What Is Public Safety?
There are many different public safety definitions, but the main idea that runs through each one of them is that citizens are protected from harm. At a high level, this could be protecting the public from a number of different scenarios such as becoming a victim of crime, natural disasters, or terror threats such as terrorism. For example, a high-level threat like terrorism can threaten public safety as it can impact and decrease how safe we are from a terrorist attack.
The government of each country is responsible for the public safety of its citizens and has a number of departments, emergency services, and security agencies that help with this. Public safety is also the responsibility of event organisers, venues, and businesses that deal with members of the public and employees. It is important that they keep the public safe on their premises, and many rely on the help of private security companies for this.
What Does Public Safety Mean?
Within the UK, when we think about the history of public safety, we think about traditional law enforcement such as the police force. Police officers are duty-bound to protect public order and safety, to reduce the chances of members of the public being hurt, and to protect law and order.
What Is The Difference Between Public Order And Public Safety?
As mentioned above, public safety is all about ensuring that members of the public are kept safe from harm. Public order, on the other hand, is defined by the International Centre of Crime, Policing and Justice as the absence of disorder, where people behave sensibly in a public space, respecting the rights of others.
Some may be arrested for public order offences for things like being drunk and disorderly, making too much noise or obstructing the road. While these offences do not cause any direct harm to members of the public, they can cause significant inconvenience to others. These offences take up a large amount of police time, particularly in busy urban areas.
What Are The 5 Categories Of Public Safety?
There are five main categories of public safety that are there to protect the public from a number of dangers. Below we have listed what these categories are.
Emergency Medical Services
The medical emergency services could include paramedics from the ambulance service, accident, and emergency departments, and doctors on call. Their role is to treat any member of the public that is injured or requires medical attention.
Fire Service
The fire services protect the public in a number of ways, including putting out dangerous fires, helping with road traffic collisions, and helping with other natural disasters such as flooding. They can attend public buildings to conduct a public safety risk assessment to ensure that the building is properly protected with fire alarms and emergency exits.
Police
The police are there to enforce the law, protect the public and respond to emergency situations. They are usually the first service that people think of when it comes to public protection, but they work with other services on our list in coordination to ensure public safety. They are training in a number of ways, including fully understanding what is public order and safety so that they can ensure that they work to protect it.
Search And Rescue
Within the UK, search and rescue services are there to respond to those who are missing or find themselves in trouble on land or in water. Search and rescue services include the coastguard and helicopter support to help locate people who are in need of help.
Public Safety Security Officers
Private security officers can also help protect public safety, as they are specially trained to deter hazards and keep people and businesses safe. They often complete public safety risk assessments and can provide public safety tips to help keep people safe. If an emergency does happen, they respond quickly and try to control the situation until the emergency services are on the scene.
Why Is Public Safety Important?
Public safety is extremely important as every citizen has the right to feel safe and protected as they go about their daily business. Furthermore, we can use public safety measures to help evaluate how safe we are from potential threats such as crime or terrorism. For example, when facing an incident like terrorism can use public safety measures like terror threat levels to evaluate how dangerous the threat is.
Another way we can display public safety is by having a security presence, such as security officers or police. As they can make the public feel safer and more comfortable when at a large event or in their workplace.
Is Security Considered Public Safety?
Security services such as door supervisors and security officers are provided by private security companies, but that does not mean that they are not considered public safety. Often private security firms are hired as additional security in locations or at events where there is a greater threat to public safety. Private security usually acts as a preventative measure, as their presence in an area may act is a deterrent to those who may be looking to commit a crime or cause public disorder.
Additionally, security officers help with keeping the public safe as they patrol the area, looking for signs of danger or hazards such as fires that may cause harm. If hazards are identified, security officers are trained to help in emergency situations, administering first aid, controlling crowds, and responding to issues before the emergency services arrive on the scene. They can then liaise with the emergency services to ensure that they have all the information they require to do their jobs.
How Important Are Security Guards For Public Safety?
Private security helps public safety and is an added advantage for personal and public safety. But as security officers aren’t considered law enforcers, they don’t replace traditional law enforcement. This is because the duties of a security guard are different to that of law enforcement.
When it comes to areas where security guards are located, the guards are far more likely to respond to an emergency first, as they are the ones that are on scene. Once the emergency services arrive, they can relay important information and be extremely useful to them. As security officers will know the layout and procedures of the building or area they are working in, they will be able to aid emergency services to help public safety.
There are many public safety UK-based private companies that work with events and businesses for added levels of security in order to keep their employees and the public safe.
Check our other articles to keep up to date with the latest industry news.
Related Articles
Terrorism In The UK – Are We Safe From A Terrorist Attack?
We can see there has been an overall decrease of incidents of terrorism over time, with some spikes occurring in the data. This is due to an increased awareness of the threat as well as governments across the world investing more resources into counter terrorism measures and security.
It is still something that effects our day to day lives and is always a risk. So, what are we doing to stay as safe as possible?
Do People Feel Safe In The Presence Of Uniformed Officers?
Recently we ran a survey asking around 500 participants if they felt safe in the presence of uniformed officers (police officers, security guards etc.) and the results we got back were quite surprising.
Why Should You Change Security Companies?
Having security in place is necessary for any business or organisation that has property they want to protect. For some business’s however, knowing whether or not you are getting the right deal can be more complex due to the fact that…
Security Accreditations Explained
When dealing with security companies, many tend to advertise their range of security accreditations. But what do they mean? In this article we’ll go over some of the most common security accreditations and what they mean for your business.
UK Terror Threat Level Explained
Few countries in the world can say that they have never been the victim of a terror attack – the UK is not one of them. In fact, ever since 2006, the terror threat level has never been below substantial. In this article, we will be talking all about the different terrorist threat levels in the UK.