No, we will not provide one crowd controller for 300 patrons in a licensed venue.
Z Protection Services will not provide a crowd-control arrangement that is clearly inadequate for the venue, event or identified risk.
A venue with 300 customers would require four crowd controllers.
For a Victorian licensed venue, the standard requirement is two crowd controllers for the first 100 customers and one additional crowd controller for every additional 100 customers, or part thereof.
Each venue must still follow the specific conditions recorded on its own liquor licence.
Security is not there to create the appearance that security is present.
The example of one crowd controller for 300 patrons reflects a broader issue within the industry. Some venues and event organisers attempt to reduce security staffing to the smallest possible number, regardless of whether that arrangement can operate effectively when an incident occurs.
We will not approve an inadequate security arrangement simply because it is cheaper, because it has been used previously, or because another provider is willing to accept it.
Security must be capable of preventing, identifying and responding to foreseeable incidents.
A security adviser visits the venue first.
Every new venue or event engagement begins with one of our security advisers attending the site.
We assess the actual operating environment, including:
- The venue layout
- Entrances and exits
- Bars and alcohol service areas
- Internal and external patron areas
- Smoking areas
- Expected and maximum patron numbers
- Operating hours
- Entertainment
- Previous incidents
- Emergency procedures
- Venue staffing
- Communication systems
- Closing-time risks
- Liquor licence conditions
- The expected crowd and event profile
We provide proper and accountable security advice. We take responsibility for the recommendations we make and for the decisions that remain under our control.
If an incident occurs, we will not participate in a blame game between the venue, event organiser, crowd controller and security provider. We will not recommend one arrangement and then knowingly provide a weaker service simply to meet an unrealistic budget.
Accountability must begin when the security arrangement is designed, not after an incident has occurred.
Z Protection Services has the personnel, systems and operational capability to manage and protect venues and events of any type, size and risk profile. This includes licensed venues, private functions, corporate events, sporting events, community events, festivals and higher-risk operations requiring formal supervision, communications and response arrangements.
A crowd controller is not provided merely so a venue can say that security was present.
A security arrangement must continue operating when an incident occurs. If the only available crowd controller becomes occupied with an ejection, assault, medical emergency or aggressive group, another part of the venue should not be left completely without security coverage.
▶What crowd controllers may be responsible for16
- Controlling entrances and exits
- Checking identification
- Managing refusals of entry
- Monitoring patron numbers
- Managing queues
- Identifying intoxicated or disorderly patrons
- Responding to aggressive behaviour
- Supporting venue employees
- Managing removals and ejections
- Monitoring smoking and outdoor areas
- Protecting emergency exits
- Assisting vulnerable patrons
- Responding to medical incidents
- Supporting evacuations
- Managing closing-time crowds
- Communicating with police, ambulance and venue management
A staffing arrangement that only works while the venue is quiet is not an effective security plan. The correct staffing level is not the smallest number of crowd controllers willing to attend. It is the number and deployment structure required to manage the venue or event safely and effectively.
Four groups carry the risk when staffing is inadequate.
The risk to the crowd controller
Inadequate staffing places the crowd controller at direct risk. An aggressive or intoxicated patron may refuse to leave, threaten venue staff, assault the crowd controller or encourage friends to interfere. An incident involving one person can quickly involve an entire group.
WorkSafe Victoria identifies crowd control as an occupational health and safety issue requiring risks to be assessed and managed by both the crowd-control provider and the venue or event using the service.
▶What an unsupported officer has nobody to do9
- Control friends or associates
- Maintain coverage at the entrance
- Contact emergency services
- Assist with a safe removal
- Protect venue employees
- Monitor the surrounding crowd
- Witness the interaction
- Take over if the officer is injured
- Provide relief during a break
▶The unsafe options understaffing forces4
- The officer may remain at the entrance while an internal incident goes unmanaged.
- The officer may respond to the incident and leave the entrance without security coverage.
- The officer may intervene alone and risk injury.
- The officer may delay intervention while waiting for police, allowing the situation to escalate.
A radio, body-worn camera, CCTV system or duress alarm may assist the officer, but none of these provides immediate physical support. That is not a failure by the individual crowd controller. It is a failure of the security arrangement.
A body-worn camera may record an assault. It does not prevent the crowd controller from being assaulted.
Why we do not provide one flat rate from Monday to Sunday.
