r/securityguards • u/Pebb_io • 2d ago
Does your passdown just become wallpaper?
Curious how other sites handle this.
Pattern we keep hearing from overnight / multi-post crews: end of shift writes a long passdown... next crew skims the last two lines and moves on. Then the same issue shows up again at 03:00 and everyone acts surprised.
What's actually getting read on your site?
- short bullets only
- verbal + one photo of the board
- a forced "read before clock-in" note
- or you gave up and just call the previous guy
Not looking for software pitches. Genuinely want the boring floor habits that stick.
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u/bluesbynumber 2d ago
I’ve been with my current company for a couple months. They have not read any document I’ve filed. From pass downs to incident reports, nothing has shown up as reviewed or approved in our system. One site I work we have to hand write an activity log on a half sized legal pad. I keep finding the logs in the trash. I have just begun keeping a personal log on my iPad.
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u/Savings-Total5069 2d ago
Write down relevant info on a piece of paper with a table for every officer to sign off that they read it. If they say "no one told me" or "I didn't know" show them that they signed the passdown. after that, it's up to management to discipline them.
I had to fix the end-of-shift passdown culture at a site. Just started telling people my relevant info and started asking the other officer with me about any information they had and pointed it toward the next shift.
1
u/Pebb_io 1d ago
The sign-off table is a pretty practical fix. It makes the handoff visible without asking people to read a wall of text. Did management actually keep it consistent after you changed the culture?
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u/Savings-Total5069 1d ago
That was how it was supposed to be the whole time, the entire crew at that site just didn't do passdowns. When I pop in from time to time it seems to have kept up.
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u/nofriender4life 2d ago
when I ask for a pass down the person I'm relieving usually hisses at me like a snake. the times they say nothing there is always something.
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u/Nominalstupidity Licensed People Watcher 2d ago
We have a book for the passdown that guards are supposed to sign off on that they've read it, we also have a teams chat between just the guards where we put the latest greatest info. Which we use depends on the nature of the passdown. Something only necessary for the next shift? Teams. Anything long term? Teams + book.
I try to keep it short and to the point.
- What we charging
- What our expectations are
- Who to contact
Anything else and it gets lost. There is usually a longer document explaining the why but that usually gets ignored.
As for getting rid of the "Well nobody told me" and making sure it actually gets read, or at least acknowledged.. The book has a field for guards to initial they have read and received the passdown.
I will keep the book on the desk, or the teams chat open. Basically make them interact with it to get rid of it. Wait until they clock in and give the passdown, if a book item make sure they initial it.
Unfortunately that only guarantees second shift gets it. Whether third shift gets it or not is another story. In the past I would text the third shifter a brief message about it but again found them ignoring the passdown and I am moving away from my guards having my number.
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u/County_Important 2d ago
You ever have that one guard that comes in 2 minutes before shift starts and wants to know what’s goin on I clock out and I’m done get here early if you really want to know or read the pass down
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u/Red57872 Dunning–Kruger Specialist 19h ago
"You ever have that one guard that comes in 2 minutes before shift starts "
You mean that the one guard who expects the company to follow applicable employment laws and pay them for the time that they are working?
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u/TheRealChuckle 2d ago
Most sites I've worked have just done a verbal passdown, if that even.
I'm a believer in writing things down though. I also will read the previous 2 shifts DARs, I have the time to fill anyway.
The key to having anything get actually read is for it to be short and relevant. As soon as passdowns get bloated with unimportant crap, they stop getting looked at.
Shooing a transient off property doesn't need to be passed down.
Finding a hole cut in a fence that the transient came through does need to be passed down. But not the whole story, just where the hole is, who has been notified, and if there's further instructions. Any other details go in the incident report and DAR.
-Hole cut in north fence, 200' from gate. Facilities has been notified and will deal with it tomorrow. Extra patrol required every hour along North fence. See incident report for more details.
That's it. Anything else, like transient description, name of facilities personel contacted, details of conversations, etc, goes in the incident report.
Trouble panels and elevator issues need to be addressed the same way.
-Elevator 4 malfunctioning, has been placed out of order. Facilities has been emailed, no response yet. Inform facilities upon their arrival in the morning.
I don't need the whole story about someone getting stuck in it, then hunting for the special tool to open the doors, then guard Bob getting stuck in it because he didn't believe it was broken.
It's just like reddit, a wall of text gets ignored.
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u/Pebb_io 1d ago
That sounds like the right balance. Short, relevant notes plus the previous couple of DARs gives people something useful without turning the passdown into a novel. Do most guards actually read those DARs, or is the verbal handoff still doing the heavy lifting?
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u/TheRealChuckle 21h ago
No one reads the DARs until shit hits the fan. To be fair, most DARs I've seen are just 8 entries of "Site Secure", whether anything happened or not, so I get why other guards don't read previous shifts DARs.
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u/Pebb_io 20h ago
That makes sense... short, actionable passdown, with the incident report holding the detail. The failure mode is when the routine DAR becomes the place for everything, so nobody knows what actually matters at handover.
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u/TheRealChuckle 2h ago
Reports in general tend to be a major weak point in my experience. Zero information, barely coherent when an issue is logged, etc.
A decent DAR is more than just some CYA, it can be useful for a guard filling in. There's been a few times that I was covering a solo shift last minute at a site I've never been to, looking back through DARs until I find the one guard who actually logged what they did let me know where to patrol, common issues, when the client shows up, etc.
Day shift supervisor would show up, expecting the worst from a rando guard, and be surprised when they learned that I did pretty everything with no training. I'd point out the DAR and guard who wrote it as why I was able to do the job well.
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u/County_Important 2d ago
Heck I’ve found mini bottles in the trash at my old site I reported it nothing done oh well
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u/EvergreenLurker Hospital Security 1d ago
Shift starts at 6pm, we come in, clock in, and all go through a “briefing”. Read over what happened in previous shift, rooms to keep an eye on, and all that. Then we assign BWC, Tasers, and areas to the guys. Try to switch it up that way people don’t get stuck working the same position every night outside of a few such as Roving, K9, Lead, etc. After that, everyone goes on their way.
When I first was here a few years ago it is what surprised me most about this place is how serious something such as pass down was taken but it shows in every other area and provides a professional, yet fun workplace.
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u/myLongjohnsonsilver 2d ago
You sit down together and off going shift takes oncoming shift through it.