ABOUT 4,000 elderly security guards could be made redundant when tougher regulations come into force next June.
Announcing the new laws yesterday, Security and Guarding Services Industry Authority chairman Miriam Lau Kin-yee, said the issue was one of the key questions the authority had to face when it drew up the regulations.
'In our view we have tried our best to address it by creating a category which provides for those security personnel over 65 who may carry out security work at single private residential buildings,' she said.
Of the 15,000 people over 65 employed in the security industry, 4,300 work in offices and shops and will have to find new jobs in private residential buildings if they want to keep working.
Those over 70 will have to produce a medical certificate showing they are fit for work. Individual workers, regardless of age, will have to pay $175 for a security personnel permit from the police.
Those found to be working without a permit face a $10,000 fine and three months in jail.
Security companies and contractors which install security equipment will also have to be licensed from June.