Security & Facility Management Glossary

A

Access Control — The processes and systems that decide who may enter which zone — from visitor registers to biometric man-traps in data centers.

Armed Guard — A guard deployed with a licensed firearm, used for high-risk assignments such as cash movement and vault facilities. Requires specific licensing.

B

Beat / E-beat — A defined patrol route with checkpoints. An e-beat verifies each point digitally (QR/NFC/GPS), producing tamper-proof patrol records.

Boom Barrier — The gate arm controlling vehicle entry at societies, plants and toll lanes — effective only when paired with disciplined gate-pass process.

C

CCTV Surveillance — Camera coverage paired with guarding; professional deployments log camera outages daily and pair cameras with patrol blind-spot coverage.

Command Desk / Control Room — The 24×7 centre that receives alerts, missed-checkpoint alarms and incident escalations across sites.

Contract Labour (R&A) Act — The law governing engagement of contract workers; principal employers carry duties under it when hiring agency staff.

D

Deployment — The act of posting trained personnel to a site under a defined shift structure and SOP set.

De-escalation — Trained techniques for defusing conflict without force — the defining skill in hospital security.

Digital Attendance — Electronic, timestamped shift records replacing paper musters — the basis of billing you can audit.

DGR — Directorate General Resettlement — the body through which ex-servicemen are resettled, including into security leadership roles.

E

ESIC — Employees’ State Insurance — statutory medical/social insurance whose employer contributions are part of any compliant quote.

Ex-servicemen Supervision — Site oversight by retired armed-forces personnel — Bryte’s operating model for discipline and training standards.

F

Facility Management (FM/IFM) — The bundle of services that keep premises running — housekeeping, technical maintenance, front-office and support staff. Integrated FM combines them under one vendor.

Fire Watch — Dedicated vigilance for fire risk — trained observers, equipment checks and drill participation, mandatory at industrial sites.

Frisking — Physical screening at entry/exit points; lady guards are mandatory for screening women.

G

Gate Pass — The numbered authorisation without which no material should leave a site — the single most important anti-pilferage control in warehouses.

GPS Patrol Tracking — Location-verified patrolling that proves night rounds actually happened.

Guards Board (Security Guards Board) — The statutory body (e.g., for Brihan Mumbai & Thane District) that fixes wages, allowances and levy for registered security personnel — see the official rate card.

Gunman — Industry term for an armed guard, typically deployed with cash vans and bullion.

H

Housekeeping (Janitorial) — Professional cleaning and upkeep services — in hospitals, an infection-control discipline with colour-coded protocols.

HRA — House Rent Allowance — 20% of minimum wages under the current Guards Board order.

I

Incident Report — The written, timestamped record of any exception — a site whose register reads only “NIL” is usually not recording, not incident-free.

L

Lady Guard / Lady Searcher — Female security personnel for frisking points, maternity floors, events and resident-facing roles.

Levy (Board Levy) — The statutory percentage (currently 45.35% for guards, 43.10% for officer categories) remitted to the Guards Board over and above wages.

LTA — Leave Travel Allowance — a fixed component of Board wages.

M

Man-guarding — Physical security staffing, as distinct from electronic surveillance.

Minimum Wages Act — The law fixing wage floors by state and scheduled employment — the base layer of every compliant security quote outside Board jurisdictions.

Muster Roll — The attendance register; increasingly replaced by digital attendance.

N

NABH — National Accreditation Board for Hospitals — accreditation whose audits extend to security and housekeeping documentation.

Night Round — Supervisory audit of night-shift posts — the round that separates real agencies from rosters on paper.

O

Overtime (OT) — Extra duty beyond 8 hours, payable at double the minimum-wage rate under the Guards Board order.

P

Patrolling — Scheduled movement through a site to deter, detect and record — verified by e-beat checkpoints in professional deployments.

PF (Provident Fund) — Statutory retirement contribution; employer share is part of every compliant quote and auditable via challans.

Police Verification — Antecedent check of personnel through police records — mandatory before deployment under PSARA.

Principal Employer — The client organisation engaging contract staff — carrying statutory liability if the vendor defaults. See our PSARA guide.

PSARA — Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005 — the licensing law for security agencies in India.

Q

QRT (Quick Response Team) — A mobile team that responds to alarms and incidents across sites within a defined radius.

R

Reliever — The substitute who covers weekly offs and leave — roughly 4.5 heads per 24×7 post. Quotes without reliever arithmetic hide illegal double shifts; see the cost guide.

S

Scrap Pass — Authorisation for scrap/waste movement — a classic leakage point at plants when unwitnessed.

Seal Verification — Matching container/vehicle seals against documents before opening — the first control at ports and warehouses.

Shift Structure (8/12-hour) — How coverage hours are divided among personnel; the biggest cost driver after headcount.

Site Assessment — The structured survey of posts, risks and flows that converts guesswork into a deployment plan — free at Bryte.

SOP — Standard Operating Procedure — written, site-specific instructions for every post and scenario.

Supervisor / Field Officer — The accountable layer above guards — rostering, audits, replacements and your monthly service review.

V

Visitor Management System (VMS) — Digital logging of visitors with badges, approvals and retrievable history — standard for corporate and residential sites.

W

Weighbridge Witness — Security counter-signature on weighments for sensitive material categories — the anti-collusion control at plants.

Workmen’s Compensation — The liability framework covering personnel outside ESIC scope, applied by the Guards Board.

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