A guard tour system is a patrol system designed to monitor the patrol routes of a company’s security guards and other employees. It allows you to ensure your employees are carrying out their patrol rounds as they should be, within the right time intervals. This way, your employees are monitored and can be held accountable to perform their assigned tasks.
Why do I need a guard tour system?
Security guards are often operating with little or no supervision, and a guard tour system will allow you to monitor them and ensure they are fulfilling their regular patrol duties as they should be. Without this supervision, there is the possibility of employees getting distracted or being off-task.
A guard tour system is an effective way of ensuring your guards stay on-task and are carrying out their patrols in a thorough and timely manner.
How does the guard tour system work?
The guard tour system makes use of button-sized “tags” that can be set up along the guard’s patrol route at regular checkpoints. Each of these checkpoints contains a unique identification number. These tags can be fixed to the wall at each point the guard needs to inspect.
Each guard will be given a portable reader or wand. As your employees complete their patrol rounds, they will use their portable reader to read the identification number for each of the tags at checkpoints along the patrol route. When a reader reads the tags, the reader records the tag’s unique ID as well as the date and time.
At the end of their patrol, the employee will place their reader into a downloader, which will transfer all the information stored on it to a computer with the patrol monitoring software. This information, including dates and times, and any checkpoints missed, will be processed and available for you to review.
This allows you to be assured that your employees are following their routes as they are instructed to, as well as letting you know when exactly each guard reached each checkpoint. This holds guards accountable for doing their patrols correctly, and lets you know when and how quickly patrols are being completed.
A more innovative solution to the above, is to use a customized app on your mobile phones to read NFC tags, QR Code tags, and GPS locations. Instead of using a downloader to send the patrol data to the computer software at the end of the day, the app can send the patrol data in “real time” so that it can be checked and reported instantly.
This allows you to reduce costs by simply using mobile phones instead of specialized tag readers. An added benefit is that the app can be used to enhance the patrol data by sending pictures, sound files and incident text. Some apps also have an added simple time and attendance feature which lets your employees check in and check out with GPS verification.
What are the benefits of a guard tour system?
The primary benefit of a guard tour system is that it keeps your workforce accountable by ensuring that the work they do is monitored. With this system working to monitor them, guards know they must complete their patrols as they are supposed to and they can’t be tempted to get distracted or neglect their work.
The guard tour system gives you the assurance that your employees will stay on-task and carry out their work the way you expect them to.
Where can I get a guard tour system?
If the guard tour system sounds like a good fit for the work your company’s employees are doing, then get in touch and we can offer you a quote or demo for what your company is looking for.