Tools, studies and positions

If you wish to perform a detailed search for particular information or documentation, please refer to our ‘Documents database’ where you can further specify your search. 

Please also consult the section ‘Working Committee Social Dialogue’ featuring an impressive list of texts and declarations jointly adopted by CoESS and UNI Europa on a series of important issues for the sector.

Tools

Selecting Best Value – A Manual for Organisations Awarding Contracts for Guarding Services 

 

Whether or not we are immediately aware of it, guarding services are becoming more and more a part of everyday life. As more and more security functions, which were previously carried out directly by public authorities are contracted out, private security companies are becoming increasingly involved in ensuring public safety. This often includes the guarding of highly sensitive sites such as airports or nuclear power stations. Public authorities at European, national, regional and local level are therefore increasingly finding themselves in a position of having to select external contractors for the provision of such services. Public procurement officers have in the past often had to make such decisions without adequate guidance on quality criteria, which might be brought to bear on such decisions.

 

The Selecting Best Value Manual (1999) was written for those contracting authorities who are keen to ensure that they are selecting a provider to carry out guarding functions who can combine quality with a favourable price, rather than settling for the lowest price bidder.

• For additional information and to download the Manual and its accompanying assessment tools, please also visit the dedicated CoESS/UNI Europa Best Value website
  • Manual CS  DA  DE  EL  EN  ES  FI  FR  HU  IT  NL  NO  PL  PT  SV
  • Assessment tool EN (.xls file)
  • Assessment tool guidelines EN (.doc file)

Selecting Best Value – A Manual for Organisations Awarding Contracts for Private Aviation Security Services (developed by ASSA-I, corresponding member of CoESS)

 

Private companies, as well as public authorities, are increasingly becoming responsible for finding external contractors to provide aviation security services, involving the delivery of a number of highly sensitive security tasks which entail taking responsibility for citizen’s lives, health, safety, security and property whilst using mass transport hubs and on board airliners. The same applies to the security of hold cargo. 

 

Since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 using commercial airliners, public awareness in relation to aviation security services has increased significantly. The international businesses and vacation travel experience has become more and more shaped by individuals’ positive or negative experiences with airport and airline security controls. As a result, it is not only individuals’ lives, health and property which depend on the performance of such services, but the effective planning and delivery of aviation security services also has an important commercial impact on public perception of the quality of service provided by different airports and airlines. With the advent of greater choice in this area, customers are able to opt for a provider offering a more “pleasant” as well as safe and secure travel environment. 

 

As competition and general pressure on budgets increase and regulations in the field become more complex, there has been a growing tendency to award contracts on lowest price considerations only rather than on a price and quality mix. The risks of such practices are significant and the proliferation of bad practice and security breaches has led some tendering organisations to rethink their tendering strategies. This has made the business case for “best value” tendering more evident and more organisations are keen to select best value when awarding contracts for the “most economically advantageous tender” – an option provided for in EU procurement regulations. 

 

This has led to a call for guidance and easy-to-use tools on how to select best value. The ‘Selecting Best Value – A Manual for Organisations Awarding Contracts for Private Aviation Security Services’ and its accompanying assessment tools answer this call and help organisations tendering for aviation security services to set their priorities and to assess quality. 

• For additional information and to download the Manual and its accompanying assessment tools, please also visit the dedicated Selecting Best Value in Aviation Security Services website 
  • Manual EN
  • FAQs EN
  • Assessment tool EN

Mobility in the Private Security Services Industry

 

The private security services industry is among the growth sectors in the EU economy and is therefore attractive for workers and managers seeking employment and experience in another country. The nature of the many tasks and activities performed by workers in the industry means that entry into employment is governed by sector specific rules relating to training, background checks and so on. In relation to worker mobility, it is therefore critical for employers not only to be fully aware of the rules applying to the recruitment of foreign nationals in general, but also to have access to information regarding the training and checks a worker or manager in the industry would have undergone in their own country (or the country of their most recent employment). Similarly, workers wishing to seek work in another country may wish to know about pay and conditions and employment protection rights in force in the country they are considering to move to. 

