Private security companies in Belgium operate under conditions that make time registration both essential and complex: 24-hour coverage requirements, shift handovers between outgoing and incoming guards, mobile patrol routes covering multiple locations, and a sector-specific collective agreement (PC 317) that has its own working time and supplement rules. Here is how Belgian security companies track time correctly with Suivo’s time tracking solution.
PC 317 and the working time rules in private security
Joint Committee 317 covers private security and investigation services in Belgium. Its collective agreements set the sector’s working time framework:
Normal working time: 38 hours per week (averaged over a reference period, as most security schedules use rotating shift patterns that make a fixed 38-hour week impractical).
Night work: PC 317 defines night work as hours worked between 20:00 and 06:00. Workers performing night shifts are entitled to a night supplement on top of their base rate. The precise supplement percentage is set by sector CAO and any company-level agreements.
Standby and intervention: Some security workers, particularly at alarm response centres (interventiediensten), are on standby, ready to respond if an alarm is triggered. The time rules for standby differ from active shift time; Belgian law and PC 317 specify how standby hours count toward working time limits and pay entitlements.
Maximum working time: Belgian law sets a maximum of 11 working hours per shift for most workers (extendable by CAO to 12 hours in some contexts). Security shifts are sometimes longer; any extension must have a legal basis and the actual hours must be recorded.
Post-handover time: working time that is often forgotten
When an incoming security guard arrives to relieve an outgoing guard, there is typically a handover period: the outgoing guard briefs the incoming one on incidents, access logs, visitor records, and site status. This handover period is working time for both guards, the outgoing guard has not finished until the handover is complete, and the incoming guard started when they arrived for the briefing.
In practice, post-handover time is often not recorded. The outgoing guard’s record ends at the scheduled shift end; the incoming guard’s record starts at their scheduled start. If the handover took 15 minutes, neither party’s record captures it.
This matters because:
- The outgoing guard worked beyond their scheduled end time and may be entitled to compensation.
- The incoming guard started work before their scheduled start, which affects their daily rest calculation.
- An NSSO audit comparing time records against access logs (which often show card-swipe data) may reveal the discrepancy.
A time registration system that allows guards to clock in and out at the moment of arrival and departure, not at the scheduled shift time, captures post-handover time correctly.
Mobile patrol: tracking multiple locations per shift
Security officers performing patrol duties may cover 10 to 30 locations per shift, checking doors, scanning access points, monitoring perimeters of multiple client premises. Tracking which locations were visited and when is both a contractual obligation to the client and an operational safety record.
GPS-based time registration serves both purposes simultaneously. The guard’s app logs location at intervals throughout the patrol, creating a timestamped route record that shows:
- Which locations were visited and in what order.
- How long was spent at each location.
- Whether any location was skipped or delayed.
This data is valuable for client reporting (proof of service), for operational management (identifying patrol routes that take longer than planned), and for NSSO compliance (actual working time at each location).
24/7 coverage and real-time visibility
Security companies schedule around the clock, which means any gap in coverage is immediately visible, either on site or through alarm monitoring. A digital time registration system with real-time visibility lets the operations centre see instantly which guards are clocked in and which posts are covered.
If a guard does not clock in within 5 minutes of their scheduled shift start, the system sends an alert to the operations centre. The response, calling the guard, dispatching a replacement, alerting the client, can start immediately rather than after a supervisor notices the absence at the next check-in.
This is particularly important for posts with specific coverage requirements written into client contracts: a security company that cannot demonstrate continuous coverage risks contract penalties beyond the NSSO compliance risk.
Control room and back-office staff
Not all security company employees are on patrol. Control room operators, administrative staff, dispatchers, and alarm analysts are office-based workers. They are not covered by CIAW and do not work mobile routes, but they are subject to the 2027 mandatory time registration obligation and must have their working hours recorded with the same accuracy as field staff.
A platform that handles both the GPS-based field registration and a simple clock-in for office staff in the same system gives HR a single source of truth for all employee categories.
What a compliant security sector time registration setup looks like
- Patrol guards use the mobile app, which logs GPS location throughout the shift.
- Fixed-post guards use an NFC tag at the site entrance to clock in and out.
- Handover time is captured by actual arrival/departure timestamps, not scheduled times.
- Night hours (20:00-06:00) are automatically tagged for supplement calculation.
- The operations centre dashboard shows real-time coverage across all posts.
- Weekly exports to the payroll system (SD Worx, Acerta) include the correct hours per shift type and the night supplement hours separately.
Suivo’s time tracking solution and vehicle tracking solution support this configuration for Belgian security companies.
Ready to modernise time registration for your security operations?
Suivo helps Belgian private security companies track shift time, patrol routes, and post coverage in real time, with records that satisfy NSSO, SIOD/TSW, and client service-level requirements. See Suivo products or explore pricing.
