Coronavirus. Security guards are also on the front line

Between lack of recognition, need for protection and drop in activity, security guards say forgotten since the start of containment.

In front of a DIY store in the north of Paris, Franck *, visor on his head, regulates the queue, about twenty people long and tries to enforce social distancing.

I was given this visor only a few days ago … Before, I had a simple mask that covered my face badly, I was going to work with fear in my stomach, explains this agent for ten years.

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In the first line

Enzo *, station manager in a supermarket in Paris, also denounces the lack of protection: Sometimes I have to bring my own masks back … We are the fifth wheel of the carriage while without us, France is at a standstill, says the 32-year-old. Despite that, if it had to be done again, I’ll go back, you have to eat well, he slips.

However, a few weeks ago, he lost a former colleague, Satia, 58, who died of the Covid-19, while he was working at Roissy airport.

According to organizations representing the sector, around ten agents have died since the start of the pandemic in France: eight according to the CGT and 15 according to the French Federation of Private Security (FFSP).

Supermarkets, hospitals, nursing homes, public buildings, etc. Around 150,000 security agents are mobilized in France since the first hour, the 17th of March. All say in First line, especially in hospitals and nursing homes, where they carry out access control, surveillance rounds, compliance with instructions or palpations.

We just want a message of support from Christophe Castaner, our minister responsible, a little recognition, regrets Cédric Paulin, secretary general at Groupement des Entreprises de Sécurité (GES), the employers’ organization in the private security sector.

Harold Heredia, CEO of Lynx, says: We do with the means at hand, it’s the D system. We have a big problem with personal protective equipment (PPE), I had to make masks and visors with 3D printers, he insists, while maintaining that the 1,000 employees are now protected.

25% drop in activity

This lack of protection leads to an increase in work stoppages. Between sick people, people who have been in contact with sick people, work stoppages for childcare and withdrawal rights, we certainly reach more than 10,000 people in arrest, the impact is unprecedented, says the president of the FFSP, Claude Tarlet.

A lack of staff which will cause a big tension, according to GES, especially for deconfinement because traditional needs will come back.

Another concern for the sector, a drop in activity of around 25%, due to the total shutdown of the events sector and the closure of airports, both large employers of security guards.

This is the case for Yannick Lorphelin’s company, Cyno Explo, a private security company specializing in detection dogs: All the activity is stopped because we only work with event providers, explains the director who employs a network of ten independent agents. He had in mind the canceled Vivatech show.

Redeployed to new positions

Faced with this, the Lynx company, which currently has 70% of its employees in the field, had to redeploy its agents: We have transferred our agents, normally to the courts or airports, to logistics sites and supermarkets that still need surveillancesays Harold Heredia.

While some staff had to be put on partial unemployment, others had to work overtime to make up for the absence of some, specifies Claude Tarlet.

All claim a bonus of € 1,000 like the employees of the large distribution. But it’s impossible, with the drop in activity, I can’t afford, says Mr. Heredia, CEO of Lynx.

* first names have been changed

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