Blog
Guidance for people running security contracts
Practical writing on SIA licensing, screening and site compliance, from the team building SecureOptix.
Your SIA licence renewal is delayed. What are the actual options?
A renewal submitted in good time can still run late. What matters at that point is knowing the current rules rather than guessing, because guessing wrong is the expensive part.
Read the article →Criminal record checks and BS 7858: how the two actually relate
BS 7858 and a criminal record check are not the same thing, and assuming one covers the other is a common and avoidable confusion.
What actually happens when an SIA licence expires mid-contract
An expired licence is not an administrative problem. It is an officer who cannot lawfully do the job they are rostered on, discovered at the worst possible moment.
Tracking licence expiry without a spreadsheet that nobody opens
Every contractor has a licence spreadsheet. The question is whether anyone looks at it on the day it would have made a difference.
BS 7858 screening: what an assessor actually asks to see
Screening is rarely the problem. Being able to produce the file, complete, for the officer they pick at random — that is where assessments go wrong.
Training records that survive an audit
Certificates in a folder prove someone attended a course. They do not prove the officer on site today is trained for the post they are standing on.
Right to work checks, and why security contractors get asked twice
Every employer has to check. Security contractors tend to be asked to prove it more often, by clients as well as by government.
Checking officer licences: what a contractor is actually obliged to do
Employing licensed officers is not the same as having a system for checking they still are. The obligation sits with the business, not with the licence holder alone.
Cover at 5am: what a roster needs to tell you in ninety seconds
Someone has called in. You have a site that must be manned, a list of people who might be available, and very little time to check anything.