Crime Prevention Essay

Introduction Throughout my project I will be referring a retail shopping centre in tralee, kerry.The shopping centre trades between 8.00 am and 07.00 pm, six days a week and 10.00am to 5.00pm on Sundays I ahave decided to do this project on this centre as it is the only shopping centre located near my home aslo I chose thi centre as I am very familiar with it. Functions of notebook entries: * To record matters which cannot be entrusted to memory. * Make entry for each working day. * To provide a permanent personal record of hours of duty and work done. * To record instructions, incidents and messages * Fill out the top of your report clearly and completely as needed * While doing your rounds Be sure to take notes in your field notebook. Do not use your memory. Make sure to take Note the times, Dates and any persons involved if necessary. * Remember your notebook may be used in a court of law as evidence or to assist you when testifying. Use it only for its intended use. * The retail shopping centre was built in 2004 . The shopping centre employs ten security staff to cover its 90000 sq. ft. area. There is a purposely built security office with all the latest cctv monitoring systems. Uniforms for security are simple such as black trousers, black shoes and white shirt. A high visibility jacket will be supplied for car park duties there are over a 1000 free parking spaces. The only equipment a security guard will carry on them at all times is a two way radio system for communication purposes with the control room and co workers. Inspections * Security personnel who guard entrances and exits must thoroughly screen people and packages to make sure no unauthorized items or individuals go where they shouldn’t. Surveillance * Closely monitoring their assigned location be it static or patrolled, allows security guards to spot suspicious behaviour and prevent problems, including illegal activity. Enforcement * A variety of tools help security guards enforce the law and rules, including communication devices like radios, monitoring devices like security cameras, detection devices like scanners and defensive instruments like batons. Emergencies* When emergencies occur, security guards are often responsible for directing people in the area to safety, contacting emergency responders, attempting to determine the source of the problem and containing the threat. Law * As an employer you are required to manage safety and health at work so as to prevent accidents and ill-health. * The law requires employers to: * Carry out a risk assessment * Identify the hazards * Prepare a written safety statement * Section 20 provides that every employer must have a written safety statement based on the hazards identified and the risk assessment under Section 19 and setting out how the safety, health and welfare of employees will be secured and managed. When preparing a safety statement, account should be taken of the general principles of prevention set out in Schedule 3 to the Act. * Safety statements must be specific to the place of work and must set out – * The protective and preventive measures taken and the resources allocated to safety, health and welfare, * The hazards identified and the risks assessed, * The plans and procedures for dealing with emergencies or serious and imminent danger, in compliance with Sections 8 and 11, * The duties of employees as regards safety, health and welfare at work, and the requirement for them to co-operate on those matters with their employer and any person who has responsibility under the relevant statutory provisions, * The names and, where applicable, job titles of persons assigned to perform tasks pursuant to the safety statement, and * The arrangements for the appointment of safety representatives and safety consultation at the place of work in compliance with Sections 25 and 26 and the names of any safety representatives and/or safety committee members. * Assessing the risks in your workplace * This is how to assess the risks in your workplace: * Identify the hazards. * Decide who might be harmed and how * Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions. * Record your findings and implement them * Review your assessment and update if necessary. Risk assessment process: * To identify the hazards: * talk to staff to learn from their knowledge and experience, and listen to their concerns and opinions about health and safety issues in the shop; * look at the accident book, to understand what previous problems there have been; * Walk around the shop, the stockroom and all other areas noting what might pose a risk, taking HSE guidance into consideration. Also consider occasional activities, such as changing light bulbs; * Write down who could be harmed by the hazards and how. * For each hazard, write down what controls, if any, were in place to manage these hazards. These controls were then compared to the guidance on HSE’s website. Where existing controls are not considered good enough, write down what else is needed to be done. * Discuss the findings with staff, display the risk assessment in the staffroom and make it part of the induction process for new staff. Decide when the actions that were needed will be done, and who will do them, and tick the actions off as each is completed. * Review and update the risk assessment every year or straightaway if major changes in the workplace happen. