1SC Guarding Media Centre.

1SC Guarding Limited (1SC) was established in 1997 by myself David Jones, an ex-squaddie suddenly in civilian life after 10 years of three-square meals and a bed. I was motivated to set up a Manned Guarding company by my considerable experience, both good and bad gained as a buyer and end user of guarding services with organisations as diverse as The BBC and The London Borough of Southwark both great institutions who I still respect today.

·       My vision was never to be rich, but it would be nice!

·       My vision was never to be the boss, but someone has to be!

·       My vision was never to be National; I love London!

·       My vision was never to be the same as my competitors, for obvious reasons!

Choosing the right Security Company/Supplier can be daunting as there are so many to choose from, it’s important to ensure the supplier can provide immediate responses through an unbroken chain of communication from their own 24/7 control Centre and response teams. This together with the right calibre of Security Personnel who are SIA licensed and trained is an excellent start to selecting an appropriate provider.   Effective internal training procedures and training plans should be accessible for would be clients to inspect, don’t just accept its done, check its done, “Audit” it’s a client’s responsibility to ensure their chosen supplier is suitable for purpose (check staff records). 

Good Quality management has a direct impact on the services being provided, managers need to know and understand both their staff and their clients to effectively provide a quality service (Supervisors should be more knowledgeable than Officers and Managers should have excellent background knowledge of all security matters). An effective Quality Management System (QMS) will provide daily alerts to all Security Managers, enabling them to be fully compliant with both site requirements and those that are covered by legislation these being e.g.;

·       Enhanced DBS working with the young and vulnerable, hospitals and schools

·       First aid trained 4 day

·       Fire warden trained, high rise buildings

Lost 2 won 1

2019 has been a great year of ups and down, you win some and you lose some but it’s the losing of contracts that concerns us most, especially when you have been in place for 15 years and never dropped below 98.75% in KPIs.  Whilst we accept contracts come and go for numerous reasons, we find it extremely odd when a large contract has been lost and the reasons given are a better ITT was provided, really?