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In a nutshell, key holding security is a professional service whereby the servicers are contracted to hold a set of keys to your property. Keyholding is usually coupled with an alarm response so that in the event of an alarm activation, the keyholder will be alerted.

Then, the keyholder will be able to dispatch a team of security to investigate the alarm activation and respond appropriately; whether that be calling the emergency services or securing the property. Afterwards, a report will be sent your way of the call out.

Let’s explore deeper into what a key holder does and how it can benefit your business.

What is a keyholder?

The keyholder is the assigned person that holds the keys to a property in case of emergencies. An example of an emergency could be a burglar alarm being activated, meaning that the keyholder must investigate the trigger.

Keyholders are necessary because in many industries it is a requirement that one person must be able to access the premises at any given time.

There are two types of people who can become your keyholder, either a security professional or an individual in your company.

Please be aware that if you choose to assign someone from your company as the keyholder, then you have a legal duty of care to them. If anything bad were to happen to them whilst in the role of the keyholder, your company could be fined or imprisoned under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007, which came into force on 6th April 2008.

With this in mind, we recommend that you hire a professional keyholding service. If your alarm was to sound then a professional key-holding security member would be sent out to your property immediately to investigate and resolve the issue.

The perks of letting a professional key holding service take care of things for you is that the security partner will be SIA accredited with vast experience on their back, being specifically trained in dealing with serious or threatening incidents which may occur.

If the emergency services need to get involved they will call them out. But most importantly, they will ensure that your property is secured and safe.

Why do you need a keyholding service?

Using a key holding service will keep your business, your property and your people safe and secure. Various advantages of using a keyholding service include:

• Prevents false alarms
• Quick response time
• No stressing
• Accurate investigations
• Appropriate action taken

Which industries can benefit from a key holding service?

The majority of industries would benefit from a key holding service, these include but are not limited to:

• Hospitality
• Retail
• Warehouses
• Healthcare
• Education
• Offices
• Construction
• Factories

Whether you own a DIY store, run a nursery or healthcare clinic, you will vastly benefit from a key holding service. Key holding security is beneficial for the majority of industries.

What is keyholding and how does the keyholding process work?

When hiring a key holding service, the key holding company will first come out to your business for a premises inspection. During this inspection, they will get familiar with the property, which includes looking at the functionality of any alarms and getting an understanding of the potential protocol which might take place in an emergency scenario.

Next, as the business owner you will hand over a set of keys to the security partner. It is the responsibility of the new key holder to store these keys in a secure location, and they are only to be used in the case of an emergency.

In the emergency event of a burglar, fire or another type of intruder and your property’s emergency alarm is raised, the key holder will come to the premises with the keys, and enter the property, where they would then conduct a full investigation.

If it is a false alarm, the key holder will reset your alarm, and secure the property safely. After this, they would simply restore the keys to their original secure location.

In the case of a real emergency, such as an intruder or a fire, the key-holding security professional will follow the protocol established upon their initial visit. Usually, this involves ringing emergency services as well as the business owner, to gain control of the situation.

Regardless of whether the incident was an emergency or a false alarm, the security partner would always follow up with a report on the incident which you would receive by email within 24 hours of the incident occurring.

Advantages of a key holding service

We believe that key holding is an absolutely vital service for your business, with many advantages.

What are the advantages?

• Save money on on-site security

On-site security can be expensive, so by making use of a key holding service you can increase the protection of your business without spending a fortune on a security team who works outside of office hours.

• Peace of mind

Gone will be the days whereby you worry about potential intruders, or something going wrong on the premises whilst you are not there. Your key holder will be available immediately for any issues which may occur.

• Less stress for your employees

With a lot of businesses designating the key holding role to one of their employees, by putting this responsibility in the hands of the key holding service instead, you can take this burden away from your staff.

• Well-trained security

By utilising a professional key holding service, you are placing the best possible individual to deal with an emergency situation because they have been accredited by the SIA and therefore have the appropriate training to deal with the emergency.

• Your own safety

When your alarm goes off, there is a chance that your property is under threat from someone who may be unsafe to approach. If you were to attend this scenario, you could be putting yourself at risk. However, by utilising a professional key holder, as a trained professional they can take on this risk for you; Get in touch with us today to enquire about how we can enhance the security of your premises.

