Security Post Orders: How to Write Them (Free Template)

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Bottom line

Post orders are the written instructions a security officer follows at one specific post. Good ones run about 2 to 5 pages, put emergency steps where a guard can find them in seconds, and get revised whenever site operations change. Use the free one-page template below to start, or the Professional Post Orders Kit if you run several sites.

What post orders are, and what they aren’t

Post orders answer one question for the officer standing at the post: what do I do here, at this site, on this shift?

They sit underneath two other layers. Your company’s general orders and SOPs set the rules every officer follows everywhere, such as conduct, uniform and reporting standards. State law sets the outer limits, such as what a guard may do to detain someone or use force. Post orders take both and translate them into instructions for one building, one gate or one lobby desk.

If an instruction applies at every site, it belongs in the company SOP. If it only makes sense at this address, it belongs in the post orders.

Who writes them

When I worked in security management, the security company wrote the post orders. The client told us what they needed, and we turned that into instructions an officer could follow.

That split still makes sense. The client knows the site, the tenants and the risks. The security company knows what its officers are licensed and trained to do, and what its insurance and policies allow. The guard on post should never be the one writing them, but should be asked what’s unclear or out of date.

Before post orders go live, get them signed off by both the client and a security supervisor. That signature is what makes them the standard everyone works to.

How long post orders should be

The post orders I worked with ran 2 to 5 pages. The more detailed the site, the longer they got. A single-door lobby post needs less than a warehouse with truck gates, alarms and contractors.

Length becomes a problem when the emergency steps get buried. If your orders are growing past five pages, split them: a short core every officer reads every shift, plus a reference appendix for floor plans, contact lists and rarely used procedures.

What to include

Section	What goes in it	Common mistake
Post details	Site name, post location, post type (fixed or patrol), hours, uniform	Leaving out which entrance or desk the post actually covers
Contacts and escalation	Supervisor, client contact, after-hours numbers, who to call first	One phone number and no backup
Duties by shift time	Opening, hourly, closing and handover tasks in order	One long list with no timing
Access control	Who may enter, ID checks, visitor and contractor rules, deliveries	“Use good judgment” in place of a rule
Patrols	Routes, checkpoints, frequency, what to check at each point	Patrol “regularly” with no frequency
Emergencies	Fire, medical, evacuation, severe weather, utility failure, threats	Copying a generic plan that doesn’t match the building
Limits of authority	What the officer may and may not do, per company policy and state law	Leaving it out, so officers guess
Reporting	Daily activity report, incident reports, when to call it in	No deadline for the report
Shift handover	What the outgoing officer passes on, what both sign	Treating relief as a quick hello
Equipment and keys	Radios, keys, access cards, where they live, how they’re logged	No key log
Conduct on post	Phone use, visitors, breaks, eating, leaving the post	Rules that conflict with the company SOP
Revision record	Version, date, what changed, who approved	No date, so nobody knows which copy is current

Two safety notes belong in every set. Emergency procedures should follow the site’s own emergency plan and the instructions of the local fire authority. And never write an order that has an officer lock, chain or block an exit door that people need to get out.

For the limits-of-authority section, don’t improvise. What an officer may do about detention, force or recording depends on your state and your company policy. Our guides on whether security guards can detain people, de-escalation and recording laws for security guards cover the background.

Write orders an officer can act on

Vague orders get vague results. Every instruction should tell the officer what to do, when, and what to record. These are example rewrites, not orders from a real site:

Vague	Actionable
Patrol the building regularly.	Patrol all floors once per hour, starting at the top of the hour. Check each fire door is closed and unobstructed. Log any problem in the DAR.
Watch for suspicious people.	Ask anyone without a visible badge in the office areas to show ID or sign in at the front desk. If they refuse, call the supervisor and note the time and description.
Handle deliveries.	Deliveries go to the loading dock only, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Record carrier, driver name and package count. Nothing is left unattended in the lobby.

One instruction per line. Numbers instead of words like “regularly” or “promptly.” Put the action first.

The sign-off problem

Most companies have officers sign or log that they read the post orders. In my experience officers didn’t ignore post orders, but they got complacent. They marked that they’d read them without really reading them again.

A signature proves someone held the binder. It doesn’t prove they know what to do when the fire panel goes off. A few habits help:

Put a short “What changed” box at the top of every revision, so a returning officer reads the new part first.
Have supervisors ask one or two questions from the post orders on site visits.
Make the officer initial the changed section, not just the cover page.

Don’t skip the shift handover

The relief procedure is the part of post orders that gets shortchanged the most.

From the Field: I still remember a guard who didn’t do a proper shift handover. The details of that shift have faded, but the lesson stuck with me: if it isn’t passed on and written down at handover, the next officer starts the shift blind.

Illustrative scenario: not a report of a specific real event. An outgoing officer at a warehouse is running late. He tells his relief “quiet night, nothing going on” and leaves. He doesn’t mention that the rear roll-up door didn’t latch after the last delivery, that maintenance borrowed the server room key, or that a contractor is due at 2 a.m. On the first patrol the incoming officer finds the rear door open and has to treat it as a possible break-in. The key log shows a key missing that nobody can account for. When the contractor arrives, he isn’t on any list, so he’s turned away and the client complains in the morning. A two-minute written handover would have prevented all three problems.

A handover section should require the outgoing officer to pass on:

Open incidents and anything still being watched
Keys, radios and access cards, counted and logged
Alarms, faults or doors that are out of service
Expected visitors, deliveries or contractors
Any new instruction from the client or supervisor

Both officers sign the log. Our free shift forms and daily activity report template fit this step.

Keep them current

Where I worked, post orders were reviewed weekly. The main reason they changed was a major change that affected operations.

Update the orders, and log the revision, whenever any of these happen:

A new tenant, department or shift pattern
Construction, a closed entrance or a changed patrol route
A new alarm, camera or access control system
An incident that exposed a gap
A new request from the client

If your sites use an electronic guard tour system, many can store post orders on the officer’s device. See our overview of guard tour systems. Keep a printed copy at the post anyway, for when the device or network is down.

Free post orders template

The free template is a one-page starter covering every section in the table above, with fill-in fields and a revision record.

Running more than one site, or answering to a demanding client? The Professional Post Orders Kit adds a full multi-page template, versions for common site types, a shift handover log, a revision and acknowledgment log, and a supervisor review checklist.

Get the Professional Post Orders Kit ($14.99)

Gear that keeps post orders usable at the post

For outdoor and patrol posts

Saunders Cruiser-Mate Aluminum Dual Storage Clipboard

A letter-size aluminum storage clipboard with a latching lid that keeps the post orders, DARs and blank incident forms together and dry. The seller lists it for patrol, contractor and trades use.

See current price

For the master copy

Avery Heavy-Duty View Binder, 1 inch

A clear-cover binder for the copy kept at the post. Slide a cover sheet with the site name and revision date into the front so officers can see which version they’re holding.