Material Control, Passes/Logs

Most facilities have some sort of recordkeeping control of material, tools or equipment which is occasionally removed from a facility by employees. Usually, employees are borrowing a tool or taking home a personal computer or typewriter to complete an assignment. Most material control passes or logs will contain the following information:

  • Date and time
  • Name of employee/person removing the material
  • Description of material
  • Ownership (company or personal property)
  • Length of time material is to be borrowed
  • If the material is not to be returned, the reason why?
    • (Example: scrap lumber, etc.)
  • Person authorizing property removal

While material control/property passes seem to provide a means of ensuring that company property is returned, often proper follow-up of material control passes is not conducted. Problems develop in that while security may know when material is removed, security is often not notified when material is returned. Security personnel should audit material control passes frequently and follow-up with employees who still have material which should have been returned.

Practical Example:

A security manager was contacted by an employee who stated that she would soon retire and she would like to purchase the company’s typewriter that she had at home. It seems the female employee had removed the typewriter some five years previously on a material/control pass. She had never returned the typewriter because no one had ever called her to ask her when she would return it.

Incident Reports

Many security departments use separate forms for serious incidents. These are called incident reports. The purpose of documenting incidents via Incident Reports rather than recording them in the daily/shift logs is that special notice or attention is given to an incident when a separate report is written. Incidents such as attempted thefts, fires, incidents involving employees, vehicle accidents, property damage, etc. would be examples of incidents which should be reported. It is suggested that a brief notation be made in the daily/shift log such as: “Incident involving employee Pete Smith, see incident report number ___.”

The following questions must be answered when writing an incident report:

  • WHO?
  • WHAT?
  • WHEN?
  • WHERE?
  • HOW?
  • WHY?
  • CONCLUSIONS?