Life of security guard has its tense moments
IN 1990 Andrew Csabi was the smallest security guard/bouncer on the Glitter Strip.
It was a rough period where he had to be tough to survive.
But of all the guards from the class of 1990, he is the one that has made the biggest mark.
Today, Mr Csabi runs Paradise Security – a firm with 85 staff providing services in Queensland, northern NSW, Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia.
Customers range from fastfood chains including McDonald’s, through to pharmacies and government agencies.
Mr Csabi is also, famously, a Bali Bombing survivor and double amputee, who has written a book about his experiences. But in 1990 he was a nervous 22-year-old working the door outside of KA’s nightclub on Cavill Ave.
“KA’s was like Melba’s. My first gig on the Gold Coast. It was rough. The Gold Coast is a beautiful place but after hours was the underbelly,” he said.
“It was an exciting strip to work. I was the smallest doorman in town. It was all about my attitude. I trained in taekwondo as a young man. I did Muay Thai on the Gold Coast.”
Mr Csabi first trained in martial arts in Melbourne after he was assaulted at 15 on the way home from the movies.
“I had a suspected fractured skull. I started training in martial arts after then.”
His first job in security was as an 18-year-old working at the Foresters Arm’s Hotel in Oakleigh. He obtained the job after showing what has become a character trait – that is persistence.
“The girl at Foresters Arms wouldn’t give me a job.
“I told her I would come in every day after work because I needed a job after my trade.
“She asked me to pull a beer but I frothed it up. She told me I wouldn't get a job there.
“It just so happened, I was there one afternoon, and a customer raised his hand to her and I put him on the ground. She said, ‘you start tomorrow’.” He moved to the Gold Coast several years later, and after a brief period working for other people, launched his own firm with three employees.
“I was only 22½ starting a business, coming from a trade background in cabinetmaking, and moving into security, I thought I can make something of this.”
Three years after launching he secured his first major contract, providing security at taxi ranks.
“It transformed us from three people to a team of over 16 people.”
It was while working the cab rank in 1995 that he sustained a serious injury.
“I sustained a glassing injury in 1995 on the taxi rank. A brawl erupted on the taxi rank between two people. I stepped in, I put a guy down, and as I went to restrain him he glassed me on my hand. I wrapped up my hand and was taken to hospital.”
Mr Csabi required 22 stitches in his right hand. He has lost the feeling in one finger, but is grateful that it did not have to be amputated.
After the taxi contract, the next major development was landing cash-in-transit jobs.
“We went from cash in transit with canines to armed cash in transit in 1993. That is when I first received my weapons licence,” he said. “That was a requirement from insurance companies. They required us to be armed. We resisted for a little while but we needed it to retain the contracts.”
Paradise Security now does 800 cash in transit jobs each week, and services some major customers including McDonald’s restaurants.
The company is one of only a few that has armed guards.
Mr Csabi said while professionalism has improved in the industry, thanks to the introduction of national criminal history checks and mandatory fingerprinting for guards, he feels that there needs to be national licences for security companies who work across states.
“I’d like a national security licence. I realise that is difficult with each state having different systems. But surely our industry could apply itself to have a national licence. That way I don’t have to have Queensland and NSW licences, because we work across borders.”
Mr Csabi said while the Bali bombings in 2002 was a horrific experience, he is grateful he survived, and grateful his business survived too, thanks to staff and family.