Securi-Maintenance

[cnick001]

Windows and water pipes break, seemingly always at 3 am when I'm on duty, but some plywood and a drill, or shutting off a well are nice easy fixes. However recently since the end of the summer has brought calm to my facility, I've had "suggestions" from the manager to paint the guard shack since otherwise I'm not very busy.
However,, silly me, I painted it too well, and now I'm painting the barn next to it. The troubling part is, while I'm up on the ladder painting, just anyone can, and does blow past the booth. And the annoying thing, the pay for putting 10 gallons on one side of a barn in 3 days is the same as for sitting in a booth, or patrolling (which I enjoy).
Sorry for the bit of a rant, but I'm curious to see if anyone else has seen this crossover from security to "night maintenence" in their workplace?

[EMTGuard]

I don't volunteer for anything.
Unfortuantly there are some SOs at my site who are more than willing to do such added services. Before I was assigned to the site a couple of officers painted the inside of the building which houses the Guard Shack and scale operators office. They've replaced ceiling tiles, worked on monitors and video systems, plugged tires on client vehicles and even picked up trash in parking lots.
Of course, don't tell them to go into the parking lot and confront someone who not supposed to be there. Suddenly they are all timid and frightened. Sometimes I think it would be better for them to go apply for jobs as janitors and get out of the security business altogether.
Either way, when they volunteer for these little extra duties it becomes expected of the rest of us and then the next thing I know I'm doing twice the work and getting paid the same as before. Screw that.

[N. A. Corbier]

Are you contract? If so, you have completely opened your employer to a "lessening standard of care" lawsuit by performing tasks that are not contractually required. Only, they are now, because you (as an agent of the company) have accepted the added duties and are doing them.

Your job is outlined in your post orders. If you are doing anything but what those post orders say, you are derelict in your duties, and the courts have found that anything that happens on your shift is your fault, and your company's fault.

I've used this example before:
Security in hotels take towels to guests. Nowhere in the contractual obligations or post orders does it say security takes towels to guests. If there is an incident in the parking lot or lobby or another floor, the client has an easy scape goat in their negligence lawsuit: The security company and the security guard.

In this case, if someone blows by your booth while you are painting the barn and steals property or harms people, you are directly responsible for that. In some states, criminally responsible (criminal negligence). As you can't prove that its anywhere in your contractual duties to paint barns or guard shacks, the client will say "the guard did it of his own free will. He didn't protect us! Your honor, we want the security company to pay for any damages real or percieved" and the company will say "the guard did it without our knowledge or consent. Your honor, we ask that the guard be found to be negligent in his duties and apply for injunctive relief against the respondant superior claim by the client."

Never, ever, allow a client to "add" services without getting those services in writing to your company, and your company issuing new post orders. We went round and round with a client on this at my former employer. He would issue verbal orders relating to such things as towing and barring people from the property (actual security issues as outlined by the contract.) He refused to put them in writing, as the contract specified. The next day, he would claim those orders were never issued, and "security is towing cars on their own!"

Why, you may ask, would he do this? Irate residents having to pay 300-400 dollars in fees from the impound lot. They wanted his head, so he blamed "those courtesy guards are doing things that they're not supposed to," and then demanded the guard pay for the towing fees!

[N. A. Corbier]

I don't volunteer for anything.
Unfortuantly there are some SOs at my site who are more than willing to do such added services. Before I was assigned to the site a couple of officers painted the inside of the building which houses the Guard Shack and scale operators office. They've replaced ceiling tiles, worked on monitors and video systems, plugged tires on client vehicles and even picked up trash in parking lots.
Of course, don't tell them to go into the parking lot and confront someone who not supposed to be there. Suddenly they are all timid and frightened. Sometimes I think it would be better for them to go apply for jobs as janitors and get out of the security business altogether.
Either way, when they volunteer for these little extra duties it becomes expected of the rest of us and then the next thing I know I'm doing twice the work and getting paid the same as before. Screw that.

Exactly. And when it comes time to do their job, they're busy doing something that's "value added" and the client gets to have a field day with them. Even if the client doesn't sue, kiss your job good-bye, and perhaps your security licensing.

