Warehouse & Logistics Security
Warehouse and logistics security for premises, goods and staff, including patrols, access control and incident reporting in London and across the UK.
View this pageWarehouse security guide
Warehouse Loading Bay and HGV Access Security Checklist
A practical checklist for gate access, vehicle verification, loading-bay security and safe coordination with workplace-transport controls.
- Define security and transport responsibilities
- Control planned and unexpected arrivals
- Preserve useful access and incident records
1. Define ownership
- Name the warehouse, transport, security and loading supervisors.
- State who can admit an unplanned vehicle.
- Define who allocates bays and releases vehicles.
- Set emergency and discrepancy escalation contacts.
- Keep gate-security duties separate from vehicle-control duties.
2. Before arrival
- Send site access, route, speed and waiting instructions to the carrier.
- Record the booking, time slot, carrier and expected vehicle details.
- Define the process for substitutions and late or early arrivals.
- Identify loads requiring additional access control.
- Provide a safe method for drivers to report arrival.
3. Gate entry
- Compare the arrival with booking information.
- Record vehicle, trailer, driver and time details proportionately.
- Confirm the correct contact and destination.
- Issue temporary access credentials where used.
- Direct the driver to the approved waiting or marshalling area.
- Escalate discrepancies rather than improvising access.
4. Yard movement
- Keep pedestrians and non-essential personnel away from vehicle areas.
- Use marked routes, crossings, speed controls and one-way flow where practicable.
- Minimise reversing.
- Keep visibility and lighting adequate.
- Make reversing areas clear to drivers and pedestrians.
- Stop the movement if a trained banksman is lost from view.
HSE vehicle-movement guidance says separating pedestrians and vehicles and reducing reversing are preferable. A banksman should be considered only where safer controls cannot remove the residual risk.
5. Loading bay
- Confirm that the correct bay is free and ready.
- Keep uninvolved people out of the loading area.
- Provide safe driver waiting arrangements.
- Check bay edges, barriers and pedestrian escape routes.
- Follow the site system for preventing premature vehicle movement.
- Do not allow security procedures to conflict with loading safety.
6. Goods and restricted areas
- Restrict access to stored goods, keys, seals and records.
- Record seal or load discrepancies using the client’s procedure.
- Maintain a clear chain of custody for high-value or controlled consignments.
- Check that CCTV time settings and retention support incident review.
- Avoid collecting more driver information than the stated purpose requires.
7. Departure and incidents
- Confirm the authorised release.
- Recover temporary credentials.
- Record exit time and unresolved exceptions.
- Preserve CCTV, access logs and witness details after an incident.
- Report recurring patterns for management review.
- Do not overwrite evidence during routine retention.
Frequently asked questions
Should a gate security officer act as a banksman?
Only if separately trained, competent and authorised under the site’s safe system. Gate control does not itself establish competence to direct vehicles.
What if vehicle details do not match a booking?
Hold or redirect the vehicle to the agreed safe location and escalate to the authorised client contact.
Can CCTV replace gate control?
No. CCTV can support detection and evidence but does not verify every driver, resolve discrepancies or create a safe vehicle-movement system.
Who owns loading-bay safety?
The employer and site duty holders retain workplace-safety responsibilities. A security provider carries out only its agreed security scope.
Sources and further reading
Review the gate, yard and loading bay together
Tell us how vehicles arrive, who authorises entry and where security duties meet the site transport plan.