Okay, what’s more infuriating than coming to your building, your shop, your mall or whatnot, and seeing that while your guard was asleep, robbers and burglars made off with profits from the last month or two? I don’t think there are many things that can compete with that on the annoy-o-meter. Sleeping on the job is not necessarily something a person does on purpose, or even willingly, but whatever the case might be, it will have to be dealt with, both for trust issues, insurance issues and general peace of mind and loss prevention.
Sleep is a powerful thing, and if the human body suffers a lack of it for longer periods, it will come to insist on getting more. That means that chemicals in your body and brain will take control, and put you into a sleep state without you realizing it. At times you might even fall asleep for some minutes and wake up without knowing it has happened. Mostly, a few minutes of sleep is enough for the body to go on a good while more – that is why highway authorities recommend that if you get tired behind the wheel, stop and sleep for fifteen minutes.
But what about that guard?
Take some proactive steps to make sure that the guard feels that he or she has your trust. A common mistake is to just increase supervision of guards when there is a suspicion of some problem. That is an incorrect approach. Trust from management, responsibility for and a feeling of “owner pride” towards the installation all make for a better security guard, and less chance of sleeping on the job or something going wrong.
Talk to guards about their needs. Do they need new equipment? Is the coffee machine broken or breaking? How about water supply, is there a cooler nearby?
Ask yourself what you would like to have where you work every day. A private space for breaks is important. Make sure it’s quiet and access controlled – if possible, no one but your guards should have the opportunity to use it. A common mistake in guard forces is to have the break room or area where there are other employees eating, resting or otherwise loitering… Guards are in a special situation, and it will sometimes be problematic to mingle with other employees.
Shift changes must be available. If needed, taylor every guard’s schedule to their individual needs. Provided you don’t have hundreds on your payroll, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Of course, the customer’s needs go first, but the sincere effort to adjust for a guard will be appreciated and will come back to you.
Sleep, or rest. Okay… sensitive point. If your guards work in teams, allow them to regulate sleeping on their own. Recommend 20 minutes each per shift, in addition to their lunchbreak of course, and given that trust, the officers will in most cases regulate themselves. The idea here, of course, is internal justice. Any weeds or leeches will be plucked out own their own.
For more information on security officers and supervision, visit SnallaBolaget.com.
SnallaBolaget.com is a public and private resource for security information, being added to every day and run by experienced security professionals.
G. Sommerfeldt is closing on a decade of security experience in both private and public sector, and has been a security supervisor and manager for several of those years.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gunnar_Sommerfeldt
Security Guards should be trained to awake all night. This is important because we can not compromise with our security.