As the summer season approaches, festivals are beginning to emerge. Whether you are attending a festival, or planning to organise one yourself, the consideration of festival security is vital. Yet, what exactly is festival security?

Festival security is the security provided at a festival. This includes security guards, security dogs and security cameras.

Being extremely crowded places, festivals tend to have unpredictable events occurring throughout the event which is why security services are so important for the safety of all attendees and staff. Festival security services go much further than offering a physical presence of security guards, it’s all about a variety of factors that need to be carefully considered as part of taking your guests and visitors’ safety seriously.

This article explores event security services, the use of security at festivals and what security guards can do.

What is the role of security at a festival?

Security guards working at festivals will have a range of duties, including, but not limited to:

• Conducting bag searches upon entry to the festival
• Ensuring the safety of all guests and festival staff
• Crowd control management
• Helping attendees with enquiries or issues
• Patrolling around the event
• Looking out for anti-social or dangerous behaviour and dealing with it appropriately

Can a festival run without security?

Without festival security, your attendees and staff members would be at risk of crime, making it an unsafe event, which is why security is vital for running a safe and secure festival.

Security guards have the capacity to prevent crime, therefore protecting everyone attending the event.

Security guards are allowed to use a reasonable degree of force to detain or eject you from a festival if necessary.

How many security guards are needed for a festival?

Dependent on the number of attendants of the festival, the number of security guards needed will vary.

Glastonbury is known as the largest outdoor music festival in the UK, hosting 210,000 attendees. In 2019, Police records indicated that there were 214 crimes recorded at the festival and 25 arrests were made. Without the help of security, this event could have been very unsafe.

When planning for festival security, it is essential that you consider the ratio of guards to guests.

A festival of up to 250 people may only need a team of 12 security guards, whilst festivals over 1000 guests will require a larger security team.

The safest way to work out how many guards you will need for your festival is to get in touch with a festival security company for advice.

Regardless of the size of your festival, it is essential to have a reliable security team for the safety of everyone attending.

What are the different types of security needed?

There is a range of security guards that a festival organiser might need to hire to help protect attendees. Some of these may be general guards, bodyguards, gatekeepers, crowd control, mobile control and armed guards.

Event Security Bodyguards are an essential part of any security service, acting as the backbone across your event space and event grounds. Bodyguards can come in various forms as part of a security package for events such as festivals, sporting events and public gatherings.

Security patrolling is perhaps the most essential of all security services for events, as they remain a consistent presence at all times.

Event security guards go much further than being simply a physical presence, it’s all about a variety of factors that need to be carefully considered as part of taking your guests and visitors’ safety seriously.

All of these offer a different purpose, but the goal is to keep all attendees safe whilst still ensuring attendees can enjoy themselves.

Surveillance is another form of security needed for festivals. Security teams should monitor CCTV from control rooms and dispatch guards to necessary locations.

How can security assist with festival queues?

Festival security services should offer security barriers throughout the festival queuing area that can aid with queues. These barriers guide guests in the right direction to go, creating a steady and safer flow of traffic.

On top of this, by placing security guards close to the queuing area they can answer guest queries, call out anti-social behaviour and offer assistance with directions.

Can security guards at festivals conduct searches?

Security guards have the right to search attendees whilst they are entering a festival. These searches tend to look for prohibited items such as drugs and alcohol and involve the security guard searching through your bag or pockets. Security guards are allowed to confiscate any illegal items they find.

However, a security guard can only search you if you consent. If you don’t consent, then they have the right to refuse your entry to the festival,

Security dogs, also known as sniffer dogs, are sometimes used upon entry to try to seek out these prohibited items.

Security guards don’t have the right to check a person’s underwear for hidden items as this can be considered assault.

To ensure that only ticket holders manage to access the premises, ticket checking is usually carried out manually by security guards,  as well as through barcode scanning.

How much does festival security cost?

There is no black-and-white answer to how much it will cost to hire security guards and pay for other security factors for your festival. This is because the factors are dependent on the size of your festival, the location of your festival and the length of your festival.

For advice on what the cost of security will likely be for your festival, get in touch with a festival security company for a quote. Try to provide us with as much information as possible so that w can tailor our service to your needs. To find out more about how we can keep you safe at your next festival, get in touch with us today. In need of the best event security services available? Contact our team at All Time Security today to book a risk assessment and get a quote from our experts.