Being keyholder and responding to alarm callout

Errata

What does the policy document covering keyholding say? Does it cover the procedure to be taken if KH1 is in Mexico, KH2 is visiting their mum 150 miles away and KH3 is sitting in ED waiting for their thumb to be stitched after a bit of DIY went wrong?
Unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what should happen, and a quick explanatory 1 minute conversation won't do that, and there isn't a policy document covering procedure for OOH emergencies at the store, suggest one to the area manager. If a policy doc does exist suggesting a review might earn you some Brownie points with the AM.

bap98189

In this day and age I am rather surprised that a shop expects individual employees to respond should the alarm go off. A lone member of staff responding to a potential break-in, at night, on a probably deserted retail park? I wouldn't be happy asking any of my staff to do that. If I were you I would ask to see the risk assessment for call-outs.

We employ a security company to be key-holders. Out of hours, the alarm company calls them and they attend the site, look around for any sign of a break-in and then reset the alarm and lock up. The security company would call one of our staff only if there is an actual break-in or some other sort of problem. This service costs less than £250 a year, which is pennies compared to the costs of running a shop.

22cuddles

bap98189 wrote: »

In this day and age I am rather surprised that a shop expects individual employees to respond should the alarm go off. A lone member of staff responding to a potential break-in, at night, on a probably deserted retail park? I wouldn't be happy asking any of my staff to do that.

This was expected of me in both my previous jobs. Admittedly I was the shop manager but if you got a call out you were expected to turn up and either wait outside for the police or, for window repairs/alarm company etc. police would usually check for intruders and then sometimes leave before I'd even got there. As I was single for most of that time it usually meant spending several hours onsite alone.