Have you been trained for this site? "Well yes and no..

Frequent Poster Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 25

I well remember the time some years ago, when I was asked to cover a very important site. This was a very large high profile job. I accepted but insisted that I at least get a little training on the place before taking over it for the long Bank Holiday, which lay ahead.

On the Thursday before I went along to the site in question and met up with one of our inspectors. He explained that the site was in fact split into two and the side I'd be working on was a large series of officers, which had to be checked etc.
Having spent an hour learning the ropes I went home. I turned up on Saturday morning bright and early and went up to the front desk, explaining to the guard just finishing that I was his relief. He looked at me with an odd look on his face. Just then another guard wandered out of the toilets. This is my relief he said, you're on the other side.
At this point I sensed the all too often company cock up. I found myself sat at a huge switchboard, without the slightest idea how it worked, but I did look good lol.
Even though it was a weekend the phone rang constantly and everytime I tried to patch people through I'd cut them off, only to have them ring back two minutes later Grrrr.

After an hour of this performance I decided to call the company. "Get an inspector down here in the next hour, or I'm off!" I shouted, sick of being shouted at myself by so many people during my short time in the building. Two hours, or so later, give, or take a few minutes. In strolled inspector pratt, you know the one who loves himself "What's up?" I explain, he smiles and shrugs. "What's the problem matey?" Matey!!! Mmm I ask you. I begin to rave at him and he tries his amazing inter-personal skills, he learned these from the back of a postage stamp. After I threaten to walk, he tries the heavy throwing the word insubordination at me.
I throw crap company and threaten to give him the keys. He turns white and switches to super nice company man. He takes me through everything and spends an hour going through all I should need to know about the place. He says how sorry he is and sides with me on how awful it is for me etc yeah yeah I hear you chorus. He leaves and I carry on, far from happy but getting there.

Now on this side of the building you had to turn off alarms on each floor as you patrolled it and then reset after doing so. Well the alarm was wired into the police and fire service. Guard with next to no training added to hard alarm system with four different alarm codes= red faced guard standing with emergency services office manager, senior guard, who was on his holiday. I was screamed at by each one in turn, until I was asked my side of things and then the manager smiled and said "you know I think we'll try another firm, this is the last straw."

I don't need to tell you that this company was and is one of the largest in the country and of course overseas sigh sometimes cowboys don't just work for ranchers, but own their own and really I suppose the common,or garden guard is more, or less cattle. You have to laugh.

Forum Addict Joined: Apr 28, 2004 Posts: 122

paragraphs are your friend... Smile

seriously though would it be securi*cough* you speak of?

Frequent Poster Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 25

Hi Spooky

Paragraphs Mmmmm good point, perhaps a good case for less is more. In answer to your question, not Securi*cough*, but Ch***

Cheers Philip

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 1:41 pm

Sounds like Chubblets to me Wink

Just goes to support my theory that, the bigger they are, the more incompetent they become.

Forum Addict Joined: Apr 28, 2004 Posts: 122

/sarcasm mode on

oh come on guys! who needs competance when you have thousands of idiots earning you easy money on a day to day basis?

/sarcasm mode off

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:33 pm

SPOOKY
YOU said it all I have only found 3 decent companies who look after there people will pm you with the names later
bigyin

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 1:31 am

IT reminds me of an incident that happened a few years ago on a site that I was dayshift supervisor(monday to friday)the incident happened on a friday night.

I had handed over to the nightshift crew which consisted of only 2 security officers, all the relevant documentation,keys,charged radios and all the emails in hard copy form,contractors passes for the sat &sun, ect
ask the officers are they happy do they want me to go through anything again (the answer was no as they had both been there for the past year)
so I go home and tell them before I go if they are not sure of anything to call me at home and I will come in, ok they say no problem we will be ok
the building is now empty of staff as the last staff member leaves at 18.00 I go home they lock the main entrance behind me and start the nightshift routine log on with control and the lockup patrol.
AT 22.30 I get a phone call from the control centre to ask me to go back to the site so I am thinking all sorts of things that they have went into one of the directors offices which are alarmed and have set it off and cant stop the alarm so I just have to go and reset it so control tell me no its nothing like that just to get there as fast as I can as the client is there and so is the operations director from the security company as well as the mobile supervisor and the police armed response unit so I am thinking
oh S--T what has happened have I done something wrong and I THINK BACK TO THE HANDOVER no everything was ok all the relevent things logged and handed over to them as per protocol gets back to the site 15
minutes later it turns out at 21.00 they went out to the car that they used to get to work and brought the sleeping bags in put them under the reception counter and got there heads down set the alarm clock so one could get up at 23.00and do the check call and the patrol but were rudely woken up with 2 shotguns pointed at there heads, the crims had broken in to the next door offices were the officer was on his patrol he managed to get to a panic alarm which went direct to his control room where his controller ignored the alarm they tied the officer up and ransacked the offices and went onto the roof where they gained access to the building
that the company I was employed with was guarding disabled the alarms and collected a considerable sum of money and valuables before making there way back out to there vehicle needless to say the 2 sleepyheads were sacked,I was in the clear and the company I worked for at that time lost the contract.
any comments
bigyin

