NZSA announces final Covid-19 Guardian Award winner – congratulations to Keisha Rihari

Posted on by NZSA Admin

Congratulations to our final Covid-19 Guardian Award winner:

KEISHA RIHARI

Keisha has been recognised for her outstanding work in diffusing a potentially dangerous situation in a Northland bank.

Just after the opening of a bank in Kaitaia a customer entered in an agitated state. Keisha spotted that they had a knife hidden on the inside of their arm. Keisha calmly encouraged the customer to put the knife away and de-escalated the situation to a point where it was safe for a bank worker to address the customer’s issue. Keisha remained with the bank worker while they gave the customer what they needed then ensured that they left the property. The Senior Security Operations Manager for the bank was notified, as is the protocol, and contact FIRST Security to pass on their thanks for Keisha’s quick thinking and actions.

Scott La Franchie, FIRST Security Guard Services’ GM Marketing & Product said of Keisha: “Keisha Rihari was working with another security team who has been a true team player by helping out our FIRST Security Guards team and their customers during the Covid-19 lock-down. We are very proud of her actions during this incident by applying her training and experience to de-escalate a dangerous situation and ensuring the staff at the bank felt safe. She is a great staff member, always positive and is an exceptional security officer”.

The NZSA introduced the Covid-19 Guardian Award as a way in which the wider community can recognise and say thanks to security personnel for their efforts.

Help us get the word out about Keisha’s great work by sharing our Facebook and LinkedIn posts.

Thank your for all your nominations, there have been some outstanding examples of Covid-19 Guardians.

We have taken the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the efforts of our workers and in particular, those who have gone above and beyond all expectations. Be it acting with kindness, stepping in to keep people safe, helping the community or even just giving a big warm smile, their efforts have been appreciated.

Stay safe and keep well.

From the NZSA team.