The folder in the gatehouse
Every site has its assignment instructions in a ring binder: opening and closing times, patrol routes, visitor procedure, key holders, alarm codes kept separately, emergency contacts, client-specific rules. Written when the contract started, updated when someone remembered.
Since then, the client has changed the delivery hours, added a car park barrier, swapped their facilities manager and asked for an extra lock-up check on Fridays. Each change was agreed by email with the account manager. Two made it into the folder. The regular guards know the rest from experience. The Friday cover guard does not, and the client's new facilities manager is not pleased when the extra check is missed.
Why AIs fall behind the site
Assignment instructions are a working document for the site, but they are managed like a contract appendix: written once and filed. Changes happen through emails and conversations, and updating the document, printing it and replacing it in the binder is nobody's clear job.
| Change | How it is agreed | Where it ends up |
|---|---|---|
| New delivery hours | Email to the account manager | Guards told verbally |
| New contact at the client | Phone call | Nowhere |
| Extra patrol or check | Sometimes a handwritten note in the binder | |
| New access system | Site meeting | Supervisor explains to regular guards |
| Emergency procedure change | Client's policy update | Printed and added, eventually |
What out-of-date AIs cost
Guards follow instructions that no longer apply, or never learn the new ones, and the client sees it as a failure of the guarding company. Cover guards are most exposed because they only have the folder to go on. At contract reviews, the client asks when the instructions were last updated. And if an incident happens, you will want to show the guard on duty had current instructions and had read them.
What your assignment instructions must contain is agreed between you and your client under your own standards. We build the way they are kept and shared.
Version-controlled AIs on the guard's phone
- Each site's instructions are held as one current document in sections: site overview, hours, patrols, visitors, deliveries, keys, alarms, emergencies, contacts, client rules.
- Changes are made by the account manager or supervisor, section by section, with a note of what changed and why, and approved before they go live.
- Each approved change creates a new dated version. Old versions are kept for reference.
- Guards on the site see the current version on their phone. When a version changes, they get a summary of what changed and acknowledge it before or at the start of their next shift.
- Cover guards are sent the current version, and a short summary of key points, when they accept a shift at the site.
- Sensitive details, such as alarm codes, are held separately with restricted access.
- The client can be sent the current version for sign-off, and their approval is recorded.
- A printed copy for the site binder can be produced from the current version whenever you need one.
- Which guards have acknowledged each version, and when.
- Which sites have instructions not reviewed for a period you set.
- The history of every change, with who approved it.
How changes flow afterwards
The client emails to add the Friday lock-up check. The account manager updates the patrol section, notes the reason and approves it. Every guard on the site gets a notification: Friday lock-up check added at 6pm, details inside. The regular guards acknowledge it that week. When the Friday cover guard accepts the shift, the current instructions and a short summary arrive with the shift details. At the contract review, the account manager shows the change history.
Supervisors find their site visits change too. Instead of checking the binder is current, they check that guards know the recent changes, and the acknowledgement list tells them who to talk to first.
Signs your AIs need attention
- Assignment instructions live in a binder on site.
- Changes are agreed by email and not reflected in the document.
- Cover guards rely on the binder or the regular guard's note.
- You cannot say which guards have read the latest version.
- Clients ask when the instructions were last updated.