Z Protection Services does not quote one flat crowd-control rate across weekdays, nights, weekends and public holidays.
The minimum we pay a casual Level 3 crowd controller
Per hour, by day type. Drag the slider to compare a flat rate.
A provider quotes one flat rate of
At $60 per hour, the flat rate is below the minimum we pay on 3 of 6 day types, before workers compensation, insurance, uniforms, rostering or supervision is added.
These amounts include the applicable Level 3 Award rates, casual and penalty loadings, superannuation, the Victorian portable long service leave levy and first aid allowance where applicable. These are the minimum amounts we pay our crowd controllers. They are not the rates quoted to clients.
▶How the minimums are builtAward
The Security Services Industry Award applies different casual penalty percentages for weekday daytime, weekday night, permanent night, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday work. Employer superannuation is currently 12 per cent of qualifying earnings, and the Victorian portable long service leave levy for covered security workers is currently 1.80 per cent of ordinary pay.
▶What the client rate must also cover13
For this reason, we will not quote $60 per hour from Monday to Sunday simply because another provider has offered that price. We will not reduce employee entitlements, operational support or service quality to match an unrealistic flat rate.
The fact that another company has accepted the risk does not mean the risk has disappeared.
Venue managers and event organisers sometimes justify an inadequate arrangement by referring to another provider. The argument may be that another company has accepted fewer crowd controllers, offered a lower flat rate or supplied the service in the same way for several years. That does not establish that the arrangement is suitable.
Another provider may have accepted the work without conducting a proper site assessment. They may be relying on venue employees to perform duties that should be undertaken by licensed crowd controllers.
▶What they may not have properly considered9
- Breaks and relief coverage
- Internal incidents
- Multiple venue areas
- Emergency response
- Closing-time risks
- Staff safety
- Group aggression
- Medical incidents
- What happens when an officer leaves their normal position
They may also have a different approach to employee pay, operational support or risk acceptance. If another provider is doing the wrong thing, that does not mean Z Protection Services will do it too.
Sometimes, the provider willing to agree to everything is not the most capable provider. It may simply be the provider least willing to challenge an unsafe request.
Experience is important. It is not automatic proof of best practice.
A business can repeat the same poor practice for many years. It can rely on outdated procedures. It can become comfortable with a risk because a serious incident has not yet occurred. It can continue using the same staffing model because nobody has questioned it.
We have always done it this way
A company that has operated for 20 years may be highly capable. It may also have repeated the same mistake for 20 years.
This is the correct way to do it
Doing something repeatedly does not automatically mean it is being done properly. Experience without review can become repetition.
▶What experience should be considered alongside10
We can manage and protect venues and events of any type, size and risk profile.
This includes licensed venues, private functions, corporate events, sporting events, community events, festivals and higher-risk operations requiring formal supervision, communications and response arrangements.
▶What we can provide15
- Licensed crowd controllers
- Security officers
- Dedicated entry teams
- Internal floor coverage
- Roaming response personnel
- Crowd-control supervisors
- Radio communications
- Body-worn cameras
- CCTV monitoring
- Incident reporting
- First aid capability
- Mobile patrol support
- Alarm response
- After-hours operational management
- Coordination with venue management and emergency services
▶What a larger or higher-risk operation requires9
Our capability is not measured only by the number of guards we can provide. It is measured by whether those personnel can be properly selected, briefed, positioned, supervised, supported and managed throughout the operation.
What we will not do.
- ×Provide decorative security that becomes ineffective as soon as an officer is occupied.
- ×Place crowd controllers into foreseeable high-risk situations without reasonable support.
- ×Ignore employee entitlements or operational obligations to match an unrealistic flat rate.
- ×Copy another provider simply because that provider has agreed to accept the risk.
We understand that venue managers and event organisers must manage budgets. Crowd control, however, involves real people, real hazards and real consequences.
The cheapest provider is not necessarily the safest provider.
The longest-operating provider is not automatically the best provider.
The provider willing to accept the most risk is not necessarily the most experienced provider.
We would rather decline a contract than provide a security service we reasonably believe is unsafe, ineffective or financially unsustainable.
Z Protection Services will provide proper security advice, an accountable service arrangement and personnel who are supported to perform their duties safely and professionally. That is the standard we are prepared to stand behind.
Start with a proper site assessment.
Every new venue or event engagement begins with one of our security advisers attending the site. We then propose a security arrangement that reflects the venue, its operations and the identified risks.