In the first hospital in the Swedish town of Borås, which was built in 1782, there were six patient beds. According to the 1784 provincial doctor’s report, 25 patients had been treated at the hospital and one had died since “already upon arrival the patient had been weak from venereal disease”. 226 years later there are 600 beds and the annual number of hospital patients exceeds 300,000. And at the same time that no one shall be obstructed from seeking care, security has to be provided for patients and personnel. That is where Securitas comes in.
No one can say with any certainty when Securitas guards began moving through the building’s corridors, which currently goes by the name Södra Älvsborgs Sjukhus, but rounds probably started in the 1970s as part of a rounds district. Today, when the size of the hospital has grown and the institution looks more like a city within a city, it is its own rounds district. 24 hours a day, year-round. No matter how things are, “Authorized personnel only” shall be combined with the open hospital, and at the meeting point between openness and reserve, security shall be maintained.
”In general, a hospital is somewhat of a magnet. It is open 24 hours a day and it is always possible to reach someone there,” says security coordinator, Johan Aneljung. Many people come just to talk.
In addition, the hospital is not an isolated phenomenon somewhere on the peripheral edge of society. Johan says that quite the reverse is true and that violence in society is reflected in the hospital – it is there that the victims of society are taken care of and it is not unusual that dissatisfied, mentally disturbed patients resort to using fists. Or when the home soccer team, Elfsborg, plays a match and the guards at the hospital work in accordance with special instructions; like when the outdoor rounds are increased when the hospital literally wants to display its security.
Jan-Ola Höglund is the security manager and wants to state that, from a technical perspective, the security concept is the same at a hospital as at an industrial area or a shopping center. It is when it comes to the human efforts that security takes on a new meaning:
”Every year we have around 400 assault or disturbance alarms from the emergency room and psychiatric ward and guards need to be deployed quickly. These assignments last from a couple of minutes to several hours and they are the primary reason why we have 24-hour guards.
And there are two separate worlds that meet: That of the care personnel and that of the guards. If it is an emergency situation, questions and uncertainties may arise.
”Incidents often occur ‘immediately’ and things can be confusing.” In that case, an instruction book is never enough, no matter how thick it is. That is why we work with understanding. The guards receive education in different diagnoses in the psychiatric ward and in why patients feel bad and react with violence. It is just as important that the personnel and guards are trained to understand each other, such as exactly what the guards can assist with.
Few TV series succeed in capturing a large audience like those about life in the sterile operating rooms. Blood and death fill the TV screen and get viewers to tune out the rest of the world. In real hospitals, where death is a reality, the attraction is not so great. ”And the hospital environment is tough,” says Jan-Ola.
”Not everyone fits in because here you meet the sick, you see the seriously injured and death. In addition, it is not at all unusual that the guards have to take care of sick or injured people who are on their way to the emergency room but end up in this entrance. And of course people become sick while at the hospital: People have heart failure, may break a leg, feel ill and vomit... And even though it is a hospital, the guards are often the first to respond.”
In 19th century Sweden when wooden buildings still dominated the Swedish cities, security was not at the top of the list for those in power and flames feverishly moved from town to town. In 1822 the flames came to Borås and consumed the city’s only hospital.
”Fire is probably our greatest fear and just a few weeks ago we had a dry boil,” says Johan Aneljung. This type of thing is hard to prevent one hundred percent but the departments are educated in systematic fire protection work so at least they know what they have to do.
And the guards know what they have to do.
“They are the ones who check the fire prevention equipment,” continues Johan, “and when the fire alarm sounds, which it does maybe 40 times every year, the guards are the ones who are on-site first − if it occurs at night.” If the alarm is during the day, the guards lead the rescue service personnel to the center of the fire.
In those situations it is good to know what is what among the 200,000 square meters. In general, the guards are expected to have a good overview of everything.
“Basically, they are supposed to see everything, hear everything and know everything,” says Jan-Ola Höglund, “and those are quite demanding requirements. That is why the agreement states that we are the ones who decide what guards we want to have here. But they are also incredibly well-liked – the personnel feel safe with them. It is the guards who take the first hit and the guards who accompany them to the parking lot in the middle of the night when it is a little too dark.”