Health pass control: everyone wants their security guard

This Monday, August 9 marks the extension of the health pass to new places of everyday life: the precious QR code is, since this morning, essential for going to a restaurant, having a coffee, traveling by TGV, Intercités and abroad or even enter a shopping center of more than 20,000 m2.

Read also: Health pass: restaurant owners faced with the difficult implementation of controls

On the front line of sanitary pass controls: security guards. Sometimes due to a lack of time and logistical resources, some ERP professionals (establishments open to the public) prefer to recruit specialized personnel through security companies who are struggling to respond to this heavy demand.

"

It is very difficult to meet the demand

" expresses Patrick Senior, CEO of the BSL group, specializing in security,

surveillance and guarding which employs around 1000 security agents. The implementation of the health pass in the middle of the summer adds a difficulty: that of recruitment. "

We are missing about 60 people at the moment,

" explains the boss of BSL. Many agents are on leave as the group faces new customer demands. Restaurants, small traders, professionals subject to the pressure of the past turn to service providers to carry out checks without having to mobilize their workforce or simply, to be sure to avoid the heavy fine in the event of failure.

"

We cannot recruit overnight

"

“

The main challenge today is to be able to meet the needs of the organizers

” confirms the Organization of Event Security Professionals. OPSE brings together companies specializing in event security, from small theaters to large football stadiums. For these professionals, the establishment of the health pass can represent 10 to 20% more security agents at major events. OPSE also attributes the lack of personnel to the health context: “like

catering, the job of security guard has been impacted by confinements and the world of events stopped, pushing some to move towards other professions

”.

The organization also anticipates an increase in the demand for security guards for the start of the school year.

One of the challenges will be to be able to meet demand while also meeting qualitative criteria.

"

We cannot recruit overnight

", today a security officer must be able to justify a request for approval from the CNAPS (National Council for Private Security Activities), issued to qualified professionals, it is that is to say trained.

It takes about 150 hours of training for a security guard.

A budget problem

According to Raphaël Mashhadi, director of the security company RMS Gardiennage Paris, it is still a little early to measure the impact of the health pass on its activity. One thing is certain, the precious pass becomes a concern which pushes new customers to request quotes. But for the entrepreneur, "

the sinews of war has always been the budget

". If the implementation of the pass pushes new customers to turn to security guards, for small players it is possible that this interest is limited to the strict request for quotation.

According to another actor in the sector wishing to remain anonymous, it takes at least 3000 euros per month for an agent present 35 hours per week.

For this boss, market prices are too high for small businesses to be able to acquire a workforce specially dedicated to pass control.

Read also: Extended health pass from this Monday: the answers to all your questions

The professionals concerned by the controls also evoke the lack of personnel and the budget issues, such as the general delegate of the national council of shopping centers (CNCC). If today the control of the health pass concerns less than 10 shopping centers, the threat looms over 350 places of more than 20,000 m2 likely to be the subject of a prefectural decree. According to Gontran Thüring “

the biggest shopping centers welcome 15 to 20 million customers per year and often have multiple entrances. The control of the pass by security agents would then cost 30,000 euros per month and per entry

”. The CNCC has already reported "

difficulties related to the recruitment of several thousand temporary agents to ensure these controls

“, Around 5,000 according to Gontran Thüring, if the pass had to be extended to 350 establishments.