  

It is for this reason that the social partners in the private security services industry, CoESS and UNI Europa carried out a project aimed at assembling a mobility toolkit for individuals wishing to work in an(other) EU Member State. Consultancy advice for this project was provided by GHK Consulting Ltd and co-financing was provided by the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. 

 

The mobility toolkit provides details on labour market entry rules, social security and taxation arrangements as well as the rules governing entry into employment in the private security services industry in the EU Member States, candidate countries (Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey), Norway, Switzerland and Serbia. It should enable individuals wishing to work in another country to find the information they need on any relevant visa or work permits and how to obtain them, how to register for taxation purposes and health care and social security benefits. It also provides information on the basic qualifications and other checks they will need to satisfy to work in the sector, the pay and benefits they should be entitled to and the organisations they can contact for further information.

 

Visit the Mobility in the Private Security Services Industry website!

 

Promotion, awareness-raising and dissemination of the multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work

On July 16, 2010 EPSU, UNI Europa, ETUCE, HOSPEEM, CEMR, EFEE, EUROCOMMERCE and CoESS, representing the social partners of the commerce, private security, local governments, education and hospital sectors reached an agreement on multi-sectoral guidelines aimed to tackle third-party violence and harassment at work.

These guidelines were developed following two major conferences organised with the support of the European Commission in March 2008 and October 2009 at which the outcomes of a research on third-party violence were presented along with case studies and joint conclusions. Therefore, these guidelines build on these initiatives and complement the cross-sectoral Framework Agreement on Harassment and Violence at Work of April 26, 2007.

The aim of the guidelines is to ensure that that each workplace has a results-oriented policy which addresses the issue of third-party violence. The guidelines set out the practical steps that can be taken by employers, workers and their representatives/trade unions to reduce, prevent and mitigate problems. The steps reflect the best practices developed in our sectors and they can be complemented by more specific and/or additional measures.

According to EU and national law, both employers and workers have obligations in the field of health and safety. Although the duty to ensure the health and safety of workers in every aspect related to the work lies with the employer, the employee also has a responsibility to take care of, as far as possible, his/her own health and safety and that of other persons affected by his/her actions at work, in accordance with his/her training and the instructions given by the employer.  Employers also have an obligation to consult workers and/or their representatives and allow them to take part on all questions relating to health and safety at work. This reflects awareness that, in practice, a joint approach to health and safety is the most successful.

• Click here to download a description of the joint project
• The guidelines are available in 21 languages BU  CS  DA  DE  EL  EN  ES  ET  FR  HU  IT  LT  LV  NL  PL  PT  RO  RU  SK  SL  SV

• Click here to download the report of the regional workshop held in Rome, Italy, on June 14, 2010

• Click here to download the report of the regional workshop held in London, United Kingdom, on June 8, 2011

• Click here to download the report of the regional workshop held in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 6, 2011

• Click here to download the report of the closing conference held in Warsaw, Poland, on October 27, 2011  

• Why regulate manned private security? (2008) – Report published on February 1, 2008 by Jorma Hakala, former Vice-President of the CoESS Working Committee Guarding, on the reasons and requirements for private security regulation as expressed by representatives of governments, industry associations and academics. The report comprises a structured summary of the ‘reasons and goals’ argumentation used by different interest groups to support statutory regulation of private manned security services. Please click here to download the report in English.

• The regulation of manned private security: a transnational survey of structure and focus (2007) – Jorma Hakala, former Vice-President of the CoESS Working Committee Guarding, published the article ‘The regulation of manned private security: a transnational survey of structure and focus’. The purpose of this article is to present a summary of transnational data on private security regulation and the profile of an average statutory regulation ‘package’. Please click here to download this article in English.

