10.3 Hospital and Healthcare Facility Security

Quick Answer: A hospital is open around the clock to people under stress, and many of the people inside cannot protect themselves. A hospital guard controls access to sensitive areas, prevents and calms conflict with an empathic approach, protects babies and vulnerable patients, keeps ambulance routes clear, guards patient confidentiality and supports the hospital's fire and emergency plans. Hospital security is a separate licence category, and NSI runs a dedicated Hospital Security Course after the BSG or SOL3.

Hospital security in the regulations and NSI training

• Hospitals security requires its own company licence (Article 17). The published fee schedule lists AED 10,000 for issuing or renewing it.
• Private hospitals security guard is a separate individual licence (Article 90). As with other categories, a guard first needs a year as a general guard (Article 98).
• NSI's Hospital Security Course prepares guards "to cope with and work efficiently in the stressful & complex environment of the hospital with an empathic approach". Its topics include security risks and threats in a hospital, safety risks and hazards, the special needs of clients and customers, hospital security technology, patrols, access control and traffic management, crowd control and special events in hospitals, key control and lost and found, fire prevention and safe evacuation, emergency response and security reports.

Why hospitals are different

Key risk areas

• Emergency department. Long waits and serious news cause conflict. Guards stay visible, keep the treatment area for staff and patients, and use the de-escalation skills in Section 2.4. Use force only within the legitimate defence rules in Section 2.3.
• Maternity and paediatric wards. The risk is infant or child abduction. Typical controls are locked or monitored doors, staff and visitor ID, and baby-tagging systems. If a baby or child is reported missing, guards follow the hospital's abduction code: they secure exits immediately, watch for anyone carrying a baby, a large bag or a box, and report descriptions at once.
• Pharmacy and drug stores. Access is restricted, keys are controlled and deliveries are watched.
• Psychiatric units. Patients may try to leave or may harm themselves. Guards support clinical staff and do not act alone.
• Mortuary and records areas. Restricted access, dignity, and confidentiality.

Access control and traffic

• Know the visiting hours, the number of visitors allowed per patient and the visitor-pass system. Enforce them politely and flexibly where the clinical staff allow it, for example for a dying patient's family.
• Keep ambulance bays and emergency routes clear at all times, and guide arriving ambulances.
• Control parking so that emergency patients can always be dropped off at the entrance.
• Check contractor and delivery access to restricted service areas.

Patients' dignity, special needs and confidentiality

• Many patients and visitors are People of Determination, elderly or unwell. Offer help, wheelchairs and directions, and be patient with confusion or language difficulties.
• Respect privacy and gender norms when helping patients, and call clinical staff for anything involving care.
• Confidentiality: a guard sees and hears personal information every shift, such as who is admitted, injuries and family disputes. Article 432 of the Crimes and Penalties Law punishes anyone who discloses a secret entrusted to them because of their profession or work, with imprisonment of at least one year and/or a fine of at least AED 20,000. Never photograph patients. The Cybercrime Law separately bans publishing pictures of the injured or dead without permission (Article 44).

Lost property, keys and patients' valuables

Patients arrive with phones, wallets, jewellery and cash. Follow the hospital's procedure for recording, sealing and storing valuables, with two signatures where required, and keep strict key control for drug stores and restricted areas (Section 6.4).

Emergencies, codes and evacuation

Hospitals use emergency codes, announced over the public address system or pagers, to call teams without alarming the public. Many hospitals use Code Red for fire and Code Blue for cardiac arrest, but code lists differ, so learn your own hospital's emergency plan and the guard's role in each code.

Fire. Hospitals are built in fire compartments. Patients who cannot walk are usually moved horizontally, through fire doors to the next safe compartment on the same floor, before any vertical evacuation by stairs. Guards:

1. raise the alarm and report the exact location;
2. keep corridors and fire doors clear and closed;
3. control lifts and stairs as the plan directs;
4. meet Civil Defence at the agreed entrance;
5. stop the public from re-entering.

Violence. Call for back-up early, protect staff, call 999 for weapons or serious assault, and preserve CCTV.

Section summary checklist

• Separate licences: hospitals security (Article 17) and hospital security guard (Article 90).
• NSI hospital course: an empathic approach; risks and hazards; access and traffic; crowd control; keys and lost property; fire and evacuation; reports.
• High-risk areas: emergency department, maternity and paediatrics (abduction), pharmacy, psychiatric units.
• Confidentiality: Article 432 makes it a crime to disclose secrets learned through work.
• Fire: horizontal evacuation first. Know the hospital's own codes.