A hospital security officer patrols the building and parking lots, locks and checks doors, and stands by in the ER when someone gets upset. At night, a small rural hospital may have just one officer on duty, working beside the nurses and calling local police when needed.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
We're hiring a security officer to help keep patients, visitors and staff safe at our hospital, especially in the ED at night. You'll patrol the building and grounds, secure doors, help calm upset patients and visitors, and respond to emergency codes. You'll work with nurses and local law enforcement, within hospital policy.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Patrol the hospital, parking lots and grounds, and check doors, alarms and cameras on schedule.
Stand by in the ED for upset, intoxicated or behavioral health patients, and use verbal de-escalation first.
Help with patient holds and restraints only when the nurse or provider directs it, and only as trained under hospital policy.
Respond to emergency codes, such as a violent person, missing patient, fire or bomb threat, using [your code names].
Control entrances at night, check visitors in, and enforce visitor and lockdown rules.
Write incident reports, and keep evidence and patient belongings under chain of custody when police are involved.
Escort staff to their vehicles, and meet police and ambulance crews at the ED.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Get handoff from the prior shift on alerts, patients on watch and open incidents.
Lock exterior doors at night and unlock them in the morning.
Make rounds of the ED, inpatient unit, lobby, pharmacy entrance and parking lots.
Check in with the charge nurse on patients who may need a standby.
Log patrols, incidents and door alarms in [your reporting system].
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Rounds completed on schedule: [your target].
Code response time: [your target].
Incident reports filed by end of shift: [your target].
Workplace violence incidents with staff injury: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Security guard license where your state requires.
High school diploma or equivalent, and a background check under hospital policy and state law.
BLS certification within [timeframe] of hire.
De-escalation training, such as CPI or [your program], within [timeframe] of hire.
A calm, respectful approach with people in crisis.
6. Preferred Experience
IAHSS healthcare security officer training or certification.
Experience in hospital, behavioral health, corrections or law enforcement settings.
Experience with camera systems and access control software.
7. Physical Requirements
Walk and stand for most of the shift, including outdoor patrols in all weather.
Respond quickly to codes and help hold or move a person safely as trained.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Evening and night shifts, with weekends and holidays on a rotation: [schedule].
Exposure to agitated or violent people, bodily fluids and infectious disease.
Unarmed post, under [your hospital's policy on weapons, sprays and restraint devices].
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new security officer gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What's different about security at a critical access hospital
Here the ER never closes, the officer works under Medicare's patient rights rules, and police backup may be a long drive away.
The ER at night is the main post
Most of the hard moments happen in the emergency room after dark: an intoxicated patient, a person in a psychiatric crisis waiting for a bed elsewhere, a family angry about the wait. The officer stands by, talks people down, and controls the door between the waiting room and the treatment area. Nurses lead the care. The officer keeps everyone safe while they give it.
A hands-on hold counts as a restraint
Medicare's patient rights rule for critical access hospitals counts a hands-on hold as a restraint when it stops or limits a patient's ability to move their arms, legs, body or head freely. It doesn't take a device. Only trained staff may restrain a patient, and the hospital's restraint training has to reach contract guards too. That training must be patient-centered and trauma-informed, and it must teach other options. The officer joins a hold only when the nurse or provider asks. Source: eCFR: 42 CFR 485.614, patient's rights in critical access hospitals.
The parking lot counts as the ER
Under EMTALA, the parking lot, sidewalk and driveway are part of the main hospital campus. A person there who asks for emergency care has come to the emergency department. So has someone who, to an ordinary onlooker, looks like they need emergency care. An officer who finds someone slumped in a car or calling for help outside brings ER staff to them. Don't send them away. Source: eCFR: 42 CFR 489.24, special responsibilities of hospitals in emergency cases (EMTALA).
Locking up can't block an exit
The officer locks up at night. But an exit door can't need a key or tool to open from the inside, unless it uses a lock the Life Safety Code allows, such as a delayed-egress lock. When doors are locked for patient safety or a threat, staff must be able to open them fast, with a remote release or keys they always carry. A chain or padlock on an exit breaks the rule. Source: CMS: Fire safety survey report, 2012 Life Safety Code, health care (Form CMS-2786R).
