Security Post Orders Template

Post orders are the written instructions that tell a guard exactly what to do on your site. Not general training — your gates, your people, your escalation chain, your scenarios.

Most sites in the Kingdom operate without them. The guard improvises, and improvisation is how both failures and overreach happen. This template costs you nothing. Use it, adapt it, or hand it to your current provider and ask why they never produced one.

Why this document matters more than headcount

In an incident, the guard does what he was told to do. If nobody told him anything, he does what seems reasonable in the moment — and "seemed reasonable" is how a guard ends up detaining someone he had no authority to detain, or standing aside when he should have escalated.

Post orders are also your protection. If a guard exceeds his authority, the first question is what he was instructed to do. A written, signed document that says "do not detain — observe, document, escalate" is worth a great deal at that moment. A verbal understanding is worth nothing.

The template

1. Site information

Site name, full address, and access instructions for emergency vehicles.
Post location(s) and the exact hours each is manned.
Site plan — gates, entrances, fire exits, assembly point, utility shut-offs.
Client site contact: name, role, phone. And who covers when they are unavailable.

2. The escalation list — the most important section

Write this first, and get it on one page the guard can hold.

Routine issue → who is called, during which hours.
Out-of-hours issue → who is called, and on what number.
Security incident (intrusion, theft, aggression) → order of calls.
Medical emergency → who calls the ambulance, who meets it, who informs the client.
Fire → alarm, evacuation authority, who calls civil defence.
Police attendance required → who authorises, who accompanies.

Most sites have never written this down, which is why the first critical minutes of a real emergency are spent working out who to wake up.

3. Access control rules

Who may enter without challenge (if anyone) and how they are identified.
Staff: badge, list, or recognition? Recognition is not verification.
Visitors: registration procedure, escort requirement, sign-out.
Contractors: which authorised list, who maintains it, how often it is updated.
Deliveries: where, when, what is verified.
Vehicles: plates logged, drivers checked, parking rules.
Outbound: what may leave, with whose authorisation, and how it is logged. This section prevents more loss than any other, and it is the one usually missing.

4. Refusal and confrontation — write this explicitly

What the guard does when someone without authorisation demands entry.
What happens when that person is senior. This is the section that decides whether your access control survives its first month. Name who backs the guard.
What the guard does if someone becomes aggressive: de-escalate, withdraw, escalate. Not engage.
Explicit statement of limits: the guard shall not detain, search by force, confiscate property, or block a person from leaving. Put this in writing. It protects everyone.

5. Patrol schedule

Route, checkpoints, frequency — and randomisation requirement. A fixed-time patrol is a published timetable.
What is checked at each point.
How the patrol is logged and verified.

6. Reporting

Daily occurrence log — what goes in it.
Incident report: what, when, where, who, action taken, who was notified. "Handled situation" is not a report.
Who receives reports, how quickly, and who reads them.

7. Shift handover

Face-to-face, documented, with overlap time built in.
Handover covers: outstanding issues, people still on site, equipment status, anything unresolved.
Both guards sign.

8. Prohibited tasks

State plainly what the guard will not be asked to do — receiving parcels, answering the switchboard, cleaning, running errands, or monitoring cameras while manning a gate. Every added task is a moment of divided attention, and this clause protects the service you are paying for.

9. Sign-off

Signed and dated by the client site contact and the security provider. Reviewed at least annually, and after any incident.

How to use this

Copy the headings into a document, fill in your specifics, and have both parties sign it. It will take an afternoon.

If your current provider has never produced post orders for your site, that tells you something useful about how they operate — and this template gives you the standard to hold them to.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are post orders?

The written, site-specific instructions telling a guard exactly what to do at your site — your gates, your escalation chain, your scenarios. Not general training. In an incident, a guard does what he was told; if nobody told him anything, he improvises.

Why do post orders protect the client, not just the guard?

If a guard exceeds his authority, the first question asked is what he was instructed to do. A signed document stating 'do not detain — observe, document, escalate' is worth a great deal at that moment. A verbal understanding is worth nothing.

What is the most important section of post orders?

The escalation list — who the guard calls, for what, in what order, and out of hours. Most sites have never written this down, which is why the first critical minutes of a real emergency are spent working out who to wake up.

What section do most post orders leave out?

Outbound control — what may leave the site, on whose authorisation, and how it is logged. Sites obsess over who comes in and rarely check what goes out, which is precisely how most material loss occurs.

How often should post orders be reviewed?

At least annually, and after any incident. Sites change, contacts leave, and post orders that describe a site as it was three years ago are worse than useless because everyone assumes they are current.

Free to use and share

This post-orders template for Saudi security sites is free to use, adapt, and reference — including in a tender against us. If it is useful to you, a link back helps others find it.

Cite as: Security Post Orders Template, Arab Security Guard Services. https://www.arabsecurityguardservices.com/resources/post-orders-template/