What is a security duty log

A security duty log is a chronological record of how duty went at a guard post: from taking over the shift, through incidents and patrols, to handing over to the next shift. It is the basic working document of security staff, because it is what you use to reconstruct who was on duty, what happened and what action was taken. Some organisations call the same document a shift log or an occurrence book.

What an entry in the duty log contains

A typical duty log entry contains the time of the event or activity, the person on duty and the type of entry: taking over duty, a patrol, an incident or a handover. Next comes a description of what happened and what was done, and finally the outcome: notifications, interventions and decisions taken. What has to be recorded is often set out in the site security instructions or in the contract with the security company, and in that case it is binding.

Why keep a duty log

A duty log earns its keep mostly after an incident. After a break-in, damage or a complaint, the question is “what was going on at the time”, and without a record all you have is the memory of whoever happened to be on shift.

The duty log also provides continuity between shifts. Handover is where most information gets lost, and an entry saying “gate three hasn’t been closing properly since Tuesday” is worth more than a chat over coffee.

With contracted security, the log is proof that the duty was carried out, so the service is invoiced on the strength of it. Over time it also becomes material for analysis, because recurring incidents of the same type only show up when you look at them together.

Paper or electronic duty log

An electronic duty log beats a paper one when entries are made as things happen. Filled in at the end of the shift from a scrap of paper, it has the same weakness as the paper log and gives a false impression of precision on top: the time on the entry is exact, but it is the time the note was copied across.

The duty log in TraxSystem

In TraxSystem the duty log belongs to the Site security module and is linked to the post’s other tools: check-ins (confirmation that the worker is safe), patrols (checkpoint confirmations) and the security board, which shows the current staffing picture. Events recorded by the system, such as passages, vehicle entries and alarms, appear alongside manual entries, so the course of a shift can be reconstructed without putting two sources side by side.

A more serious event is described in an incident report, which produces a PDF with the description, attachments and a signature.

The duty log, check-ins, patrols and the security board are all part of one module, priced by the number of guard posts, and none of them is bought separately. The pricing page gives the module price for two, four or six posts.

What an electronic duty log will not replace

TraxSystem doesn’t replace the site security instructions and doesn’t decide what goes into the duty log. That follows from your procedures and your contract with the security company.

Nor does the system store CCTV footage. An entry can refer to a recording on the video recorder, but the recording stays outside the system; TraxSystem holds photos and clips of specific events, for example a passage through an access control point.

The duty log contains data about the work of specific people, so agree the retention period for entries and who has access with the person responsible for data protection in your organisation.

Questions and answers

See also: Guard tour checkpoints: patrol records you don’t have to take on trust · Post check-ins: how monitoring a lone worker works in practice · Software for a security company guarding a site: what is really needed