Security guard company Q&A
What must a security guard do when taking over a post?
Short answer
- Report to the post before the shift starts, in uniform and with the equipment that post requires.
- Take over the post through a handover report, signed together with the guard going off shift.
- Check the post's equipment, radios and goods against the inventory list.
- Read the post's specific standing orders and the events logged during the previous shift.
- Confirm the handover to dispatch and report any missing item or fault on the spot.
What the law says (brief)
- Law 333/2003, art. 46 — while on duty a guard must know the vulnerable points inside the site (a), guard the goods listed in the security plan (b) and follow the post's standing orders (q).
- Law 333/2003, art. 46 (e) — any event during the shift must be reported immediately to the direct supervisor and to the guarded company's management.
- Standing orders come in two parts: the general ones, shared by every post, and the particular ones, taken from the security plan for that exact post.
- Government Decision 301/2012, the methodological norms for Law 333/2003 — the model “Register of service handover reports” is Annex 2b) and is kept at the post.
Practical examples
- Example: at a warehouse guarded 07:00–19:00, the incoming guard arrives at 06:45, signs the handover report, checks the two radios and the flashlight against the inventory, reads in the register that a camera on the north side was faulty during the previous shift, and reports to dispatch that the fault is still there.
- Example: the standing orders for an access post allow deliveries only between 08:00 and 16:00; the guard starting the night shift reads them at handover, turns away a delivery arriving at 22:00 and logs the event.
Common mistakes
- The post is handed over verbally, with no signed report — after an incident nobody can tell which shift it started in.
- The post's standing orders changed weeks ago, but the printed copy at the post is still the old one.
- Faults spotted at handover are mentioned verbally and lost, instead of being logged and escalated.
- The handover register exists only on paper, at the post, so the manager learns nothing until the next site visit.
How 4guards helps
- The post's standing orders are attached to the site, so the guard sees the current version at handover, not an old printout.
- Taking over and handing off a shift is confirmed in the app, with time and guard, and dispatch sees in real time which posts are covered.
- Equipment assigned to the post shows up at handover from equipment management; a missing item or fault is reported on the spot and reaches the manager.
- Events and incidents from the previous shift stay in the site's history, so the incoming guard reads what happened before.