Security Guard Refresher Practical: The Search and Radio Assessment

The Security Guard Refresher has one practical assessment: a filmed, one-to-one search and communications assessment with a pass mark of 100 per cent of the criteria. It takes about 15 minutes, and the people who struggle with it are usually experienced guards who have dropped a step over three years on site. Here is what the assessor is looking for, from the current Highfield specification for the Level 2 Award for Security Officers in the Private Security Industry (Refresher).

The assessment

The practical is set by the awarding body, assessed by us against its observation sheet, filmed and kept for at least a year for Highfield's quality assurance. There is no prompting before or during it.

The search, step by step

A volunteer conceals a prohibited item on their person or in their possessions while you are out of view, in a different place each time. You then carry out the search on film. Only one item needs to be found, but the assessor must see every one of these:

1. Explain the search policy: why searches are carried out, what the search involves, that it is a condition of entry or of the site.
2. Ask for and obtain consent before you touch anything. If consent is refused, you do not search; you refuse entry or escalate under the site rules.
3. Search in an appropriate place, with a witness where possible.
4. Use the right PPE and equipment: gloves, a hand-held metal detector if provided, a torch.
5. Outer garment search, then bag search, then person search, each done systematically and in order so nothing is missed.
6. Demonstrate a self-search: the person turns out their own pockets and opens their own bags while you watch, with no physical contact, for anyone who does not want to be touched or where a same-sex search is not available.
7. Respond correctly when you find the item: seize it, bag and store it, record it, and know whether it is a police matter.
8. Communicate professionally throughout, telling the person what you are doing and why.

The questions

After the search, the assessor picks at least two protected characteristics and asks how searching a person with each would change your technique; across the course, every characteristic you would meet in a normal working environment gets covered. You are also asked how searching a child or young person differs: only outer garments such as coats, hats, gloves and scarves removed; another person present, ideally a parent, guardian or responsible adult; spoken to appropriately and told what is happening and why; consent obtained and understanding confirmed; searched by someone of the same sex.

The radio

The communications part uses a radio or similar device. You carry out a radio check, use call signs, pass a short, accurate message using the standard procedure words, and spell names or registrations with the phonetic alphabet. If your current site does not use radios, practise the alphabet before the day; it is the one thing you cannot bluff.

How to prepare

• Run the search sequence in your head until it is automatic: policy, consent, place, PPE, outer garments, bag, person, self-search, find, seize, record.
• Have a clear answer ready for each protected characteristic and for searching a child.
• Learn the phonetic alphabet and the procedure words: over, out, roger, wilco, say again, standby.

If you do not pass

The assessor tells you which criteria were missed and you repeat the assessment after going over them. The ASA Exam Warranty covers the multiple-choice paper; the practical is assessed in the room as part of the course.

For the written side, read the Refresher exam guide. The renewal process is in the Security Guard renewal guide, and dates and current prices are on the calendar.

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