Our SIA-approved Model for Physical Intervention gives teams a clear, lawful, and proportionate framework for preventing and managing violence. It starts with communication, building dynamic risk assessments into every decision, and—only as a last resort—sets out safer disengagement and holding skills that prioritise staff and public safety. The model aligns with licence-linked training and emphasises:

• Planning over improvisation: structured role assignment, communication protocols, and exit routes.
• Proportionality and necessity: intervene only when justified; disengage early where risk escalates.
• Post-incident learning: reporting, welfare checks, and continuous improvement.

PI is vital—but it cannot neutralise a surprise blade attack. That is why our approach integrates PI with risk-led controls and appropriate PPE where knife threats are foreseeable.

Please note: as this is a refresher qualification, the focus is on practical skills. Before any assessments, you must complete at least 2 hours of practice to develop search skills and a further 16 hours to practice and refine physical intervention skills tailored to close protection operatives.

Provided learners complete the ACT Awareness & Security eLearning and the QNUK workbook in advance, the total assessment period takes 19 hours 15 minutes over 2.5 days.

• ACT eLearning: copy and share this link with learners well before the start date so they have time to complete it: https://www.protectuk.police.uk/catalogue
• QNUK learner workbook: free to download from the Qualifications Network online shop. Learners must download it themselves (not the centre) due to security controls and IP protection. This also lets QN verify who has downloaded/completed it. https://qualifications-network.co.uk/shop/

First Aid requirement (SIA)

Training centres must confirm each learner holds a L3 First Aid at Work (full 3-day) or higher (e.g., L3 FREC or L3 FPOS (International)).

• If a learner already has First Aid, the certificate must be valid for at least 12 months from the course start date. Centres must submit a copy as evidence.
• Centres may deliver suitable First Aid qualifications alongside security training as part of a package, but all First Aid must be completed and passed before paperwork for this qualification is submitted to QN.

Practical assessments (minimum practical time)

This 3-unit refresher qualification develops practical skills beyond initial training. The SIA has set minimum practical timings:

• Principles of Working as a Door Supervisor in the Private Security Industry (Refresher)
• Application of Physical Intervention Skills in the Private Security Industry (Refresher) (Door Supervisor PI)
• Application of Physical Intervention Skills for Close Protection Operatives in the Private Security Industry (Refresher) (CP PI)

Our motto is to “Leave Nothing to Chance!”

What you’ll walk away with

• Refreshed, validated search and safety procedures
• Updated physical intervention skills (DS & CP pathways)
• Confidence to perform safely and professionally under pressure

Location: 166b Townsend Lane, Clubmoor, Liverpool L13 9DN, United Kingdom

An employer’s duty of care protecting their security staff from knife threats.

Recent serious assaults on security personnel highlight a basic truth: employers have a legal and moral duty to anticipate credible knife risks and equip their staff accordingly. In the UK, that duty rests on solid statutory and common-law foundations and translates into clear, practical requirements for any organisation deploying security personnel.

The legal baseline

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (s.2): Employers must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, employees’ health, safety, and welfare. This is an active, ongoing obligation—not a tick-box exercise.
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999: Require “suitable and sufficient” risk assessments and proportionate preventive and protective measures. Where knife or edged-weapon risks are reasonably foreseeable (e.g., late-night venues, retail centres, transport hubs), those risks must be explicitly assessed, controlled, monitored, and reviewed.
• Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations (amended 2022): If your controls indicate PPE is needed, you must provide suitable PPE at no cost—including for limb-(b) workers—ensure proper fit and maintenance, and train staff in its use. For edged-weapon risks, this may include certified stab- and spike-resistant body armour.
• Common law duty (Wilsons & Clyde Coal v English): Employers have a non-delegable duty to provide competent staff, adequate equipment, and a safe system of work—responsibilities that cannot be offloaded onto managers or contractors.

What “good” looks like

1. Risk-led controls, not “PPE first.” Start with a live risk assessment covering local crime patterns, incident history, roles (front-of-house vs patrols), locations (toilets, car parks, service yards), and operating hours. Use this to build layered controls—staffing, positioning, barriers/escape routes, radio coverage, police liaison—and add PPE where justified.
2. Fit-for-purpose equipment. Where warranted, issue body armour tested for both stab and spike threats, matched to the threat profile and role (covert vs overt), with clear inspection and replacement regimes. Selection should be evidence-based; standards differ for stab, spike, and slash threats.
3. Training matched to risk. Beyond first aid, SIA-linked training includes conflict management for guards and physical intervention for door supervisors; refresher training is required for renewals from 2025. Top up with site-specific inputs: dynamic risk assessment, edged-weapon awareness, disengagement/escape, and post-incident reporting.
4. Violence policy and reporting. Implement and publicise a violence and aggression policy, encourage reporting (including to police), and review incidents to drive improvements.
5. Operational safeguards. Use safe systems like buddying at pinch points, robust comms (radios/body-worn video), clear rules for engagement/withdrawal, rapid access to safe rooms. Where non-security public-facing staff face rising aggression, consider extending protections (including PPE) to them—already happening in parts of retail.

Why it matters

Preventing life-changing injuries is paramount. But the stakes are also legal and financial: serious failings can lead to Corporate Manslaughter prosecutions and substantial fines under health and safety sentencing guidelines—even without a fatality.

Bottom line

If knife threats are reasonably foreseeable in your operation, duty of care demands more than high-vis and hope. Document the risk, implement layered controls, issue appropriate certified PPE, and ensure staff are trained and supervised within a safe system of work. This is not just best practice—it’s a legal requirement.

Yet, in spite of this I often hear “lessons have been learned,” yet people are still put on doors without the basics to keep them safe. No amount of physical-intervention training cancels out a surprise blade attack. If you are going to ask your security personnel to stand between danger and the people inside, you must equip them to do it.

What I mean: covert anti-stab vests for door teams—discreet KR1/SP1 protection. Spread over years, a vest costs pennies per person compared with a single life-changing injury. No saving is worth a life.

Why vests?

• We’re not wearing kit for show—we’re buying time: time to move, intervene, and get people home.
• Low probability, high consequence: the quiet days don’t matter; the one loud day does.
• Covert models vanish under a blazer: no drama, no “riot gear” optics.

The “good enough” spec

• KR1 + SP1 (knife + spike)
• Proper fit, clear certification, plus one spare washable carrier
• Pair with radios and a compact bleed-control pouch

Common worries—answered

• “Will it be obvious?” Not if it’s covert.
• “Too hot?” Modern carriers breathe—rotate shifts.
• “Overkill?” Fire extinguishers feel like overkill—until they don’t.

Starter bundle (4-man team)

• 4× covert KR1/SP1 vests (S/M/L mix)
• 2× bleed-control pouches (tourniquet, haemostatic gauze, pressure bandage, gloves)
• 4× basic radios with earpieces

Typical outlay: ~£1.2k–£2.0k. Over five years: £240–£400/year—around £2 per person per year in a 150-strong community.

If budgets are tight—phase it:

1. Now: 3 vests + 1 bleed kit + 3 radios (≈ £800–£1.2k)
2. Next budget: add 2–4 vests + a second bleed kit
3. Deployment rhythm: two at the door, one roving; vests on from arrival to dispersal.

We prepare on our calmest day for our hardest day. This isn’t a luxury; it’s the baseline for duty of care. No loss of life is acceptable.