Download the security guard attendance sheet PDF
The download at the end of this page is one PDF with five printable A4 landscape formats for security guard attendance. It is free, needs no sign-up, and each page carries the header fields an agency needs on paper: agency name, PSARA licence number, client and site, post, and month. Print the pages you need; most agencies use the monthly sheet and the daily register at every site, and the summary and reliever log at head office.
If you would rather type than write, the same layouts exist as spreadsheets: the security guard attendance sheet format in Excel counts duties automatically, and the security guard attendance template works out hours and overtime from in and out times.
What is on each page of the PDF
Each page is a complete format with its own legend and signature lines, so a single page can be printed and used on its own. What each one is for, and which columns it must have, is explained in our guide to every security guard attendance format.
- Page 1, monthly sheet for 12-hour duties: 18 guard rows, days 1 to 31, and totals for duties, nights, weekly offs, absences and overtime hours, with a guard signature column and lines for the supervisor, client and agency
- Page 2, daily in-out register: 18 rows per shift with guard ID, name, post, shift, in-time and signature, out-time and signature, hours, overtime, supervisor initials and remarks
- Page 3, monthly sheet for 8-hour three-shift posts: codes I, II and III with separate totals for each shift
- Page 4, all-sites summary for head office: one row per guard, five site columns, total duties, night duties, overtime, leave and absences, plus a site-totals row for invoices
- Page 5, reliever and exception log: date, post, shift, rostered guard, reason, reliever, from and to times, hours and approval
How to print it so the grid stays readable
Print on A4 in landscape at actual size (100%). Choosing 'fit to page' shrinks the day columns on the monthly sheets until the codes are hard to write in. Black and white is fine; the header shading is light and prints as pale grey.
Work out how many copies you need before the month starts. A site with one 24-hour post needs one monthly sheet per post and two daily register pages a day (one per shift), so about 60 register pages for a 30-day month. Many agencies print a month of daily pages, staple or bind them in date order and keep the bundle at the guard room, which is closer to the bound book an inspector expects than loose sheets.
- Paper: A4, landscape, actual size (100%), single-sided so each page can be filed and scanned
- Monthly sheets: one per post per month (18 guards per page is plenty for most posts)
- Daily register: one page per shift per day, bound in date order
- Summary and reliever log: one or two per month at head office
How to fill the monthly sheet
Write the header first: agency, licence number, client and site, post, month and year. Then list each guard rostered at the post, with their guard ID and usual shift (D, N or G). Relievers who cover the post get their own row.
Fill the codes daily, not at month end, from the daily register. Write one code per guard per day and never leave a cell blank; use WO, L, H or A so every day is accounted for. When a reliever covers a post, write R on the reliever's row and WO, L or A on the regular guard's row for that date. A guard who stays on for a second duty gets DN, which counts as two.
At month end, total each row: Duties = D + N + G + R + 2 x DN, and Nights = N + DN. Take the guard signatures, sign as supervisor, and get the client's facility manager to countersign. The countersigned sheet is what makes the invoice hard to dispute. Our security guard attendance example shows a completed sheet with every one of these cases.
How to fill the daily in-out register
The guard writes the actual arrival time and signs, then the actual departure time and signs again. Actual means 07:52 or 20:11, not the roster's 08:00 and 20:00; a register in which every guard arrives on the dot every day reads as filled from the roster. The shift in-charge initials each row before handing over.
Mistakes are corrected with one line through the wrong entry, initials and a short remark. Never overwrite or use correction fluid. Use the remarks column for anything a client or payroll might later ask about: late by 25 minutes, left at 18:30 with the supervisor's permission, relieved by G-104, double duty because the night guard was absent.
Using the all-sites summary and the reliever log
Page 4 is filled at head office after the site sheets come in. Write the site names in the five column headings, then copy each guard's total duties from every site sheet they worked. The row total is the guard's month for payroll, PF and ESIC; the site-totals row at the bottom gives each client's billable duties. Flag any guard above 30 duties, because that means double duties.
Page 5 stays with the site supervisor. Every line explains an R on the monthly sheet, so at month end the number of reliever lines should equal the number of R codes at that site. For billing those duties, see how security agencies bill clients for guard man-hours.
Filling the PDF on a computer instead of by hand
Most PDF readers have a fill-and-sign or comment tool that lets you type into the cells, which works for the head-office summary. For site records it is weaker: a typed sheet carries no guard signatures and can be changed without trace, which is exactly what a client or an inspector checks for. Keep the site formats handwritten and signed, or move them to a system that records who entered each line and when.
If you want totals that calculate themselves, use the Excel versions instead of typing into the PDF. You can always print the finished Excel sheet to PDF for the client.
Scanning, storing and how long to keep the sheets
Scan the countersigned monthly sheet and attach it to that month's invoice; keep the paper original in a site-wise file. Keep the daily register bundles too, because they are the evidence behind the monthly codes. The separate guard register PSARA requires is covered in our PSARA compliance checklist. Statutory registers are generally kept for at least three years, but the period depends on which central or state rules apply to you, so check the rules; our guide to the security guard attendance register format explains retention and inspection.
PDF, Excel or app: which one to use
Paper is right where the record has to be signed at the site and nobody there has a computer. Excel is right at head office, where totals across sites have to add up. An app is right once supervisors cannot visit every site every day, because it brings the daily register's evidence (who, where, when) to the office without waiting for month-end paper.
- Printable PDF: signed site records, no devices needed, slow to total and easy to back-fill
- Excel: automatic totals and summaries, but anyone can edit a past entry
- App: selfie and GPS proof at clock-in, live view of every site, exports in these same formats; see the security guard attendance app
Common mistakes on printed guard attendance sheets
Most rejected invoices and failed inspections trace back to a handful of habits. Fixing them costs nothing.
- Roster times written instead of actual times
- Blank cells instead of WO, L or A
- Overwritten entries instead of a single strike-through with initials
- All signatures collected on the last day of the month
- A reliever's R with nothing on the regular guard's row, so the post shows two duties
- Hours and duties mixed in the same column