Page 48 - SyI Quarterly 7

Security Community
Institute Community

Upskilling with ‘Skills for Security’

Skills for Security is the largest fire and security
apprenticeship provider in the UK, with over 260
apprentices enrolled on its programmes. It is a wholly-
owned subsidiary of the British Security Industry
Association (BSIA) and has bases delivering training in
Warrington, Oxford, Birmingham and Southport. Skills
for Security has aspirations of raising the standard of
the sector by providing a high quality of education,
making training more accessible and raising awareness.

Skills for Security offers apprenticeships in Fire
Emergency & Security Systems, Team Leader &
Supervisor, Security First Line Manager and Security
Officer Services Scotland.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we delivered free
technical training webinars to the sector and were
giving those on furlough or out of work the opportunity
to upskill themselves. The courses were a huge success,
and over the eight separate training days, we had 7000
attendees.

With lockdown easing and with a close connection
to the sector, we learnt that those working in the
sector wanted to continue learning, but flexibility and
accessibility were vital to its success. Therefore, the
development and design of short, high-quality online
training courses began.

In partnership with IFSEC & FIREX, we have developed
two trial courses; one on intruder alarms and the
other around cybersecurity. The Intruder Alarm
course focuses on the importance of surveying sites
and designing compliant intruder alarm systems,
ensuring customer and site requirements are properly
documented, and identifying the correct equipment
to comply with system grading for both intruder alarm
installations and signalling systems. The course offers
the opportunity to learn about how to develop a
step-by-step process for carrying out a survey; learn
how to carry out a Security Risk Assessment; identify
the right equipment to meet customer and grading
requirements; learn about the required documentation
for a survey and finally offers an introduction to
signaling surveying and grading

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