If something big does happen... Expect to be fired, and sued in court.

[mh892]

Windows and water pipes break, seemingly always at 3 am when I'm on duty, but some plywood and a drill, or shutting off a well are nice easy fixes. However recently since the end of the summer has brought calm to my facility, I've had "suggestions" from the manager to paint the guard shack since otherwise I'm not very busy.
However,, silly me, I painted it too well, and now I'm painting the barn next to it. The troubling part is, while I'm up on the ladder painting, just anyone can, and does blow past the booth. And the annoying thing, the pay for putting 10 gallons on one side of a barn in 3 days is the same as for sitting in a booth, or patrolling (which I enjoy).
Sorry for the bit of a rant, but I'm curious to see if anyone else has seen this crossover from security to "night maintenence" in their workplace?

This is the way it is;
Security matters= Security Officer.
Corperate Management= CEO
Hiring= Personnel Office
Water pipes= Maintenance Dept.
Painting= Maintenance Dept.
Plywood and drill= Maintenance Dept.
Picking up trash= Maintenance Dept.
MAINTENANCE= MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

I've seen job advertisements like; Security Guard, $7.00 Hour. Job includes cleaning, taking out trash, changing light bulbs, assisting others setting up and breaking down conference rooms, repairing (pick an item), cetra, cetra.

Bottom line. The job is Security or it is not Security.

These suggestions for added services are NOT for your benefit. Someone else will reap from your free labor. You work in Security or you work in the Maintenance Department.

[N. A. Corbier]

And if you work in Maintenance, you get 10 bucks an hour.

[HotelSecurity]

So if someone vomits on the floor & since I am a SECURITY OFFICER who is not allowed to mop it up & someone slips on the vomit, hurts themselves & sues the hotel for negligence, this is ok? Not in my hotels. Our job is to prevent loss to the hotel. Getting sued is a loss. And remember in 2 of my 3 hotels there is only the Night Auditor & Security on duty overnight.

Or the toilet gets blocked. There is a family with kids in the room. What do they do? Use the bathtub? They won't come back. Another loss for the hotel.

An hotel is part of the SERVICE industry. We have to do extras.

[cnick001]

A campground is just an outdoor hotel, however I do have to agree that painting is extreme. For the guardbooth, I was happy to do it just to improve my workplace and maintain a more professional appearence.

Time to look for a new job.

Oh, and further, I'm privately employed by the facility, no contact to fall back on. (hence why the boss can order me to paint on a slow night)

[Charger]

So if someone vomits on the floor & since I am a SECURITY OFFICER who is not allowed to mop it up & someone slips on the vomit, hurts themselves & sues the hotel for negligence, this is ok? Not in my hotels. Our job is to prevent loss to the hotel. Getting sued is a loss. And remember in 2 of my 3 hotels there is only the Night Auditor & Security on duty overnight.

Had this scenario happen a lot when I worked in a mall... Security's job when the vomit happened?: Grab a nearby 'wet floor' cone to mark it off, notify janitorial, and stand by in the area until they arrived to clean it up. Security should NOT be doing the mop-up themselves.

Or the toilet gets blocked. There is a family with kids in the room. What do they do? Use the bathtub? They won't come back. Another loss for the hotel.

Again, call someone from housekeeping/maintenance. Unless this is a little 10-room ratshack motel, someone from one of those departments should be on duty at all hours. Security should NOT be doing this stuff.

An hotel is part of the SERVICE industry. We have to do extras.

So is Law Enforcement... But you don't see them responding to calls to unclog toilets, now do you?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, and I apologize if I came across as kinda brash... I just woke up.. I just think it's ridiculous that companies expect security to do this kind of stuff, and that some SOs are actually OK with it...

[S Messina]

I worked a Golf Country Club/Estate Housing area. The Club has a 30 room "Hotel".

After 3 pm the maid/maintenace staff goes home. All service requests (towels, bedding, instructions on how to work the heater, bath tub, clogged toilets...) are then handled by the Security Patrol officer.

