Guide for managers
How to follow up a guard after violence
A guard has been hit, threatened or injured at work. What management does in the first hours and days often decides whether the guard stays in the job – and whether the next incident gets reported. Here is a checklist for managers in security companies.
This is guidance, not legal advice. The rules can change – always check the sources at the bottom, and ask a lawyer, the Labour Inspection Authority or the police if in doubt.
Why it matters so much
The Work Research Institute (AFI) at OsloMet surveyed 674 security guards in the Norwegian General Workers' Union in 2022, commissioned by the union:
- One in four has been physically injured at work.
- Over a third (36 per cent) are not confident that their employer will look after them if they are exposed to an unwanted incident.
- Almost half (45 per cent) do nothing when they are called names, and many do not report incidents in the health and safety system.
The employer must, as far as possible, protect employees against violence and threats (Working Environment Act § 4-3), and the Regulations concerning the performance of work have a chapter of their own on violence and threats – including following up those who have been exposed.
The first hours
- Safety and medical help first. If the guard is injured, call 112. Consider whether the guard should end the shift, and do not put them in a similar situation right after.
- Get in touch the same night. Call – do not just send a message. Ask how they are, and let them tell you what happened and how it feels. Do not pressure anyone to talk.
- Secure the facts while they are fresh: the report, the witnesses and any video.
- Serious injury? Then the Labour Inspection Authority and the police must be notified immediately (Working Environment Act § 5-2). The Labour Inspection Authority's phone is 73 19 97 00, option 2 (weekdays 08.00–15.45), and the notice is confirmed in writing in Altinn. The safety representative must get a copy. Serious injury covers both physical and psychological injuries that may be life-threatening or cause permanent or long-term inability to work.
- Next of kin: decide together with the guard whether someone at home should be told.
The following days
- A new conversation after a couple of days. Reactions often come later. Offer help from the occupational health service, a doctor or a psychologist when needed.
- Time off or other tasks for a while, if the guard needs it.
- A debrief with those who were on duty: what happened, and what can be done differently next time?
- Deviation and measures: record the incident as a deviation, find the cause and set measures with a person responsible and a deadline. Look at the risk assessment for the location again.
- The injury register: all personal injuries at work must be recorded (Working Environment Act § 5-1) – without medical details unless the guard has agreed.
- Occupational injury: the employer must send an injury report to NAV (skademelding.nav.no) as soon as possible. Also report the injury to the insurance company that holds the occupational injury insurance.
- Reporting to the police: decide together with the guard whether to report the incident, and help with the report, the witnesses and the video.
- Follow up over time – also the colleagues who saw it.
How Vekterlogg helps
- Notified at once: an internal report about violence or threats against a guard, or a guard who is injured, notifies the managers on their phone as soon as it is saved, and it is emailed to management straight away.
- Follow-up after the incident: in the report archive, management records for each guard involved whether a talk has been offered, any need for time off, when the debrief was held and a short note. This applies to use-of-force reports, internal reports about violence, threats or injury, incident reports about violence against or injury to a guard, and SOS. Only management sees the follow-up – never the guard it is about.
- Nobody is forgotten: after the most serious incidents, "Follow up those involved" stays under "Needs action" in the Admin panel until the talk and time off are settled, and the managers get a reminder 3 and 7 days later.
- Health and safety deviations by themselves: the internal report about violence, threats or personal injury becomes a deviation that management follows up with a cause, measures, a person responsible and a deadline. The injury goes into the injury register, and a personal injury gets the box "Serious injury?" with the phone numbers and the text for the notice in Altinn. The details for the injury report to NAV are ready. Vekterlogg never sends anything to the authorities by itself.
- "How was the shift?" is answered anonymously after the shift. If a guard answers that they were threatened, exposed to violence or felt unsafe, management is notified – without a name. The comment can also be sent anonymously, only to management.
- Next of kin: employees enter their next of kin, and managers with access can see them and call.
Try Vekterlogg
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Sources (in Norwegian)
- AFI-rapport 2023:11 «Sikkerhet og trygghet i vekterarbeid» – OsloMet, funded by the Norwegian General Workers' Union and the Research Council. The figures above.
- Arbeidstilsynet: Vold og trusler – Risk assessment, measures and follow-up after an incident.
- Arbeidstilsynet: Varsle om arbeidsulykke – The phone line, the form in Altinn and what counts as a serious injury.
- Arbeidstilsynet: Registrere skader og sykdom – The injury register.
- NAV: Yrkesskade for arbeidsgivere – The injury report.
- Arbeidsmiljøloven (Lovdata) – § 4-3, § 5-1 and § 5-2.
Last checked 29 October 2026