Why SAIDSA Approval Matters for South African Armed Response Firms

Alarm installation and armed response firms who resist SAIDSA membership must have something to hide, Craig Van Rensburg of Star Alarms, told IFSEC Global.com.

In this Q&A interview, the general manager one of Western Cape’s most successful alarm and armed-response companies gave us a flavour of his forthcoming appearance at IFSEC South Africa, which takes place at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, Gauteng between 13-15 May.

IFSEC Global: So, Craig, tell us a little about your upcoming talk at IFSEC South Africa…

Craig Van Rensburg: I volunteer on a body called SAIDSA and we represent the private security industry in the installation of alarm systems, the call centres, the control rooms and the response vehicles that respond to clients’ homes.

We have three bye laws about installation standards in these areas.

Unfortunately our industry is riddled with fly-by-night guys who don’t adhere to any standards. They install alarms half-heartedly and respond inefficiently. Their call centres don’t have the right back-up and the customer ends up with a lack of response or no response at all.

So we’re there to raise standards. How many vehicles does a company need on the road? What kind of back up does it need in place?

IG: Will your talk be aimed more at installers or end users?

CVR: Both. Our talk is aimed towards the installer or guy who owns the installer company to make sure he gets approved by our body, so he can always give the best possible service to his customers. But our talks is also aimed at the end user to say “hey, make sure you’re using a SAIDSA-approved member.”

IG: Do you feel then that end users don’t properly recognise the importance of proper accreditation?

CVR: The end user often just wants the cheapest price and the quickest installation. You can install something for R50 and you can put something in for R5000 and you’re getting two different things.

The end user often doesn’t understand that by having the industry regulated you are governing the type of product being installed, the quality of installation and the amount of vehicles responding

To give an example: we regulate a maximum response time and if you exceed that time you need to put extra vehicles in the area.

But there are guys out there servicing 1,000 to 2,000 customers with one vehicle and an average response time of 40-50 minutes. No one is governing that guy, there’s no complaints body to take him to task.

Use a SAIDSA member and you can complain to the board and we can take that member to task.

Our bye law that your response time must be below 15 minutes – anything over that you then need more vehicles in the area. If we receive a complaint about your company and you took longer than 15 minutes then you have to put another vehicle in the area.

IG: And what would be your message to installers about the merits of SAIDSA membership?

CVR: Why wouldn’t they become a member? It’s very easy.

The standards to enter are very simple and should be adhered to in normal practice, whether you’re a member or not. The only reason you wouldn’t want to be a member is that you’re not even installing to a minimum standard, which is ridiculously low.

At the moment every tender you apply for requests SAIDSA approval, every insurance company requests approval. The only reason you wouldn’t want to be a member is if you are hiding something.

There’s a governing body called SIRA, which are delayed in trying to get people registered to work in our industry. There’s a lack of good people working in our industry and it would be really nice to see our industry churning more people through that we could utilise in an armed response, from a technical point of view and a call centre point of view.

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