Frequent Poster Joined: Sep 24, 2004 Posts: 25

Hi Bigyin

Now that a rough one, but brings to mind something that just made me smile.

I remember some years ago sitting at home having finished my day shift. The phone rang and it was of course my company with the usual speel. "I've got a really easy one for you, its over night we'll pay you double and you can even get your head down, it'll be a doddle."

I agreed, but thought this was far too good to be true. I was very tired, but 16 hours pay for just 8 was to good to pass up. I was picked up from home an hour later and taken to the site. As it turned out the place had been broken into earlier in the day and so my company had promised to put a guard on that night etc.

I kept myself awake all night by doing patrols every single time I felt sleepy. I had been advised that there would be no externals and that I would be locked in, but only a phone call away (What a comfort!!!)

The following morning I was beyond tired and crawled out to the car. The inspector turned to me as we were driving along and asked me "Did you get enough sleep?" The alarm bells went. I thought hello trying to catch me out, well no chance its not something I would do. I told him certainly not, as I was on duty. He looked at me very puzzled and said. "I thought you were told last night about the place, you were?" I told him I didn't quite understand him.

He went on to tell me that the reason I'd been locked in was that the place had been locked and alarmed and as such there was no need for me to patrol and could just curl up in the corner. The client had even said as much and that he just needed a guard on site for insurrance purposes and didn't care whether asleep, or awake.

That was a strange one. I find the idea of sleeping too much of a dangerous one, but there you go, there are times when no one really cares, well all except me on that occasion.

Cheers Philip

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 6:15 pm

yes Philip

we have all been in situations like that, but if you had been asleep and the alarms went off it would take a few minutes to come out of sleep and by then the crim could have been upon you, what would have happened if the place was broken into again ,as it hald already been broken into that day already what if the people /or person had came back with friends
and found you asleep,

you did the right thing philip not sleeping and being professional and be ing also proactive,as if they had came back just seeing a security officer there would have given them second thoughts

at the end of the day I like to make sure
the security officers i work with go home the same way that they came into work with no injuries or wounds and are happy when they go home
the sooner the big companies recognize we are all one team no matter what company we work for and we should all assist each other no matter how small the assistance is it would make everybody a lot happier if we did that I think

any comments
bigyin

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 12:10 am

I had been in security for about 3 years and was moved to another sight. This particular site - security were responsible for issuing staff ID/Swipe passes etc.

They were laid out on the counter so that staff could check them out and collect the card if it was there.

One particular pass was there for over two weeks before collection. One day the owner (a lady) entered the building and stepped over to the counter to check her pass, which was there of course.

She took one look at it and exclaimed "How did you know this was my married name? I had this photo taken when I was single" Smile

Well ... I just stood there not knowing what to say, and of course trying my hardest not to laugh. Twisted Evil

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:53 am

Ouch, my sides are spliting LOL

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 1:50 pm

Ah.......the fairer sex.

Our lives would be but dull but for the merriment and joy they bring to our hearts. :axe:

Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:34 pm

I remember my dad being called to an alarm activation at a large stationary warehouse he responded as he arrived the external alarm sounder was not sounding just the internal alarms. He went to reception looked through the window all normal went round the side of the building he saw a guy stood there assuming it was the security officer he walked up but to his supprise another bloke came out of the builduing carrying a box both had ballaclavers on and they just looked at him and said f*** off so he did went to the car by this time the external alarm sounder was sounding and flashing. He rang the police they both escaped in a cosworth smashed through the chain link fencing at the rear. It turns out that the intruders where already in the building when the staff where in there they must have locked up and turned the alarms on this explains the external sounder that went of when they cut through the locks on the side door. The police arrived and there was great concern for the security officer on site my dad heard the police radio through they found him upstairs asleep he said he ignored the alarms because he thaught it was a false alarm.