Security Guard Services FAQ

Urgent requests are usually staffed within 1 to 2 hours, depending on where the site is and the roads. An ongoing post normally starts within 24 to 48 hours, which leaves time for a site walk and written post orders before the first shift.

The site address, the days and hours you need covered, how many posts, what the guard should do (access control, patrols, alarm response, fire watch logs) and a start date. If a landlord or general contractor needs to be named on our certificate of insurance, tell us then too. Use the quote form or call (289) 309-3633.

We reply the same business day, by phone or email. If the need is urgent, call dispatch instead of waiting for the form, because the line is answered 24/7.

Yes. Short-term cover is a regular request: a weekend after a break-in, a few nights while a door is repaired, or a single event. The guard still gets a briefing and post orders, so a short booking is run the same way as a long one.

Post orders are the written instructions for your site: patrol routes, who may enter, who to call, and what to do in an alarm or emergency. We write them with you, and every guard reads and signs them after a site walk before working the post.

Yes. Standby Security Services Inc. holds Ontario private security agency licence #30000322 under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005. You can confirm it on the province's public registry. Details are on our Licensing and Insurance page.

Yes. The agency licence covers the business; each guard needs their own Ontario security guard licence. We check every guard's licence on the public registry before their first shift, and we give you the licence numbers of the guards assigned to your site on request.

Yes. We carry commercial general liability insurance that meets the $2,000,000 minimum O. Reg. 462/07 sets for licensed agencies, and WSIB coverage for our guards. We send a certificate of insurance and a WSIB clearance on request rather than posting them online.

Ask for four things: the agency licence number, the licence numbers of the guards who will work your site, a current certificate of insurance and a WSIB clearance dated within 90 days. Check the licence numbers yourself on the registry. A licensed agency can produce all four.

Ontario requires basic security guard training, an emergency first aid certificate and a pass on the ministry licensing test before a licence is issued. The rules are in O. Reg. 26/10. On top of that, we teach every guard our own report-writing standard and walk them through each new site.

Before a first shift we verify the licence on the public registry, interview the guard in person, check references and run our own police and vulnerable sector check. More on that process is on the Our Guards page.

Yes. Emergency first aid is part of licence training in Ontario, and our guards hold first aid certification. If your site needs a specific level, such as for a construction project or a care setting, say so when you ask for a quote.

A security uniform that follows O. Reg. 362/07: our company name or crest on the chest and an identification tag with the guard's name or licence number. The same regulation keeps security uniforms distinct from police: no rank chevrons and no police-style caps.

No. StandBy does not provide armed guards. Our guards deter, observe, control access, patrol and report, and they call police when a situation calls for it.

Guards check in with our 24/7 dispatch during their shifts, supervisors visit sites in person, and we check in with you on how the guard is doing. If something is not working, tell us and we deal with it.

Dispatch sends another licensed guard, typically within 1 to 2 hours. The replacement reads the same post orders before taking over, so the post is not left to guesswork.

Yes, when you authorize it. Under Ontario's Trespass to Property Act, an occupier, or a person the occupier authorizes, can direct someone to leave the premises. Your post orders set out who the guard may ask to leave, and the guard records each notice so a repeat visit can be dealt with.

A guard has the same arrest power as any person in Canada under section 494 of the Criminal Code, and anyone who makes an arrest must hand the person to police right away. In practice, observing, recording and calling police is usually the safer course, and your post orders say what we expect at your site.

Yes. A guard can attend when your alarm goes off, check the building and report what they found. We do not sell, install or monitor alarm or camera systems; we respond to the alarms your monitoring company reports.

Guards scan checkpoints placed around your site with patrol wands, which records when each point was reached. That gives you a record of the rounds, not just a promise of them.

Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Dundas, Burlington, Grimsby, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland, Brantford, Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. Guards are dispatched from our Hamilton office at 175 Catharine St S. See all locations.

An on-site guard stays at your property for the whole shift, which suits front desks, construction sites and anything that needs constant access control. Mobile patrol visits the site during the night, which suits vacant buildings, plazas and yards where a presence a few times a night is enough.

The Ontario Fire Code expects fire alarm and sprinkler systems to be kept working. When one is shut down or impaired, or during some hot work, the fire department usually requires a fire watch until it is restored. A fire watch guard patrols the affected area and logs each round.

Construction sites, condominiums and apartment buildings, offices and commercial buildings, retail stores, hospitals and clinics, banks, parking lots and garages, and events. Each has its own page under Security Services.

We do not provide armed guards, private investigations, alarm or camera sales, installation or monitoring, or cash-in-transit and armoured car service.

Mostly hours: how many, at what times, on which days and whether any fall on statutory holidays. The number of guards, the duties, any special training the site needs and how much notice you give also affect the quote. We quote each site after asking those questions rather than publishing a flat rate. Our security guard cost guide explains each factor.

Usually, because you pay for a set number of visits rather than every hour of the night. The trade-off is that nobody is on site between visits. For many vacant buildings and yards, patrols are enough; for a site that needs someone at the gate all night, they are not.