands. I’m
educated to post-graduate
level in Security and Risk
Management and an IRCAcertified
Quality Management
Systems (ISO 9001) lead
auditor. I also hold
certifications in employment
practice (through the
Chartered Institute of Legal
Executives) and equality and
diversity in the workplace
Location of the business
Omni Security Services’ head
office is based in Huntingdon,
Cambridgeshire. We have a
satellite office in London and
a national outreach
Areas of expertise
Security guarding (including
executive guarding
assignments), general patrol
security dogs and specialist
search security dogs
Accreditations
NSI Guarding Gold, SIA ACS,
SAFEContractor, CHAS
Accredited Contractor, BSIA
Member, NASDU Company
Member and Member of the
British Safety Council
Peter Hale: General Manager
at Omni Security Services
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