New guidelines aim to protect cash-in-transit workers from attacks and kidnappings

CASH-IN-TRANSIT workers will be better protected from ‘tiger’ kidnappings and violent attacks due to new safety guidelines, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) claimed yesterday.

The lack of adequate security systems in the industry were highlighted last year when criminal gangs carried out two multi-million euro heists.

The HSA said its new guidelines would make work safer for employees of the cash-in-transit industry.

Chief executive Tom Beegan said: “The industry itself is doing all it can to reduce the opportunity for criminals to be involved. My message today is: criminals, you’re wasting your time going after this cash because the cash will be destroyed if you try and take it.”

Cash-in-transit companies are now widely using dye-based note destruction systems to protect staff who have to deliver cash to ATMs in exposed locations.

The new guidelines require firms to protect their workers against physical violence by providing bullet and stab-proof vests, while syringe attacks should be guarded against by vaccinating workers for Hepatitis B.

They also recommend regular variation of crewing, cash delivery times and routes, as well as using codenames to keep the identities of locations confidential.

There is an emphasis on banks and local authorities providing accessible parking spaces for cash-in-transit vans so the distance workers have to walk with a cash delivery is reduced.

Cash-in-transit companies must ensure that their workers have adequate training.

Group 4 Securicor, one of the largest cash-in-transit companies, said more modern technologies such as note destruction systems could deny criminals access to the cash being delivered.

Human resources manager John Fitzgerald said: “It becomes pointless for the criminal to put staff under pressure to hand out the valuables”

He said the security industry had agreed procedures with the gardaí to protect their workers in the event of a so-called tiger kidnapping, where family members are held hostage to ensure cash-in-transit workers co-operate.

“The primary focus is to protect the staff member,” said Mr Fitzgerald.

Last year, a family was held hostage at their home in Dublin as part of a €2 million cash heist and a cash-in-transit crew was robbed of €2.5m when stopped for coffee in Killester, Dublin. Minister of State for Trade, Michael Ahern, said the new guidelines were a shining example of what could be achieved by co-operating between employers and employees.