Night Transport Safety: Is It Necessary to Assign Female Guards for Female Employees?

Is it mandatory to depute female guards for night transport?

Is it mandatory to assign female guards to pick up or drop female employees at their homes using company transport at night?

Dear Col Rajiv,

Generally, the pickup and drop vehicles are the same for male and female employees. Does your company have separate vehicles? The purpose of providing the security guard with the vehicle is to protect the women employees traveling by the company's transport. The guidelines to provide security to the women employees traveling in night transport are mentioned in the Shops and Establishment Act or the Factory Act of the respective state. As the provisions of these acts vary from one state to another, please check the provisions of the applicable act of your state.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear Col Rajiv,

As per the rules, female employees should be escorted by female guards, which is advisable. We have been practicing escorting by female guards for dropping and pickup. The vehicles used for dropping are equipped with trackers for remote monitoring.

In my suggestion, appointing female operators for the vehicles used for pickup and drop is a better option.

Dear Prabhat Ranjan Mohanty,

Your company provides female security guards for night transport services for female employees. Could you please provide information on the selection criteria for these guards? Both male and female security guards are responsible for ensuring their safety as well as that of the female employees during the night transport.

Ensuring personal security

Ensuring personal security is a challenging task that requires preparedness, vigilance, deterrence, and defense. Finding a security guard who embodies all these qualities can be quite difficult.

As part of my professional duties, I frequently visit clients' offices. My initial interaction usually involves engaging with the security guards. However, based on their body language and facial expressions, it appears that some guards may lack adequate training.

Given this context, the effectiveness of female security guards in mitigating or exacerbating risks during night transport services is a topic that warrants consideration.

Thank you,
Dinesh Divekar

Mr. Divakar,

Our selection criteria involve employing trained individuals from the police, paramilitary, and tough sports backgrounds, including those with martial arts skills, who undergo training periodically. We also outsource services to various providers in the market.

Female candidates in service roles

Female candidates are often on par with or even surpass male service providers. It is unethical to compare individuals based on gender. The professional landscape is evolving rapidly, with increasing diversity across various fields. Given these changes, why are there still questions about the presence of females in roles within the police, military forces, Air Force, Navy, CISF, BSF, and other services?

Thank you.

Dear Prabhat Ranjan Mohanty,

If your company employs former military or para-military personnel as security guards, then it is appreciable. Not all companies do the same.

In my second post of this thread, I limited my point to the lack of training of the security guards. I did not compare female guards with male guards or question the employment of women in the military or para-military organizations. I raised my concern over the allotment of escort duties to guards whose competence is questionable. I have given parameters to decide the competence of the security guards in the said post.

My second post was based on the observations made during my visits to business establishments in general, and MNCs, in particular. In this age of computers and advanced software, many security offices are filled with a heap of registers. In the same office, seeing the security supervisor doing clerical work rather than the core work of security is not an uncommon sight!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Security services for escorting employees

Security services for escorting employees from home to their workplace and back vary among different agencies and their clients.

1. Employing female security guards with vehicles carrying female employees equipped with a backend tracking mechanism, including GPS, real-time reporting, and communication throughout the vehicle route.

2. Arranging security escorts, whether male or female, along with dedicated male employees for accompanying female employees, ensuring all female employees are dropped off first and picked up last during the route.

3. All vehicle drivers and providers undergo strict verification and monitoring using advanced tech devices, engaging reporting systems through onboard guards and escorts to take immediate actions during the route movements.

The entire responsibility lies with transport management and client management, with a primary focus on ensuring the 100% safety of female employees. The security arrangement must include real-time reporting, location mapping, and ensuring each female employee is safe at any given moment during her journey.

Hello Mr. Rajiv, are you really "Colonel"? Please don't mistake me if I'm wrong. As far as I have seen, normally officers of the Indian Army use the prefix "Col." in short form rather than "COL." This is probably the first time I see this usage. Please clarify for better understanding, as I feel we shouldn't err on the wrong side.

Guidelines for Employing Females During Night Shifts

Any employer who is empowered to employ females (of all ages) during the night shift is expected to follow the guidelines issued by the respective state government. Such governments have issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) from time to time covering various factors relevant to this shift arrangement. Legally, there's no mandatory provision to depute a female guard compulsorily to accompany the female employee to/from the places of work or residences except where it is made compulsory by the issue of notifications. It shall be the responsibility of respective employers to ensure their female employees commute safely, especially during night shifts wherever permitted.

Herewith, I attach one such notification issued by the Government of Karnataka/competent authority for your ready reference. I hope this will suffice for your purposes.