1.6 The Security Industry in Alberta

Contract Security vs. In-House Security

Alberta security work is organized into two broad models:

• Contract security — a client (a business, property manager, hospital, or government site) hires a security agency to provide guard services. The guard is an employee of the agency, not of the client. The agency holds an agency licence under the SSIA, and each guard holds a personal security service worker licence.
• In-house security — the client employs its own guards directly. The guards are employees of the client organization, and they must still be licensed under the SSIA.

Quick Answer: In contract security, the guard works for a security agency that is hired by the client. In in-house security, the guard is employed directly by the client. In both cases, every guard must hold a personal SSIA licence, and the contract agency must hold an agency licence.

The Guard as On-Site Representative

On a contract site, the guard is the on-site representative of both the employer (the agency) and the client. This creates two lines of authority:

1. Employer (agency) — pays the guard, sets employment terms, handles scheduling and discipline as an employer.
2. Client — sets the post orders: the specific duties, patrol routes, access rules, and response procedures for the site.

The guard follows the client's post orders on shift, but raises employment concerns through the agency. Serious conflicts between a client instruction and the law or SSIA standards should be reported to the agency and, if needed, to Security Programs.

Agency Licensing vs. Individual Licensing

The SSIA creates two layers of licensing:

• Agency licence — required for any business that supplies security guard services for hire. The agency must meet the SSIA's business standards and is responsible for the conduct of the guards it deploys.
• Individual security service worker licence — required for each guard. A guard cannot legally work without their own current personal licence, even if the agency is licensed.

An agency that deploys an unlicensed guard is itself in violation — both the agency and the worker can face discipline.

Relationship with Police

Security guards and police are separate roles with separate authority, but they work in a complementary way:

• Security guards protect specific persons, property, and information on private sites under contract; they have citizen's powers only.
• Police (peace officers) enforce the law across the whole community, investigate crimes, and hold statutory powers of arrest, search, and detention.

The relationship is one of support, not substitution. Guards observe, deter, detect, report, and call police for criminal matters. Police rely on guards for accurate reports, scene preservation, and witness co-operation. A guard who tries to take over a police investigation oversteps their role; a guard who fails to call police for a serious incident under-reports.

Relationship with the Client and the Public

The guard represents the client to the public at the protected site. This means:

• Acting as the first point of contact for visitors, contractors, and employees at access points
• Delivering the client's site rules consistently and courteously
• Being the visible face of the client's security program — appearance and conduct reflect on the client
• Knowing when to escalate: serious incidents go to police; policy or contract issues go to the agency and client

Career Context for New Guards

The ABST is the entry-level qualification for Alberta security work. From there, a guard can:

• Add an investigator licence (the dual security/investigator licence covers both)
• Specialize in a sector — healthcare security, industrial/oilfield security, retail loss prevention, event security, executive protection
• Move toward supervisory roles (shift supervisor, site supervisor) and eventually agency management
• Pursue additional certifications relevant to a sector (use-of-force, first aid, CCTV, access control systems)

The security industry in Alberta is broad and tied to the province's major employment sectors — oil and gas, healthcare, government, retail, and events — which creates varied post types and career paths for licensed guards.

Sectors and Post Types in Alberta

Alberta's economy shapes its security posts. Knowing the sectors helps you anticipate post orders and exam scenarios.

• Oil and gas / industrial. Camp access control, facility gate guards, vehicle and worker logging, hazardous-area escort, and emergency response support. Posts are often remote, rotational, and require site-specific safety training (H2S Alive, First Aid, Ground Disturbance).
• Healthcare. Hospital and urgent-care posts combine access control, de-escalation, code-white (violent behaviour) response, and patient-wandering protocols. Calgary and Edmonton hospital sites are large employers of both contract and in-house guards.
• Retail and loss prevention. Shopping malls, big-box stores, and liquor stores. The work centers on observed theft, citizen's arrest under s. 494, and safe ejection — not pursuit.
• Events and venues. Calgary Stampede, Rogers Place, convention centres, concerts, and sports. Crowd management, ticket checks, intoxication handling, and ejection protocols dominate.
• Government and corporate. Office towers, provincial buildings, courthouses, and infrastructure sites. Access control, visitor management, and information protection are emphasized.
• Residential and concierge. Condominium and apartment lobbies, visitor control, and package handling. Deportment and customer-service skills matter as much as enforcement.

Worked Scenario: Contract vs In-House Authority

A large Edmonton hospital employs its own in-house security team. A new guard asks whether the hospital needs an agency licence. The answer is no — in-house guards are employed directly by the hospital, so no agency licence is required. However, every individual guard still needs a personal security service worker licence. Compare a shopping mall that hires a contract agency: the agency must hold an agency licence, and each guard deployed needs a personal licence. The licence-on-the-person rule is identical in both models; the difference is whether an agency licence sits between the guard and the client.