Keyholding Company: What They Do and Why

If you are a keyholder, you will understand that your role within a business is crucial and should always be taken seriously. Particularly those within the retail industry will appreciate the importance of a keyholding service and the responsibilities entailed. 

What is Keyholding?

Keyholding definition:

A service where an individual keeps safe a spare key to a property on behalf of a business. Supporting business owners by providing access to their commercial premises in the event of a lost or stolen key. 

The main purpose of a keyholding is for businesses to hand over the keys to their premises to a security firm. This is to ensure the business is secure out of ours without the hassle. If an alarm goes off or there is an out of hours intrusion the keyholders will be the first responders. Keyholding services can also be used for allowing cleaners and maintenance access to the building.

One version of a keyholder is an employee taking on additional responsibilities to their current role in order to help operate a business, for instance this is often the case in a lot of retail businesses.

However, an increasing amount of businesses are now seeking external help and are quickly realising the increasing benefits of doing so. Keyholding is about ensuring you always remain professional, responsible and trustworthy. Below we have examples of the type of responsibilities a keyholder takes on within the role.

Opening and Closing

One of the main responsibilities keyholding involves is opening and closing the business or, locking and unlocking the property. Upon opening up the premises, the keyholder should inspect the property, deactivate the security system and switch on lights. When closing the property, it is the key holders responsibility to do the same process in reverse, activating the security system and ensuring the premises is secure and locked.

 

Protecting the Keys

Keyholding, naturally, will involve the protection of the keys 24 hours a day. They will also need to know the security code(s) for the alarm(s) and it’s important that the keyholder keeps this information in the same place as the keys. If you were to hire an external security company to take on the keyholding role, you can be assured that protecting the keys would be dealt with in a professional and secure way at all times.

Emergency Contact

As they have the ability to reset the alarm system, keyholders are often entrusted to be an emergency contact for the local police or a private security firm that monitors the property.  This must be taken into consideration when selecting the right person for a keyholding position. They must be available, responsible and practical.

 

Leadership

When employing a keyholder within the company, most of the retail employees entrusted with keys are often high-ranking sales associates. This means they perform standard duties involving setting employee schedules, restocking merchandise, customer service, placing product orders and maintaining a clean and orderly retail space.

This is why many opt for private security firm hire, as it eliminates the worry of having to find and employ the right individual for the role. When sourcing an external keyholder, you can be reassured that they will be experienced, professional and trustworthy.

What is a Key Holding Licence?

In order to become a trusted keyholder, you must obtain a key holding licence. This would be for all keyholding services and must be provided before any employment takes place.

At 3000 Security, we offer a range of security services. If you are looking for a responsible security company in Birmingham to take on the role of your keyholder, please do not hesitate to contact us as we would be more than happy to offer our keyholding services.