Control Room Operator - Tony's Story
Tony Kilmister
Tony is a trainer in the security industry at ISTA (International Security Trainers Academy). To qualify for this role he completed the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. Before becoming a trainer, he worked in the security industry for 21 years. Prior to that he was driving tanks in the army for six years.
All his own security training was gained on the job - from employers and clients. He first worked at Wormald Security and later at Crown Melbourne. A large part of his working career has been in control rooms.
Control room work varies depending on the organisation you work for. At Wormald Security, the control room was not a busy site - his work involved monitoring a large tower in the city, so there was a lot of internal monitoring, with cameras and alarm points and front desk security.
At Crown, it was very different - phenomenally busy, very hectic, a lot going on, never a boring moment, barely time to sneeze! This was due to the nature of the complex, its sheer size and the volume of people going through the site.
He continues to work part time in the security industry to keep his skills and knowledge current.
Tony has always enjoyed working in the industry and has had a great career path through it. He's impressed by the wide range of people who work in the industry - airline pilots, a forensic pathologist, people with university degrees who are professionals during the week and do security work on weekends. They do it because they enjoy the work.
Depending on where you are working and the complexity of a site, the role of a control room operator involves camera monitoring, alarm monitoring, screen monitoring, dealing with customers (both internal and external), dispatch of foot patrols and security guards. There's something different every day. Attention to detail is an important attribute for a control room operator you have to be on the ball all the time, you have screens in front of you and you have to be disciplined enough to sit there and monitor. When something goes wrong, you have to be able to carry out the set procedures. You need to know them backwards and carry them out quickly.
On-the-job training for control room operations can last up to four months to ensure that people are trained in every facet of operations particularly in the area of emergency response. Training includes examples of major incidents and multiple emergency call-outs involving casualties. The control room is responsible for directing the whole emergency response from what is captured by CCTV cameras. The group of people he worked with during his own training were exceptionally well trained people.
People working in electronic security are well rewarded with mid to high level salaries. The starting wage for someone in a complex control room can range from $56,000 to $80,000 per year. A shift component is built into the hourly rate.
Job security is a big plus in the industry - Tony has never been out of work.
Related Links
Tony Kilmister
(2:00 mins - 23.3MB)