Checkpoint patrols with NFC/QR tags: how they work

1. The checkpoints are chosen and a tag is fixed at each one.
2. The schedule is set: which points, how many times per shift, in which time windows.
3. The guard walks the route and scans each tag.
4. Each scan is logged with its time — and, where the system supports it, a note or photo.
5. Points not scanned within their window show up as missed.

The result is a record that someone who was not there can check: the supervisor, the operations team or you.

• NFC: the guard holds the device almost against the tag. It needs an NFC-capable device. The tag is not necessarily a visible code, so a simple photo cannot copy it — but specialist tools can, so it is not tamper-proof.
• QR: readable with any phone camera and easy to print. The weakness: a guard can photograph the code and scan it without going to the point.
• Extra checks: recording the location at the moment of the scan, a photo of the point, or a supervisor’s spot check. Ask your provider which of these it uses.

Whichever technology you choose, fix the tags so they cannot be peeled off and moved, and check from time to time that they are still in place.

• Entrances and perimeter: doors, gates, loading ramps, points along the fence.
• Critical areas: storerooms, electrical panels, plant rooms, areas with expensive equipment.
• Camera blind spots: places only a person can see.
• Points with a history: where incidents happened or doors were found open.

A few well-placed points beat many. If the patrol turns into a hurried string of scans, the guard watches the device, not the site. For frequency, think about when the site is empty, when shifts change and when deliveries arrive.

Example (hypothetical, not a standard): “every perimeter point at least once in each two-hour window between 22:00 and 06:00”. You set the number and the windows together with your provider.

• Windows, not times: “once between 01:00 and 03:00” instead of “at 02:00”.
• Varying order: the route does not always start at the same point.
• Extra unscheduled passes at the most exposed points.

Randomising does not mean losing control. The schedule stays measurable: in each window a scan either happened or it did not.

• It proves: the device was at the tag (or a copy of it) at a time; the order and pace of the patrol; which points were missed.
• It does not prove: that the guard looked at the door next to the tag; that it was the same person, if the device passes from hand to hand; that a photo of the code was not scanned; what happened on site between two points.

So the patrol log is read alongside the shift report and the incident log, and checked with supervisor site visits. OVIT brings patrols, incidents and reports together in the Guardly platform, so the operations team and the client read them in the same live picture.

1. Alert as it happens: the supervisor calls the guard while there is still time to go back.
2. Reason in the report: an incident elsewhere, a locked area, a damaged tag, or an omission.
3. Fix the cause: replace the tag, move a point that cannot be reached, retrain.
4. Pattern: if the same point is missed every night, the problem is the route or the workload, not only the guard.
5. Monthly review: the completion rate and missed points are discussed with the provider.

A missed point with an honest explanation is worth more than a perfect rate nobody checks. For choosing a provider overall, see how to choose a security company.