Workplace Safety, Hazard Awareness, and Occupational Health
Hazard Recognition
A guard's workplace is wherever the post is: lobbies, parking lots, warehouses, construction sites. Recognize hazards in categories: physical (slips, trips, falls, noise), chemical (spills, fumes), biological (bloodborne pathogens), ergonomic (repetitive strain, lifting), environmental (heat, cold, weather), and security-related (violent persons, weapons).
Personal Protective Equipment
Use PPE as required: gloves for first aid, reflective vests for traffic control, hearing protection in noisy areas, and proper footwear. Inspect equipment before use and report damage. Trap: questions reward guards who skip PPE to "respond faster." The correct answer is to don PPE appropriate to the risk.
Safe Practices
Know the hierarchy of controls: eliminate the hazard, substitute, engineer controls, administrative controls, then PPE. Report hazards promptly. Practice safe lifting, maintain housekeeping, and know evacuation routes. For bloodborne pathogens, use universal precautions and treat all blood as infectious.
Worked Example
You find a wet floor in a corridor with no signage. Your response: barricade or cone the area, warn approaching people, clean or call custodial staff, and report the hazard. You do not simply walk past because "someone else will handle it."