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SECURITY INDUSTRY REGULATIONS 2003 (NO 30 OF 2003)
2003
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL
TERRITORY
SECURITY INDUSTRY REGULATIONS 2003
SUBORDINATE LAW
SL2003-30
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Circulated by authority of the
Acting Attorney
General
Ms Katy Gallagher MLA
2.
SECURITY INDUSTRY REGULATIONS
2003
SUBORDINATE LAW SL2003-30
The Security Industry Act 2003 (the Act) regulates the ACT
security industry, including security guards, alarm installers and crowd
controllers. The Act replaces the five codes of practice for the security
industry.
The Act is based on the New South Wales Security Industry
Act 1997, and it replaces the existing ACT codes of practice. The Act
provides for applications for licences, specific licence requirements, including
training, and a range of offences.
The objectives of the legislation
are:
• to enhance compliance activities, primarily through the
introduction of offences, including offences for unlicensed principals and
employees in the industry;
• to bring the ACT into line with other
Australian jurisdictions;
• to clearly outline and monitor
standards;
• to impose mandatory training;
• to clarify the
provisions for dealing with breaches of standards; and
• to prevent
persons from commencing employment prior to the outcome of a criminal record
check.
The Security Industry Regulations 2003 (the Regulations)
exempt a number of people from the requirement to be licensed, including, police
and correctional officers, internal security advisers for a business that is not
in the security industry and internal people installing, maintaining, repairing
or servicing internal security equipment for a business that is not in the
security industry.
The Regulations also set out the information to be
included in an application for a licence and the training requirements for each
licence. The training requirements are based on new national training standards
that have been developed by the Australian National Training Authority in
consultation with the security industry.
The Regulations clarify that
people selling or installing security doors and windows, security garage doors
and security lighting are covered by the Act.
In addition, the
Regulations contain some of the provisions of the codes of practice currently
applying to the security industry, such as the requirement for an incident
register to be kept for the crowd control industry and that equipment must
conform to safety standards established by Standards Australia.
3.
Regulation 1 – Name of regulations – provides that the
regulations are the Security Industry Regulations 2003.
Regulation 2
– Commencement – provides that the regulations commence on the
later of either 3 September 2003 or the day after the regulations are
notified on the Legislation Register.
Regulation 3 – Notes
– provides that the notes included in the regulations are explanatory
and do not form part of the regulations.
Regulation 5 – Prescribed security equipment – Act, s8(1),
def security equipment, par (c) – provides that security screen
doors, security windows that have built-in locks and security garage doors that
cannot be opened with keys are included in the definition of ‘security
equipment’ for the purposes of the Act.
Regulation 6 –
Exempt people – Act, s9 – provides that particular people are
exempt from the application of the Act. Most of these exemptions are based on
exemptions in New South Wales. The people exempted include: custodial officers,
police officers, sheriffs, members of the fire brigade and bushfire brigade and
people who in the course of employment gives advice in relation to security
affecting the employer’s business, or who installs maintains, monitors,
repairs or services security equipment in relation to the employer’s
business, if that person does not carry on any other security activity and the
employer does not carry on a security business.
The regulations also
exempt people who carry on a security activity in relation to an information
system. These people are primarily computer consultants who carry on a security
activity in relation to information system, such as installing computer
firewalls. These people do not traditionally fit within the security industry
and are not covered by the New South Wales legislation.
Regulation 6
also provides that particular people are exempt from the requirement to hold a
trainer licence. These include people who provide a training course that is not
a training course prescribed by the regulations and a suitably qualified person
who provides a first aid training course as part of a training course prescribed
by the regulations.
Regulation 7 – Prescribed information for
licence application – Act, s17(3) – provides that an application
for a master licence (for a person who is not a locksmith) must be accompanied
by evidence of membership of an industry association approved by the
Commissioner for Fair Trading. An approval granted by the Commissioner for Fair
Trading is a notifiable instrument.
This requirement is identical to the
requirement in New South Wales and it brings an element of co-regulation to the
security industry. In New South Wales there are approximately ten approved
industry associations, most of which will apply for approval in the
Territory.
While other regulatory schemes require businesses to hold
membership of industry associations (eg NSW security industry, legal profession
and accountants), arguably this amounts to an intrusion into the rights of those
businesses (when constituted by natural persons) to freedom of association. In
this case the rights of freedom of association are met by countervailing public
benefits: membership will ensure consumers have access to low cost industry
sponsored settling mechanisms, while members have access to a greater range of
services (of particular value within a security-based industry).
