The security guy with the welcoming smile
Guy Meredith provides a welcoming smile to anyone he greets at The Perth Mint, whether they be employees, VIP visitors or members of the public.
It’s not the approach you might instinctively expect from a security officer, but as Guy points out, the role of the security team is much broader than making sure everyone does the right thing.
He and the rest of the security team at East Perth take a multi-faceted approach to security but at its heart the job requires an understanding of how to relate to people.
“Our work reaches all departments of the Mint and to everyone who visits. From the shop floor to the commercial area, coining division, visitors and contractors - providing protection of assets and people is our primary focus, followed closely by safety,” Guy says.
“I’ve personally made it my mission to get to know everyone, including staff and contractors, and I’m happy to be a go-to person for those who need information or support with anything.”
Guy joined the Mint in April 2014 as a contractor at a time when not all the security team were permanent staff, but he gained employee status after six months.
“Becoming a permanent employee was a real focus of mine early on. In my second year I became second in charge to Barry Hitchens. Eventually I was able to progress to lead the team,” he says.
Guy came to the role with no experience in security.
“I’m originally from New Zealand where I had a landscaping business which I ran for 20 years. Then I was a building supplies rep in NZ and here in Perth.
“I started looking at security after friends who worked in mine site security suggested I would be a good fit. I liked the sound of it and went through the training to get my security licences. However, that door never opened for me in the resources industry.
“To this day I’m glad that door didn’t open, because through word of mouth an opportunity came up at the Mint. It was my first real security job interview, and I was so happy that they took a chance on me.”
Security is a diverse function at the Mint, bringing together all aspects of the security industry including crowd control, security screening, front of house concierge, control room and alarm monitoring and gatehouse control.
Team members are rotated through each of these roles hourly to keep days varied.
“Checkpoint is the most visible part of our role. The list of tasks we are required to perform daily at checkpoint would surprise most people. The two main jobs are to process the arrival of visitors and contractors and searching everyone who leaves the coining division thoroughly for the presence of precious metal. But there is a lot that goes on behind the one-way glass,” Guy says.
Behind the glass is the control room – the hub of our 24-hour operation where security officers keep tabs on everything on site via a bank of screens with visual feeds of everything from entry gates to the shop floor and basement carpark to external perimeter views.
“There are close to 400 cameras with more to be added. This enables the team to keep the site safer by giving us better control over access using technology that is the best available.”
