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SAFETY Act hits guard market

SAFETY Act hits guard market Designation offers protection to subcontracted integrators, too

PHILADELPHIA--Day & Zimmerman, a $1.9 billion worldwide company with extensive business in security guarding, has become one of the first guard services organizations to receive SAFETY Act designation from the federal government. Not only does this protect Day & Zimmerman from liability in the case of terrorist attack, but it also protects customers and subcontractors, including security integrators. Marc Bognar, vice president of the North Region for D&Z Security Services, said the protection from liability is certainly a value of the designation, but it's a good marketing tool as well, both making customers feel more at ease from an insurance standpoint and validating the company's operational competence. "The process is of equal value to the designation," he said, as a company has to make sure it is competent in every area before earning the federal government's stamp of approval. Further, "we may have a customer that wants to upgrade its security system. We obviously don't do the integration ourselves, so we may look for a good partner to fill that customer's need. If we recommend somebody, the customer looks to us to make sure it works out." One way Day & Zimmerman will evaluate potential partners is with the SAFETY Act designation: "If they have the SAFETY Act, they've gone through the exercise," Bognar said. "It illustrates that they're keeping up with the speed of technology and innovation." He would encourage even smaller operations to seek the designation. "For a company that does five or 10 million that wants to be able to compete," he said, "it would be a good way to validate that they're operationally sound despite their size ... [The SAFETY Act designation is] not saying that your business plan is going to work, but they're saying that your operations are sufficiently competent."

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