• Comparative overview of legislation governing the private security industry in the European Union (2002)
  • Please click to download the full text, which is available in English and in French
  • Summaries are available in six languages DA  DE  EN  ES  FR  IT 

• CoESS Position Paper on Land Transport Security (August 2012) - Please click here to download the Position Paper in English.

  • Introduction: “Security in a transport context seeks to prevent acts of unlawful interference against passengers, freight or the transport infrastructure. Security should give users confidence that they can use transport. Transport – and thus transport security – has also an important international dimension: in order to ensure security within the EU it may be necessary for transport security to be performed outside the EU before a journey to the EU Commences.

     

    To explore the possibilities regarding Land transport Security,  DG Move has established a “Land Transport Security Expert Group” to gather stakeholders to discuss what can and should be done on the European level. CoESS was invited to participate in the expert group as a stakeholder. The first meeting of the group was on January 30th 2013. It was a short introductory meeting where some ideas were already launched. It is clear that there is a strong willingness amongst the stakeholders to really work towards a useful result.

       CoESS has now elaborated its contribution to the Land Transport Security Expert Group:

  •  CoESS Contribution to the Land Transport Expert Group - June 2013

• CoESS and EU social partners joint position paper on the Modernisation of EU Public Procurment Policy (2012) -  Please click here to download the Position Paper in English.

• CoESS and UNI-Europa joint position paper on the EU Directive on Public Procurement (2012)

       - Please click here to download the Position Paper in English.

       - Please click here to download the Position Paper in French.

- Please click here to download the Position Paper in German.

- Please click here to download the Position Paper in Spanish.

• CoESS White Paper and Guidelines on Critical Infrastructure Security and Protection – The Public-Private Opportunity (2012) - Please click here to download the White Paper in English.

• CoESS Critical Infrastructure Private Guarding Company Requirements Checklist (2012) - Please click here to download the Checklist in English.

• CoESS Position Paper in response to the European Commission's White Paper on Transport (2011) – Please click here to download the Position Paper in English.

• Joint CoESS/UNI Europa statement on Socially Responsible Public Procurement (2011) – Please click here to download the statement in English. 

• CoESS response to the European Commission Consultation on an Industrial Policy for the Security Industry (2011) – Please click here to download the response in English.

• CoESS comments on the European Commission first-phase Consultation on Reviewing the Working Time Directive (2010) – Please click here to download the comments in English.

• CoESS comments on the European Commission Consultation of the European social partners for a Review of the Implementation of the Commission Communication and Decision of 20 May 1998 (2008) – Please click here to download the comments in English. 

• CoESS comments on the European Commission Consultation of European social partners on the Reconciliation of Professional, Private and Family Life (2006) – Please click here to download the comments in English. 

• CoESS position paper on the European Commission’s Proposal for a Directive on Services in the Internal Market – Specific considerations with regard to authorisation schemes and the country of origin principle (2005) – Please click here to download the position paper in English or in French. 

• CoESS position paper on the impact of the draft Directive on Services in the Internal Market on the European private security industry (2005) – Please click here to download the position paper in English. 

• Joint CoESS/ESTA position paper on the draft Directive on Services in the Internal Market (2005) – Please click to download the position paper DE  EN  FR 

• CoESS comments on the European Commission Consultation of the social partners on the European Commission Staff Working Document ‘Towards a European Qualifications Framework (EQF) for Lifelong Learning’ (2005) – Please click here to download the comments in English. 

• CoESS comments on the European Commission second-phase Consultation of the social partners on the Simplification of the Provisions of the ‘Health and Safety at Work’ Directives concerning the Reports on their Practical Implementation (2005) – Please click here to download the comments in English. 

• CoESS position paper on DIN Proposal 77200 for European Standardisation of Security Services and CEN Resolution BT C012/2004 on the creation of a new Task Force BT/TF/167 ‘Security Services’ (2004) – Please click here to download the position paper in English. 

• CoESS position paper on the European Commission’s Proposal for a Directive on Services in the Internal Market (2004) – Please click here to download the position paper in English.