Modern day security officers require more than the standard training and discipline, according to Chairman of MSS Security, George Chin, a “thinking” security officer with initiative and ability to make decisions is what makes world class security staff.
George Chin joined the industry 32 years ago, a time where there was no formal training and the use of pagers to communicate was a privilege, he has since had a strong role in leading and developing Training and National Standards to a world class level.
Chin was awarded the Australian Order of Medal (OAM) in 2001 for service to the community through the development of national standards and training programmes for the security industry.
“When I was Chairman of the Industry Training Advisory Board, we went to bench mark our standards with the Canadian and UK standards and found we were up there with the world’s best.”
It took the board eight years to develop the Training Standards and National Standards and the journey included having the standards accepted by all employers including security companies, employees, unions and customers represented by major user groups such as the Bankers Association, Retail Traders Association.
“We worked together with the Australian National Training Authority, which is now superseded, and most importantly and difficult of all was to get all the state Police and in some states, Fair Trading who were responsible for issuing of licenses to all accept the standards and have security business as well as individual businesses bases on these approved National Standards.”
Chin, a former Army officer with senior management experience in the Asia pacific property and people protection industry says in some respects military training is an advantage in this industry however the rest is in “management, training, monitoring, dedication and above all a thinking approach.”
MSS Security provide a full range of security services across all market segments demonstrating a broad range of skills from general guarding to highly specialised security roles.
With over 5500 staff, its Australia’s largest security company with years of experience in protecting some of the nation’s most high profile sites.
“We are very grateful that we have among our clients some of the Australia’s most important and recognisable names and iconic names.”
“These days, there is much competition in the market, we never take our customers for granted, nor do we take our staff for granted either.”
“Our owner’s values, aspirations and culture are the key enabler.”
With clients such as the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Chin says maintain them is partly from a simple philosophy that MSS Security looks after the staff so they look after the customers and always aim to exceed the customer’s expectations.
“It starts from the top, from the owners/share holder, managers, staff; the culture of being committed to deliver an outcome that customers want is key to everything.”
According to Chin, when the company was acquired from Chubb Security Personnel; it was in a downward trend and losing customers at a steady rate.
MSS Security is now owned by Security and Intelligence Services (SIS) India, Asia Pacific’s largest security personnel company employing over 50,000 people.
“It was only after the transformation phase that we embarked upon growth and increased line of services being offered,” Chin said.”
“The most important factor of course, is that we have our owners, SIS India, a company whose core business is security services; hence our values, aspirations and culture are absolutely aligned.”
With new owners, a new name and Managing Director, Mike McKinnon, the company went through a dramatic transformation with McKinnon building a new management team to rebrand the company as MSS.
McKinnon brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the company, appointed to the Board of ASIAL (Australian Security Industry Association Ltd) in 2010 and prior to joining MSS Security; he was the General Manager, Contracted Security Services Unit at Qantas.
“We have an excellent team led by Mike McKinnon who has the unique advantage of being a very experienced supplier as well as a user; his last job was in Qantas ‘buying security services’ how good is that?”
“In recent times, we have bench marked with the UK, China, Hong Kong, EU and India, we are still up there and I must say that I am very proud of our industry.”
Despite no longer being in an operational role, Chin recommends security as a rewarding career however also warning that not everyone is suitable.
“Our security officers take on a serious responsibilities everyday and it can be a very rewarding career for the right person.”
There are many factors involved in evaluating suitable potential candidates at MSS Security; Chin lists a comprehensive list including an extensive medical test and criminal record screening.
“You may be surprised just how many people may think they can do shift work but sometimes they struggle physically or psychologically, often they are not even aware they do not function the best on shift work.”
To Chin, building his profile in the industry was centred on his interests within the security industry as well as his relationships with his colleagues and customers.”
“I have been in the industry for so long and had so many great people whom I have had the pleasure of working with as well as great customers whose needs we were able to satisfy.”
“It has been an interesting and challenging time for me and I look forward to an even faster and better development of our industry and even spreading our skills and experiences outside of Australia.”
