Article published in Florence – April 2025, By Raquel Manning
Raquel Manning sits down with Gina Field to reflect on her career in the security industry and the ups and downs
As I drive along the M4 to the city of Penrith I’m reminded of the beautiful Nepean river and its famous bridge to bridge. It’s also home to the impressive Western Sydney Conference Centre located in front of the iconic Penrith Panthers venue.
It’s here at a local café amongst one of the Industrial buildings that I chat with Gina Field, the founder and CEO of Nepean Regional Security, gaining valuable insights into Gina’s experiences and journey into the security industry.
In my conversation with Gina there are so many similarities that both of us find as we discuss decades in the field which was sparking a powerful conversation on gender equality in the workplace. In the ‘80s on a bustling building site tensions rose as the union controversially shut down the site upon discovering Gina, a female security person, was working onsite. Over the years Gina’s resilience and tenacity have been instrumental in
challenging the norms and driving change within the security sector.
I asked Gina the following questions;
Can you share with us how your journey started in security and what motivated you to establish your business?
I was working for a large security company, and they made me and my team redundant seven days before Christmas in 1997, it was fight or flight — without any experience I started my own security company in 1998 — January.
You have achieved many milestones in your business career. What remains the most important and why?
If you are talking about awards, the greatest for me and the most memorable was the day I won NSW Business Woman of the year in 2011 — and I will never forget it being at the town hall in front of 1000 people and I was totally gobsmacked. It was basically my first speech on a stage like that.
I have many things that I live by in business; always lead by example, expansion is not success, keep your finger on the pulse, I control every concept of my business, stay on the tools (staff respect you more), remain humble, give back where you can and always practice what you preach.
Given the essential role that security plays in construction and building sites, how does NRS actively contribute to enhancing security measures both during the pre-construction and post construction phases of projects?
It is really important that we start at the early stages, and the landscape is always ever-changing with building sites which means we have to continually assess the needs of the site, such as solar mobile cameras, physical presence, wireless alarms, mobile patrols. It’s also essential to look at the crime rates in the area and be upto-
date with what’s happening crimewise.
How have security measures evolved and changed in the past three decades and what impact have these changes had on the construction sector?
In the ‘80s there seemed a surplus or an endless money pit for the construction sector in terms of building and
having a physical presence on site. There was little or no technology back then, so a physical security presence
was needed. As technology grows, and margins are extremely tight on projects now, it’s basically a risk-over-reward mentally — do they really need security. We have also been replaced by solar mobile camera towers,
and rarely have a physical presence, unless we are checking people in and out at a gatehouse.
Crime for construction sites was not as high in the 80s but at present crime is through the roof and construction sites are being broken into almost (what we are seeing) on a weekly basis — mainly for copper.
In your experience, how have you seen the representation of women in security and what do you think still needs to be done to further promote gender equality in the field?
From when I started, to now, the presence is rising, BUT we still have a very long way to go. There is still a misconception of women not being able to do what males can. Women are fantastic for defusing conflict situations, appear to have more patience, have amazing decision-making skills, can have more of a calmness in the workplace and also have a more ideological way of thinking in brainstorming. More women are joining higher ranking positions that offer flexible working arrangements and Monday to Friday roles and not so much working on ground level, which to me is extremely sad. It is harder to attract women to roles such as clubs and pubs, which is great due to the conflict resolution skills that they have.
Security is all about unfriendly hours, weekends, nights, Christmas, New year’s — and women still want to be home with their family during those times.
There needs to be more opportunities for women to join security in roles that suit the lifestyle of a family, and more funded opportunities for women to complete security training at a higher level, to be able to fulfil these roles and give to the security section in that capacity.
As a successful business woman, what advice do you have for inspiring the next generation of young women looking to enter a male-dominated industry?
Stay true to yourself. You don’t have to act like a male to be respected. You have to be a little thicker skinned at times, males can be a little direct without consciously thinking about what they are saying, however you need to stay respectful at all times.
It’s okay to speak up — if it’s not okay, it’s not okay. Be quick to set acceptable boundaries, so everyone knows where you are coming from and what your expectations are.
Running a business is not a get rich quick scheme, there is sacrifice of things to get the business off the ground and lots of hard work, long hours, time management and of course the big thing of being organised. I see so many business owners that are so disorganised, and you wonder how they stay afloat.
You will not be a CEO in five minutes. I read yesterday that junior retail workers are applying for 6-figure CEO roles. For some reason there seems to be an extreme disconnect with what hard work is, and what is needed to
be successful in any role.
And last but not least, “never say never”. What’s the worst that could happen — you get a NO?
Throughout the years Gina Field has been awarded many prestigious titles. She has been featured on TV, radio, in newspapers, magazines and is a regular guest speaker at functions outlining her courageous journey as a very young female security officer to a successful trailblazing business woman.
Source: https://issuu.com/armcustompublishing/docs/florence_april_2024_master_builders_nsw/37
