We are from Security

Nearly twenty watchmen have died as a result of COVID-19 since it has been among us, and the shortage of resources during the state of alarm has played an important role in this.

In the midst of the turmoil and when the situation was critical, it was impossible for any company to find adequate means of protection for its workers, and security companies were not oblivious to this fact. On February 25, when in Spain we could not even imagine the fatal consequences of this virus, at the SICUR fair in Madrid, the main European suppliers of EPIS (Italy) did not have masks to supply their customers and the little production they had in their warehouses was by government order for the country's consumption, The same happened with the rest of the suppliers that were there, 95% received the masks from China, in this case the Chinese government had prohibited to take the masks out of the country, to such an extent that they requisitioned the containers that were going to leave their ports and were already paid, giving priority to national self-consumption. Here in our country, the completely insufficient stock to cover the needs that would come later came from the public health, and also from the private health and companies, which according to several testimonies, were confiscated of their masks to be able to supply the public health.

In spite of all this, security personnel have been and continue to be on the front line; when in factories, various companies and official bodies the vast majority of workers were confined, private security continued to carry out their function, a function that, in some of these services and others, was not considered a priority by the clients of the security companies, who in many cases reduced or ceased their activity due to the unsustainability of their situation. As a result, many security businessmen had to take the only way out, proposed by the Government, to save their business, the ERTE. It should also be noted that security personnel are classified by the Ministry of Health as low risk and essential, although it may seem incongruous, since an essential worker can be low risk.

At this moment, the situation that seemed to be reversing, after the end of the state of alarm and the beginning of the new normality, in which an average percentage of services had been recovered, as well as the reincorporation of the ERTES of also an average percentage of security personnel, in which the production of the factories and businesses was again gaining momentum, we are immersed in a new scenario in which the daily outbreaks open the front pages of the media, with thousands of infected people again and fortunately fewer deaths, but with the uncertainty of the lived experience; there is no doubt that if this situation continues, it will take its toll on the markets in the short term. 

With this scenario in the private security companies and their personnel, although the Ministry of the Interior has informally increased some of the functions of security personnel, such as measuring temperatures, to date, these measures do not manage to alleviate the damage caused by this pandemic and if the situation becomes more complicated, if we take a step backwards, some companies and personnel will be left by the wayside.

The other side of the coin is that fortunately there are now more than 25 vaccine projects for COVID-19 and there is little left for many of them to see the light; and, although life as it was before may be long in coming, vaccines will give us a break and enough confidence to continue to undertake and work, growing our economy, and, as we have done historically on other occasions, defeating the enemy and restoring the situation.  We are on the front line and we can handle it.  We are of Security.