Waipā District Council says improved security measures are being introduced at its Te Awamutu office to ensure the health and safety of staff following a rise in threats from the public.
Council says work to replace a building’s security grille in the customer support area was carried out last week, and follows an increase in threats and aggressive behaviour toward staff, and three ‘lockdowns’ in the past 18 months. Reception areas have also been fitted with duress alarms, the Council confirmed.
Customer and community services group manager, Sally Sheedy said that ensuring the health and safety of staff was paramount and the new measures would help ensure council offices were kept secure.
“The current grille could no longer be serviced or repaired, so it needed to be replaced,” she said.
“While construction is underway, the reception area will be temporarily relocated to the left of the current area, providing a smaller but fully functional customer support space.”
