Guidance for people running security contracts.
Practical writing on SIA licensing, screening and site compliance, from the team building SecureOptix.
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.
Switching security software providers without losing your data
The decision to switch is usually the easy part. What happens to three years of licence, screening and shift history during the move is where it gets harder.
Incident reports that still make sense six months later
The report is written in ten minutes at the end of a shift. It may be read by a client, an insurer, or a court, long after everyone has forgotten the detail.