> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://beathantechnologies.com/blog/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Security occurrence book template (free, with sample entries) - URL: https://beathantechnologies.com/blog/security-occurrence-book-template/ - Published: 2026-10-28T08:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-28T08:00:02.000Z - Description: The page layout, the five columns, three filled-in entries and the rules that keep a paper OB believable, plus a printable A4 version emailed to you. - Author: Liam van Huyssteen - Tags: Sentry, Security operations, #kw: security occurrence book template A security occurrence book template is the page layout guards fill in during a shift: a header that says which site, post and shift the page belongs to, and numbered entries recording what happened, when, where and what was done about it. Below is a free template you can copy into a blank book today, three filled-in sample entries, and a printable PDF version you can have emailed to you. ## What goes at the top of each page? Every page needs to stand on its own. If a page is photocopied, faxed to a client or torn out, it should still say exactly whose record it is. - Company name - Site name and address - Post or position (main gate, control room, patrol) - Date - Shift: day or night, with the start and end times - Guard on duty, with their PSIRA registration number - Book number and page number The book number matters more than it looks. A site that has gone through three books in a year needs a way to say which book an entry is in, and "the blue one" will not survive a staff change. ## What columns does a security occurrence book template need? Five columns cover almost every site: - OB number: numbered in sequence, starting again each day or each book. Never skip one. - Time: the time the event happened, not the time it was written down. - Category: situation report, patrol, incident, visitor or vehicle, police attendance, handover or equipment check. - Entry: what happened, exactly where, and what action was taken. - Signature: the guard who wrote the entry. Leave a strip at the bottom of each page for the supervisor's check: name, time, signature and remarks. Pages that nobody checks tend to get vaguer as the month goes on. ## What does a filled-in entry look like? Three examples, written the way a client or an investigator will want to read them six weeks later: - **OB 001, 18:00, Handover.** Took over the main gate from J. Mokoena. Received two-way radio, torch, gate keys (set of 4) and the visitor register. Boom gate working. Nothing outstanding from the day shift. - **OB 007, 23:00, Situation report.** Hourly check. Perimeter fence, main gate and parking area checked. All in order. Floodlight at the north-east corner still off, reported at 19:40 (OB 004). - **OB 011, 02:10, Incident.** Two men arguing on the pavement outside the north gate, not attempting entry. Could not see whether either was armed. Control room notified at 02:12\. Both left on foot towards the main road at 02:20\. No further action. Each one answers what, when, where and what was done. "All in order, 02:00, signed" answers none of them, which is why it is worth nothing when someone queries the night. ## When the police attend Add a separate entry for police attendance, even if the incident already has one. Record the time they arrived and left, the officer's name, rank and station, the vehicle registration if they came by car, and the CAS number if a case was opened. The CAS number is easy to leave out and hard to find again later, and it is usually the first thing an insurer asks for. ## Rules that keep the book believable A paper occurrence book is only as good as how it is kept. The usual rules for keeping one: - Write in blue or black ink. Never pencil. - No correction fluid. Strike a mistake through with one line, so it can still be read, and initial it. - No blank lines and no gaps between entries. Rule off any space left at the end of a shift. - Number every entry in sequence. - Write the entry as soon as possible after the event, and record the time it happened. - Rule off and sign at the end of every shift, and have the incoming guard sign the handover. - Never remove pages. ## Download the printable PDF The printable version has the page header, the five columns and the supervisor strip laid out on A4, with the rules and the sample entries on the first page. Enter your email address below and we will send you the download link. Your email address Email me the PDF Website You may also contact me about Sentry, Beathan's guard management software. We use your address to send the template. We only contact you again if you tick the box above. ## When a paper book stops being enough A paper book records what guards write, but it cannot prove when they wrote it. Nobody reading it later can tell which entries were made at the time and which were filled in at 05:30 before the shift ended. A [digital occurrence book](https://beathantechnologies.com/sentry/occurrence-book) keeps the same structure and fixes that. In Sentry, every entry gets a daily reference number and the time it was saved on the handset, a severity from situation report up to emergency, and photographs where they help. The guard who made the entry has already proved who they are when they clocked in through [Sentry Roll-Call](https://beathantechnologies.com/sentry/roll-call). If you want to know what an occurrence book is for and who reads it, start with [what an occurrence book is](https://beathantechnologies.com/blog/what-is-an-occurrence-book/). For how to write each entry so it holds up, read [what to write in an occurrence book](https://beathantechnologies.com/blog/occurrence-book-entries/). To see the digital version on your own sites, [book a demo](https://beathantechnologies.com/contact).