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Experts say the 40 hours of training to become a security guard aren’t enough.
Recent incidents involving security guards in Saskatchewan have raised wider questions about how they’re trained to handle conflict.
In Prince Albert, an investigation is looking into the reasons why an intoxicated man was left lying in the snow last month outside Victoria Hospital. Video footage showed three security officers wheeling his chair outside in the snow and leaving him there.
In Saskatoon, city police are investigating the death of a cancer patient at Royal University Hospital (RUH) after an altercation with security. Police have said security was called to the patient’s room after someone reported seeing a firearm there, but his family says it was a pink plastic cigarette case shaped like a gun.
“It really comes down to [the fact] that there shouldn’t be any more force [used] than is necessary,” said Joel Pedersen, founder of Security 2J2, one of several companies in the province that train security guards.
How are Sask. security guards trained?
Getting a licence to work as a security guard in the province requires completing a 40-hour private investigator and security guard (PISG) training course, offered through security companies or Saskatchewan Polytechnic.
The course covers the legal responsibilities of the job and the basics of performing the duties. Applicants then have to pass an exam with a grade of at least 75%.
“It is a theory program,” Pedersen said. “There are really no hands-on applications, and there aren’t really any scenario-based trainings put into this portion.”
The course does not cover de-escalation techniques, how to use batons or handcuffs, or how to deal with someone in a mental health or addictions crisis.
That type of training can be obtained through additional courses, but it’s not required.
“Once they’ve successfully completed that exam, then they can move on to some other training, like expanded defensive tactics,” Pedersen said.
Security 2J2 offers a separate 40-hour course covering de-escalation and safety techniques. Other companies would provide similar optional additional training, he said.
It’s up to the institution that hires security guards to decide whether to cover that additional training.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority declined CBC’s request for an interview but said in a statement that all of its in-house protective services officers receive a minimum of 100 hours of training, with ongoing training as needed. The SHA also uses guards employed by private contracting companies.
Death of Sask. hospital patient raises questions about how security officers are trained. Recent incidents involving security guards in Saskatchewan have raised wider questions about how they’re trained to handle conflict.
“The level of service provided by both SHA officers and contracted providers varies by facility based on size, hours of operation, patterns of risk and patient and visitor volumes,” the SHA said in a statement.
“SHA Protective Services Officers are highly trained officers that support security and safety, de-escalation, response, police coordination, support clinical teams, and carry handcuffs.”
Pedersen said that although the minimum required course is purely theoretical, a big part of the job is learning on the job.
Is 40 hours enough?
Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia also require 40 hours of instruction to get a licence.
Some experts argue it isn’t enough time to learn the compassionate, applicable resources needed to deal with crises that may arise.
“That is incredibly insufficient for the increasingly enormous task that security guards execute daily across businesses and various other entities in our society,” said Temitope Oriola, a professor of criminology at the University of Alberta.
“They’re basically left to their own devices, to their own questions, to rely on their own reading of the situation.”
Oriola said a 40-hour course that can be done mainly online isn’t good enough. He wants to see the required mental health training and de-escalation techniques.
He said he hopes similar amendments will be made to police training programs in the prairies, most of which are only 6 months long.
Oriola said that although security guards likely have the best intentions, it may be difficult for them to make split-second decisions without the proper training.
“But that intentionality has to be mentally appropriate training and in appropriate conditions on the ground,” Oriola said. “Somebody who has received 40 hours of training is not the individual you want dealing with a citizen experiencing mental distress.”
Steven Summerville, a former Ontario-based police officer who now teaches safety programs to security and police officers across the country, agrees.
Summerville said he’d like to see an emphasis on mental health and de-escalation training.
“I think you would require advanced training curriculum, if you will, on de-escalation skill sets, how to calm people down and to recognize and respond to people exhibiting signs associated mental health or a crisis, substance abuse, drug abuse, being angry, being upset, being overwhelmed by something’s happened to you or another, and all that particular area,” Summerville said.
Hospital security guards play a critical role in ensuring the safety of staff, and that should drive their decision-making, but he hopes physical intervention can be used only as a last resort, he said.
“I’d much rather be able to talk you down than have to forcibly take you down,” Summerville said.
“I’d like to be able to understand what’s upsetting you. And I’d be very aware of my tone, my pitch. I would try to create a rapport with you. I would make certain that you were able to understand that I’m not a threat to you, and that we’re here to help you, not to hurt you.”
Nurses face danger
Nurses in Saskatoon say they face violence on the job daily, and weapons are frequently brought into the hospitals.
“I think right now a lot of [security officers] are very heightened because of the frequency of our phone calls around weapons and around violence,” said Melissa McGillivray, a psychiatric nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital.
“They’re responding every time we need help, so as soon as they hear there may be a weapon, they’re coming running as quickly as they can.”
McGillivray said security guards play a critical role, and their right to physically intervene has helped during some threatening situations.
“Their preference is to de-escalate, but if they are unable to de-escalate, they need to do their job to keep us safe and to keep the other patients safe,” McGillivray said.
“On top of trying to keep us safe, if they have someone who’s escalated, they also need to prevent them from harming the hallway patients or lashing out at people waiting in a waiting room for extended periods.”
McGillivray said she’d like more emphasis on retaining guards who can build rapport with staff and patients. She pointed to underfunding and resourcing, which can lead guards to look for jobs elsewhere.
She also hopes metal detectors can be installed in hospitals to prevent weapons from being brought inside.
