PSARA Supervisor Exam cheat sheet

PSARA licence is granted by the Controlling Authority of the State/UT where the private security agency's principal office is located.

Licence validity is 5 years; renewal application must be filed at least 60 days before expiry with the prescribed fee.

Agency must maintain a minimum paid-up capital and net worth as prescribed, verified through audited statements or bank certificate.

Every security guard must hold a valid training certificate from a recognised institute and a police-verified character/antecedent certificate.

Licence is non-transferable; a separate licence is required for each agency and for each place of business outside the registered State.

Controlling Authority may cancel or suspend a licence after giving the agency a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

Agencies must not employ persons with criminal convictions involving moral turpitude or who are below the prescribed minimum age.

Display of licence and maintenance of a register of guards, supervisors and clients is mandatory and open to inspection.

Supervisor-to-guard ratio and shift relief must be documented; supervisor conducts at least one documented night check per shift cycle.

Supervisor verifies attendance, uniform, equipment and fitness for duty at the start of every shift before deployment.

Supervisor is responsible for briefing guards on post orders, emergency contacts and site-specific SOPs each shift.

Incident escalation: guard reports to supervisor, supervisor reports to agency control room and client within the time specified in the SOP.

Supervisor maintains the occurrence book, duty roster and handover register, and signs each entry with date and time.

Supervisor must not leave a post unmanned; relief must be arranged before the supervisor departs the site.

Supervisor conducts periodic on-the-job training refreshers and records the same in the training register.

Layered defence principle: perimeter, building envelope, interior zones, and asset-specific protection, each with independent controls.

Risk assessment determines guard deployment using threat, vulnerability and criticality of the asset; higher criticality gets higher guard density.

Fixed posts, patrols and response reserves are three distinct deployment types; each post must have written post orders.

Patrol routes should be varied and clocked to avoid predictability; supervisors audit patrol logs against actual checkpoints.

Access points should be minimised (single controlled entry where feasible) and illuminated to the standard specified in the security plan.

Deployment plan must include contingency staffing for absenteeism, strikes, and emergencies.

CCTV, alarms and physical guards are complementary; the plan must define who monitors and who responds.

Access control principle: verify identity, verify authorisation, record entry, issue pass, and recover pass on exit.

Visitor register must capture name, ID proof number, purpose, host, time-in, time-out and escort details.

Three-tier access zones (public, restricted, high-security) with distinct badges or colours and distinct authorisation levels.

Contractors and vendors require sponsor authorisation and escort in restricted zones; tools and materials must be logged in and out.

Materials movement requires a gate pass signed by an authorised client representative; guards verify quantity against the pass.

Keys and access cards are issued against signed receipt and logged in a key register with return time.

Tailgating and piggybacking are prevented by turnstiles, mantraps or one-person-per-authorisation rules at entry points.

Emergency response sequence: detect, alert, contain, evacuate/protect, report, and review.

Fire evacuation: guards guide occupants to assembly points, keep exit routes clear, and never re-enter a building until cleared by fire authority.

Incident report must be filed within the timeframe set by the client SOP; the first report is factual and free of opinion or speculation.

Occurrence book entries are contemporaneous, chronological, and never erased; corrections are struck through and initialled.

Preserve the scene and evidence; do not disturb items until police or investigating authority permits.

Bomb threat protocol: record exact words, note time, do not touch suspicious objects, evacuate on the decision of the competent authority.

Emergency contact matrix and site layout must be posted at every guard post and rehearsed through periodic drills.

A private security guard has no police powers; the guard has only the citizen's right of private defence of person and property.

Force must be necessary and proportionate; deadly force is permitted only to repel an imminent threat to life, never to protect property alone.

Guards may make a citizen's arrest of a person committing a non-bailable offence in their presence and must hand the person to police without delay.

A guard may search only with consent or under a lawful authorisation; personal search of women must be by a woman guard.

Detention must be brief and for the purpose of handing over to police; prolonged confinement creates liability for wrongful confinement.

Use-of-force incident must be reported immediately to the supervisor and police, and the guard's statement recorded.

Agency is vicariously liable for acts of guards done in the course of employment; negligence in training or deployment increases liability.

Duty hours must comply with applicable labour law; rest intervals and weekly offs are mandatory and recorded in the roster.

Guards are entitled to prescribed wages, provident fund, ESI where applicable, uniform allowance and leave as per statute.

Night-shift guards require adequate lighting, shelter, communication and relief; lone working at isolated posts needs a check-in protocol.

Personal protective equipment and weather protection are provided by the agency and their issue recorded.

Women guards must not be deployed on night shifts without consent and adequate safety arrangements as required by law.

Workplace harassment complaints are handled through the internal committee with confidentiality and time-bound inquiry.

Accident and injury must be recorded in the accident register and reported to the prescribed authority within the statutory period.

Core registers: guard register, client register, duty roster, occurrence book, visitor register, key register, training register, accident register.

Records must be retained for the period prescribed by the Controlling Authority and produced on demand during inspection.

Audit cycle: plan, checklist, site visit, observation, non-conformity report, corrective action, and closure verification.

Non-conformities are graded (critical, major, minor) and critical ones require immediate escalation to the agency head.

Documented evidence for audit includes signed rosters, supervisor check logs, training certificates and incident reports.

Audit findings must be traceable to a corrective action with owner and due date, and closed only after verification.

Statutory returns and licence renewals are tracked on a compliance calendar with advance alerts.