Dear Amit,
I wish before raising the query, you had asked the simple questions:
a) Where do the security personnel do their duty? The reply is they do their duties in an open environment. Yes, they may have a small outbuilding to assist their duties, but they cannot sit inside forever and they have to go on the rounds.
b) What is the nature of their duties? The reply is: since they work in an open environment, forever they are exposed to sunlight, rain or cold in the winter. The night duties are challenging because when we enjoy the comforts of our blankets, they don't have this luxury.
c) What is the primary purpose of their duties? The primary purpose of their duties is to safeguard or protect the assets of the building. They are responsible for human and material security.
If the security personnel are told to work in their right earnest, the work becomes too arduous and no security personnel can work beyond eight hours. Nevertheless, many or even almost all employers make them work for 12 hours which is 1.5 shifts. This is because making them work for 12 hours has become almost a norm and also getting the security guards has become difficult. Because of the lure of overtime (OT), today hardly a security guard agrees to work for eight hours.
In India, private security has become a big sham. They may not be trained properly on fire and safety. Their physical fitness is also questionable. Security guards are nothing but installed stooges. Ask them the basics of their duties and they will not be able to tell you. Nevertheless, we the Indians are so accustomed to living with pretensions that a collapse of the bridge kills more than 140 persons and still, it does not affect our moral compass.
Now from 12 hours, you wish to extend their duties to 16 hours. Keeping the legality of the decision apart, the decision will fail the principles of security itself. No human can work efficiently in an open environment after 12 hours. Therefore, such risks can be taken provided one is ready to compromise with the security assets.
Lastly, have you worked for 16 hours a day? If yes, then for how many days? Yours would be inbound duties. Therefore, the experiment is worth doing. The experiment will give you a perfect reply to your query!
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar