What are the duties and responsibilities of a security guard?
It’s important for your premises to be properly secured, which means that you need the right guards for the job. Your materials, assets, and even the site itself need to be protected against theft and vandalism. Good site guards will always be on the ball when it comes to any disturbances or incidents. It’s not always easy to check if your security guards are doing their jobs properly, especially if not much happens overnight. Below are a number of ways to check if your security guards are doing their jobs properly.
Arrive on-site a little earlier
There’s no question that employees work harder, or at least make themselves look busy, when supervisors are on-site. They know that they’re being watched and they don’t want to get in any trouble. However, as soon as they’re on their own it’s more likely that they’ll take it easy and start slacking. We’re not saying everybody does this, but it happens. You can figure out if your site security guards are working harder when you’re there, then slacking off when you’re not, by arriving on-site a little earlier than you usually do. It’ll catch them off guard and it should be pretty obvious if they’ve been sitting about doing nothing.
Stop by at night time
This is similar to the first point but with a twist. Your security guard wouldn’t be expecting you to arrive earlier in the morning and they would most certainly never expect you to show up at night. Night time is when it’s most likely for your security guards to be slacking off as there’s nobody around and not a whole lot to do. Stopping by between the hours of 11 at night and 3 in the morning will show them that you’re unpredictable (in a good way). They’ll think twice before shirking their duties, even when nobody is around, as they’ll never know when you might turn up.
Keep an eye out for signs of sleeping on the job
Sleeping on the job is perhaps the worst thing a security guard can do. It’s not only neglecting their duties, it’s also disrespectful to you. You’re hiring them to do a job, not paying them to sleep. Even though it’s probably quiet most of the time, anything can happen at a moment’s notice. Keep an eye out for the following signs of sleeping on the job:
· Items of clothing being used as makeshift pillows or blankets
· Gaps in the patrol schedule
· Dimmed or turned off lighting
· Boots off or footprints on items of furniture
· A groggy or sleepy appearance of your security guards
If your security guards are sleeping on the job then you’re more likely to come across these signs either late at night or early in the morning. Your security guards know when you usually start, so by then they’ll have woken up and hidden any evidence of sleeping on the job.
Install surveillance cameras to monitor what’s going on
While stopping by late at night or early in the morning can be an easy and effective way of checking on your security guards, it’s by no means foolproof. If a guard gets any inclination that you’re on site they can very quickly cover their tracks and resume dossing about after you’ve left. However, installing surveillance cameras allows you to monitor what they’re up to when you’re not even on-site. If this sounds like an attractive option you can discuss your requirements with a provider that specializes in this area. Surveillance cameras also can also be used for:
· Keeping an eye on the site by the security guards themselves
· Improving the overall security of your site
· Reducing how often you have to visit the site in person to check up on your guards
Have a chat with your security guards
Your unexpected visits at night or in the morning should involve more than just showing your face. Don’t just walk by your security guard’s post; check in with them and ask how their shift went. Keep it friendly but lightly probe for information. You can ask them the following questions:
· Has anything unusual happened during the shift?
· When was the last patrol carried out?
· When will the next patrol happen?
· What recent observations have been made?
These questions serve two purposes. Firstly, you’ll find out more information about what your security guards have been up to and secondly, you’ll see areas where improvements can be made, for example with a specific schedule for patrols or better reporting of incidents.
Read the security reports written by guards properly
It’s all too common for supervisors to not even read the security reports written by the guards, and in the rare cases when they do, they’re simply skimmed over. These reports are an important part of the job and they’re written for your benefit. Take a closer look and read them properly. Keep an eye out for these things:
· What time patrols are carried out. If all the times are the same then your guards could just be making them up.
· Which locations your guards have been patrolling. If there’s a specific place listed more often than others, it could be a sign of a problem that needs looking in to.
· Whether any disturbances were observed and how the guards dealt with them.
In an ideal world you’d hire security guards and they’d do their jobs thoroughly without any hiccups, but let’s be realistic, we don’t live in an ideal world. Some security services hire individuals who may not be up to the job and it’s not always immediately obvious that somethings amiss. Follow some of the steps listed here to get a better insight into how your guards are performing as it could help improve the security of your sites.
How do we, as a company, combat this issue?
So right now, you’re probably thinking, “Do I really have to do all of this?”.
After all, being the one in charge, you have a lot to do, and your schedule is probably super busy.
Adding more to-dos on the list doesn’t sound nice, and carrying out these little tests would subtract the precious time that you would otherwise be spending on important tasks.
What’s the solution, then?
Should you ask a colleague to check over them?
Should you just give up, and let your security guards do their things…
Silently hoping that they will fulfil their duties and protect the area?
To ensure no one of our clients has to deduct valuable time from their job duties, we from On Site Security Limited have developed ways to make sure our guards are always alert and providing you with the security you need.
We have invested in a patrol guard system in which our guards are required to conduct hourly check calls. If a call is missed, our control room is immediately notified, and the guard has a brief interval of time in which he can make the rapport.
If contact doesn’t happen, a mobile patrol unit is dispatched right away to visit the site and personally inspect the situation.
But who checks on the patrolling officers?
Our control room is persistently monitoring the situation, making sure everyone is performing and on duty.
Moreover, our officers are required to carry out a specific number of tasks during their shift, so you’re hardly going to find them slacking off…
And random site patrol visits are a strong enough deterrent to prevent anyone from even trying to be clever.
Basically, if after all of this, you’ll still feel the urge to check on the guards, a big, green check mark will be the result of your tests.
With On Site Security Ltd, you won’t need to waste time on tests: let us take care of everything while you carry on with your tasks.
Contact us: 0117 914 9179