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How to support your guard company and achieve better security

by Paul Kazlauskas

How to support your guard company and achieve better security
It is a necessity in this day and age for corporations to have a security presence on their premises. In order to ensure your property is properly protected, your company needs to work with the guard company. For a guard company to be successful, they need to do more than simply be a presence in your facility. Partnership is a key factor to helping your guard company achieve success.

Before requesting bids for a contract or interviewing security agencies, company personnel should write an outline of security requirements. The guard company will be bringing their own ideas to the table because they are experts in their field. However, this doesn’t mean they are experts on your facility and your business. The guard company that deserves the contract should be very interested in the expectations of the corporation and how they will define a successful partnership. In addition, once a company is hired, security officers should be provided with written operating procedures. It should be up-to-date with the training they receive and any verbal instructions that are given.

Many corporations have electronic visitor management systems in place. Some can be rather complicated to run and may require the system be monitored throughout the day. For the operation of these systems, you should insist on security officers with a technical background who are comfortable with using technology. Training should be comprehensive and cover a multitude of situations. These “situations” should not only cover business hours, but also non-business hours, including establishing an after-hours company contact should anything go wrong. After-hours procedures may not get the same attention during training, but they are still critical and need to be covered in detail.

While on the job, security officers are there to perform the specific duty of ensuring the security of the facility and the safety of employees. It is surprising to hear that some corporations actually allow or encourage security officers to perform “non-security” duties such as delivering memos, emptying recycling baskets, or making lunch runs for employees. This practice should be avoided because it compromises the security of the facility.

Finally, it is important to be in regular communication with the management of the security agency. If procedures need to be altered or if a complaint has to be filed, there needs to be an easy and consistent way to reach out and talk about any issues. Even if things appear to be going great, it is a good idea to keep the lines of communication open.

How else can a corporation support their guard company? Please include your ideas in the comments section below.

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