In
particular, the security industry associations ensure that master licensees, who
are not required to have any qualifications to enter the industry, are given
information and training on their relevant sector of the industry. The
associations also assist in monitoring compliance with the legislation,
including cross-jurisdictional compliance, dispute resolution and work to
improve standards within the different sectors of the industry.
Masters
in the locksmithing sector have been exempted from this requirement, as most of
these master licensees also hold an employee licence and therefore have the
relevant qualifications.
Regulation 8 – Prescribed training
courses for employee licences – Act, s 21(1)(a)(ii) – prescribes
training courses that need to be completed in order for a licence to be issued.
The prescribed courses must be provided by a licensed trainer, and are new
qualifications developed by the Australian National Training Authority, to be
implemented in all Australian jurisdictions.
Regulation 9 –
Prescribed training courses for trainer licences – Act, s 21(1)(a)(ii)
– provides that the prescribed training courses for trainer licences
are the course that the applicant wishes to instruct in (or a course that the
Commissioner for Fair Trading is satisfied leads to a higher qualification than
the course that the applicant wishes to instruct) and Certificate IV in
Assessment and Workplace Training.
Regulation 10 – Definitions
for pt 4 – provides a sign post definition for the terms ‘crowd
controller’ and ‘identification number’ and defines the term
‘provides’ people as including employing
people.
Regulation 11 – Application of pt 4 – provides
that part 4 of the regulations applies each time a master licensee provides
people to act as a crowd controller.
Regulation 12 –
Identification – provides that a master licensee who provides people
to act as crowd controllers must allocate a unique identification number to each
person acting as a crowd controllers and ensure that each crowd controller
provided by the master licensee wear the identification number so that it is
clearly visible when the person is acting as a crowd controller. Regulation
11(2) obliges a crowd controller to wear the identification number while acting
as a crowd controller so that it is clearly visible. This requirement is drawn
from the existing industry code of practice, replaced by the Act and
regulations.
Regulation 13 – General Records –
provides that a master licensee who provides people to act as crowd
controllers must keep a written record of details of crowd control services
provided and keep records so made for a period of three years. The master
licensee must record:
• the name and address of the entity for whom
the services are provided;
• the address of the place where the
services are provided;
• the date the services are provided;
• details of the services provided;
• the name, address,
licence number and identification number of each crowd controller;
• the supervisor; and
• the time that each crowd controller
starts and finishes providing the services.
The master licensee must
ensure that each crowd controller records the time that he or she starts and
finishes providing services. Regulation 12(3) obliges a crowd controller to
record the time he or she starts and finishes providing services. These
requirements are drawn from the existing industry code of practice, replaced by
the Act and regulations.
Regulation 14 – Records of incidents
– provides that when a master licensee provides people to act as crowd
controllers and a crowd controller makes forceable physical contact with or
physically restrains someone, ejects someone from the place where services are
provided or witnesses a physical assault, then in respect of that incident the
master licensee must keep a written record of:
• the date and time it
occurred;
• the name and addresses of each person involved
• for each crowd controller involved the crowd controllers licence and
identification number;
• details of the incident;
• whether
the police were contacted and if they attended; and
• details of any
injuries sustained.
The record must kept for a period of three years and
be made by a crowd controller involved in the incident, nominated by the master
licensee. The nominated crowd controller is obliged to make the record. These
requirements are drawn from the existing industry code of practice, replaced by
the Act and regulations.
Regulation 15 – Accreditation of
trainers – provides that a licensed trainer must be employed or
engaged by a registered training organization, as required by the Vocational
Education and Training Act 1995 and from 1 November 2003 the Tertiary
Accreditation and Registration Act 2003.
Regulation 16 –
Confidentiality of personal information – provides that master
licensees must comply with the national privacy principle 2 under the Privacy
Act 1988 (Cth). This privacy principle deals with the use and disclosure of
personal information. These requirements are drawn from the existing industry
code of practice, replaced by the Act and regulations.
Regulation
17 – Equipment standards – provides that licensees who
install security equipment must comply with the relevant safety standards set by
Standards Australia or set jointly by Standards Australia and Standards New
Zealand. These requirements are drawn from the existing industry code of
practice, replaced by the Act and regulations.