… calls for policy change for female security personnel
Minister within the Social Protection Ministry, Keith Scott said with goals for national development in the private security service sector, his Ministry is committed to the development of a ‘decent work country programme’.
The seminar for security service providers on Thursday, focused on private security services within the area of national development; the role of the security services in safety and the economy; the impact of security services on single mothers and the elderly, as well as the social impact of the security services on men, among other topics.
The seminar was attended by twenty-three (23) Security Companies operating in a Sector which employs in excess of eight thousand (8,000) persons.
Minister Scott noted that his Ministry is extremely concerned with the work arrangement for female security personnel in the field and the effect it has on single mothers.
“Many days when I report for duty, I am pained and grieved to be greeted at 7:30am by a female security officer who had worked the night before.”
He continued, “I’m unsure whether or not the private security industry has carefully examined the impact which night work has had and continues to have on women…”
“I wish to submit without fear of contradiction that the level of danger to which the family is exposed increases astronomically when that family is headed by one parent only, who happens to be the mother and has to work all night while her children are left unprotected, unsupervised and to the mercies of possible predators,” the Minister stated.
Scott believes these are the kinds of danger family members are exposed to when single parents work at night.
According to the Department of Public Information, the Minister is calling for the development and implementation of policies to completely prevent women from working night shifts.
“We should not wait for indisputable evidence before we seek to minimise or control the level of night work to which our women… are exposed,” he said.
At the conclusion of the seminar the Service Providers contributed to a communique which, inter alia, provided for;
- The conduct a comprehensive research designed to determine the sociological and other factors which challenge the Service Providers.
- The compliance with all Safety and Labour related Legislations.
- The assessment of the mental and physical capacity and preparedness of their employees and to monitor them on a regular basis including subjecting them to a semi-annual medical examination.
- Develop special working arrangements for women so that their working hours will not be extended beyond certain hours of darkness.
