CA🍁SP analyzed WCB data from across Canada to understand the injuries and violence faced by security guards. We found that security guards experienced a 41 % higher rate of physical trauma than police officers, a 19 % higher rate of musculoskeletal injuries than police officers, and a 20 % higher rate of assault-related injuries than police officers. Police still reported five times more psychological trauma than the general workforce.
When adjusted for workforce size, the results are profound:
For every worker assaulted,
five security guards are assaulted,
and ten police officers are assaulted.
These findings show that security guards face a substantially elevated risk of occupational injury and violence compared with police officers and the general workforce. A plausible explanation is that security guards are increasingly being assigned roles that were formerly the purview of police, but are being hindered by issues of role suitability and training deficiencies.
