Union criticises lack of mandatory training for festival security staff

The Vida union has criticised the lack of legal requirements for security staff at large events, ORF reported, as the Frequency music festival begins in St. Pölten this week.

Up to 140,000 people are expected to attend the festival. The organiser says it has hired about 1,000 security guards and stewards.

Between 2,500 and 3,000 people work as security guards in Lower Austria, according to the regional branch of the Vida union. The number varies widely because many are employed only for individual events. Although training courses are available, many security companies do not require them, the union said.

“You can practically become a security guard overnight,” said Horst Pammer, the union’s Lower Austria chairman.

Pammer said security staff must be able to direct crowds if panic breaks out, but claimed that many could neither read a site plan nor speak enough German. The criticism did not apply only to staff working at the Frequency festival, he said.

The festival organiser said all its security guards could speak German and read a site plan. Stewards handled simpler tasks and were not required to read site plans, the organiser added.

Vida is again calling for mandatory training for security guards. The planned Security Services Act is intended to provide the legal basis. The measure is included in the government programme and has been announced several times, but the responsible state secretariat said no draft bill was yet available.