Door Supervisor Requirement

Do you work as a Door Supervisor?

Ever had to face violence or aggression during the course of your work?

Changes have taken place and it is now a requirement that anybody wishing to become a door supervisor will have to undertaken and successfully pass the new Physical Intervention Skills for the Private Security Industry exam.

Let's look at this in more detail:

The first thing we need to look at is what is physical intervention and we have already defined that in this article  What is Physical Intervention .  Another definition widely used within the Private Security industry is " the use of direct or indirect force (bodily, physical or mechanical) to limit another person's movement".

One of the things that I constantly hear people say is that physical intervention should always be used as the last resort.

One of the many questions that I do ask my students is can anybody tell me what physical intervention is and when should it be used? 

Over the last 17 years I can honestly say that the vast majority of students I have taught have given me a similar answer: physical intervention is physically holding somebody limiting their movement and only ever done as the last resort.

What I find interesting is the terminology used in particular the last resort. It amazes me how many times staff will use the term the last resort and this is generally down to the fact that over the years that term has been branded around and has become synonymous with physical intervention.

The reality is that the last resort is not a legal reason to physically place your hands on to another human being. For physical intervention to take place whereby a door person places their hands on to another person there has to be legal criteria for that to become lawful. To say it was the last resort is not a legal defence.

In order for physical intervention to be legal it has to comply with a clearly defined set of criteria. These criteria can be found in various pieces of legislation from common law which is law of the land, created in some cases over centuries and forms part of our legal system. 

Example:

“if any person has an honestly held belief that he or another is in imminent danger then he may use such force as is reasonable and necessary to avert the danger"

To put this in practice what this actually means is that while on duty should a door supervisor feel that they or another person is in danger of being hurt through an act of violence, then they are allowed to use such force as is reasonable and necessary to protect themselves or others.

Golden rules that I try to teach all my students 

If you find yourself in a position where force is needed to be used they must ask themselves the following questions:

• Will the physical intervention be reasonable
• Will it be necessary
• Will it be proportionate
• Will it be justifiable
• Have all other options available been exhausted, leaving no other option

If you can answer yes to all those questions then it is safe to say that you will act within the law and would have used physical intervention as it should both used.

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