After 8 pm all Hotel staff is gone. Then all Hotel operations are handled by Security (guest check-ins- including swiping credit cards or cash payments, switching rooms for unhappy guests, wake-up calls...) until 7 am.

Facility maintenance lived at 45 minutes away so any maintenance issues that arose after hours were handled by security. Serious issues would call out the maintenance man but should be avaoided due to his high after hours overtime payrate.

This was done from a 5'x7' Gatehouse while also handling the entry point to a 1000 home gated community.

1 officer in the gatehouse, 1 on patrol.

[HotelSecurity]

Bridgate: Re read my post. It is not uncommon for even large hotels now a days not to have any staff on duty some nights except the Night Auditor & Security. You could put up a cone or sign but THERE IS NO JANITOR TO CALL. There is NO MAINTENANCE MAN to unblock the toilet, just YOU!

[N. A. Corbier]

In a contract security situation, that's not the security company's problem. Period. Unless the client wants to put it into the contract that the security company is going to perform those duties.

The contract security company is only required to prevent loss that it is contracted to. If it says, "Protect property through observation and reporting," then they don't prevent loss through intervention. If it says, "Protect property and personnel from fire or criminal interference," then that's what they're responsible to do.

The contract security company is not responsible for the client's inability to adequately staff their operation.

[Mr. Security]

I understand HotelSecurity's dilemma. He has contract security companies after his in-house security job like bees on honey. If he refuses to bend on the issue, management might give his position to contract security since they love to promote value-added services. If he has to work for contract security, he'll have to do those other tasks anyhow.

Personally, I dislike this ever-increasing trend toward focusing on non-security services. Guardsmark is one of the worst offenders, IMO. It's one thing to check FE's and eyewash stations. That is a safety function that ties in w/ security. Unfortunately, it is starting to include the absurd tasks noted in the above posts. I WILL NOT clean up vomit, transport corpses to the morgue, check rodent traps or anything similar. Find out what a company requires before you apply.

[HotelSecurity]

I understand HotelSecurity's dilemma. He has contract security companies after his in-house security job like bees on honey. If he refuses to bend on the issue, management might give his position to contract security since they love to promote value-added services. If he has to work for contract security, he'll have to do those other tasks anyhow.

Personally, I dislike this ever-increasing trend toward focusing on non-security services. Guardsmark is one of the worst offenders, IMO. It's one thing to check FE's and eyewash stations. That is a safety function that ties in w/ security. Unfortunately, it is starting to include the absurd tasks noted in the above posts. I WILL NOT clean up vomit, transport corpses to the morgue, check rodent traps or anything similar. Find out what a company requires before you apply.

Actully Mr. Security it would be worse. They would simply change our title to Houseman (janitor) who calls 9-1-1

[Bill Warnock]

Actully Mr. Security it would be worse. They would simply change our title to Houseman (janitor) who calls 9-1-1

I know from other posts I've made, but when I worked for two contract security companies they thought it was wonderful since I retained my police commission.
I loved when they said as add-on contract features, please dump the trash from such and so in bin #1 only. Hmmm! What is so special about bin #1? Put trash on a dolly and move it to a safe location and have a peek. Bin #1 was very near the fence that just happened to have two ribbons, one green and one red tied to the outrigger. Keep up, don't disappoint me. Small expensive machine parts in the trash and that was to go to bin #1. Pay phone, dial a number and talk to a friend on the County's theft squad. "In ten minutes there will be an unmarked car, two deputies with star light scopes and cameras. Take dolly to bin #1. Placed in trash. Sprayed with "Tag-IT." Go about my business. Meet friend, gave canister of tag-it to officer, signed receipt and went home.
Two weeks later read in Cincinnati Times-Star about breaking up a very well organized interstate theft operating from such and so industrial plant. Squeeling, sounded like a mouse convention. Three plant employees and shift supervisor pled out. Interstate ring leaders tried and sentenced to 40 years each in Federal prison on a variety of charges.
Such and so guard company not involved and certainly not me. Odd thing though, security guards no longer had extra duties.
I am realistic enough to know extra duties can get out of hand and that can lead to horrible security.
God Almighty, what a thrill!
Enjoy the day,
Bill