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005: * Represents a modernisation of our occupational health and safety laws and it sets the scene for achieving further improvements in the national record on safety and health over the next few decades. * Its primary focus is on the prevention of workplace accidents, illnesses and dangerous occurrences and it provides also for significantly increased fines and penalties aimed at deterring the minority who continue to flout safety and health. * One of the aims of the act is to encourage a responsible attitude on the part of both employees and employers. * Duty of care: legal obligation imposed-requiring that safety standards are upheld –to ensure people are not injured by actions or failure to act. Duties of employees * Comply with health and safety legislation, both in the 2005 act and elsewhere. * Take responsible care to protect his or her own safety. * Co-operate with his or her employer or any other person as necessary, to assist that person in complying with safety and health legislation as appropriate. * Correct use of protective clothing and any other protective article or substance where necessary. * Not be under influence of an intoxicant at the place of work. * Not engage in improper conduct or other behaviour such as violence, bullying or horseplay. Hazards and risks * Hazard is the potential to cause harm; risk on the other hand is the likelihood of harm * A hazard is a situation in the workplace that has the potential to harm the health and safety of people or to damage plant and equipment. * Risk is the likelihood that a person may be harmed or suffers adverse health effects if exposed/come into contact with a hazard Some groups of people are particularly vulnerable to hazards: * Young workers, have higher accident rates. * Pregnant women. * People with disabilities. * New or inexperienced workers * Workers who have recently changed roles or jobs. Risk control: is the process of implementing measures to reduce the risk associated with a hazard. The control process must follow the control hierarchy, in order, as prescribed in some health and safety legislation. It is important that control measures do not introduce new hazards, and that the ongoing effectiveness of the controls is monitored. Safety statement Safety statement is the name given to a document that outlines how a company or organisation manages their health and safety. It is a report of all hazards and risks found in the workplace. An account of the controls taken or planned to be taken to control them. A Safety statement is required by law unless the employer employs less than three people. Employers have ultimate responsibility for safety and health. The safety statement should begin with a declaration, signed at senior, responsible management level on the employer’s behave. The declaration should spell out the policy in relation to overall safety and health performance, provide a framework for managing safety and health, and list relevant objectives. That the safety statement will be revised as changes occur and evaluated at set intervals; how the relevant contents of the statement are to be brought to the attention of employees and other people in the workplace who might be affected by the statement. Stress in the workplace Stress is any action or situation (stressor) that places special physical or psychological demands on a person. There are two types of stress: eustress and distress. Eustress is a good stress and appears to motivate and inspire . Distress is considered as bad stress, and can be short-lived or long-term. Stress is often described as a mismatch between the demands of work, family and living and of coping with these demands. Stress can be positive – when it motivates us to get something done – or negative when we have too many demands and constantly feel under pressure. Bullying in the Work Place The 2005 Act provides that employers carry out risk assessments at their place of work in the preparation of a safety statement. This assessment should also include the risks associated with bullying. The definition of bullying is â€Å"Repeated inappropriate behaviour that undermines your right to dignity at work†. It can encompass verbal bullying, physical bullying or otherwise and it may take different forms such as social exclusion and isolation, damaging someone’s reputation by gossip or rumours, intimidation, aggressive or obscene language or repeated requests with impossible tasks or targets.Whilst there is no specific legislation that deals with bullying in the work place the Health and Safety Authority have issued a code of practice for employers and employees on the prevention and resolution of bullying at work. Conclusions and recommendations: Overall I was impressed with the level of professionalism that is in the shopping center . Security personnel within the premises have very good procedures and should continue this. The security officers have access to the latest technology including CCTV with spinning domes. They use these to great use for crime prevention and should continue to do so . the staff are very good at identifying hazards and protecting customers as a result of this the retail center will be successful for yearts to come.