Some states set workplace violence rules
California is one example. It requires health facilities to keep a log of violent incidents, and staff who work with patients, plus their supervisors, get refresher training every year. Its general acute care hospitals must report some incidents to Cal/OSHA within 24 hours and others within 72. Where a rule like this applies, the officer's incident report is often the first record of what happened. Source: California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 3342: Workplace violence prevention in health care.
How much hospital security officers make
The closest BLS group for hospital security officers is security guards. Security guards who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $22.15 an hour ($46,060 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $38,020 median for security guards in all industries. About 49,340 of the 1,283,470 security guards in that survey work for general hospitals.
Paid by the hour. Night, weekend and holiday differentials follow the hospital's pay policy, and a one-to-one standby that runs past shift change is still paid time that can push the week into overtime.
General hospitals
$46,060$46,060 median Middle half $39,610–$51,310 10th–90th $36,610–$59,530
All industries
$38,020$38,020 median Middle half $35,210–$46,200 10th–90th $30,210–$58,840
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
General hospitals
$36,610
$39,610
$46,060
$51,310
$59,530
All industries
$30,210
$35,210
$38,020
$46,200
$58,840
These figures cover general medical and surgical hospitals of every size. Rural hospitals often pay less than city hospitals. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Stays respectful with a patient who is confused, frightened or intoxicated
Uses words first and hands only when directed and trained
Writes incident reports that stick to what was seen and heard
Works as part of the care team and follows the charge nurse's lead
Walks outdoor patrols and responds fast to codes anywhere in the building
Teach these on the job
Your code names and what security does for each
BLS and your de-escalation program, such as CPI
Your restraint policy and hands-on technique
Your cameras, door alarms and badge access, and who watches them after hours
Your lockdown and patient belongings policies
Officers carry a radio or phone tied to the overhead code system, watch the ER's camera views and door alarms, and log rounds and reports in a tour or incident app. If the ER uses a hand-held metal detector or a locked belongings room, say so, and say plainly that the post is unarmed.
Hospital security officer interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Look back over a full year of security logs before you pick a number. A single hard night in a small ER can move a month's numbers, so read every serious incident on its own, not just the totals.
Rounds completed on schedule
Use the tour system to see which rounds ran on time. Rounds missed during an ER standby aren't failures, but a pattern of them says the night needs a second person.
Code response time
For each code, note when it was paged and when the officer reached the room, from the code record nursing keeps. Review any slow arrival for where the officer was and why.
Incident reports filed by end of shift
Each morning, match the night's codes, standbys and police calls against the reports in your system. A report finished on a later shift counts as late, even if it's complete.
Workplace violence incidents with staff injury
Count assaults and threats that left a staff member hurt, from incident reports and employee injury records. Review each with the nurse manager to see what would have stopped it sooner.
Career path
Corrections officer, behavioral health tech or EMTBrings practice staying calm and safe with people in crisis.
Security OfficerCovers the hospital, mostly the ER and grounds at night.
Lead officerRuns the night post orders and helps run the code and restraint drills.
Patient Care TechnicianAnother way out: some officers train for bedside work and join the ER care team.
Does a hospital security officer need a state license?
That's a state question, and the answer often turns on who signs the officer's paycheck. In Virginia, officers who work for a licensed security company must hold a state registration. An officer hired directly by the hospital is exempt unless they carry a firearm and deal with the public. Rules in other states differ. If you contract with a guard company, ask how it meets your state's rules.
How much does a hospital security officer make?
Security guards who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $22.15 an hour ($46,060 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $39,610 and $51,310 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What training should a hospital security officer have?
Plan on BLS and a de-escalation course soon after hire, as the template says. Refresh both on a schedule. Healthcare security training goes further. IAHSS, the healthcare security association, offers the Certified Healthcare Security Officer credential. Officers pass an exam to earn it, then keep it by logging continuing education credits over each three-year cycle. Officers from bars, stores or event work may need extra coaching on working beside nurses.
Is there a federal workplace violence rule for hospitals?
Not yet. OSHA has no standard written just for violence in health care. It publishes guidelines for health care and social service employers. It asked the public in 2016 whether a standard was needed, and the rule now sits on its long-term list with no proposal date. Some states add their own rules. Either way, write down how the ER calls for help, who responds, and how each incident gets reported and reviewed.
How many security officers does a critical access hospital need?
Let your incident reports decide. Map the last year of codes, police calls and ER standbys by hour. If they cluster in the evening and overnight, staff those hours first. Then plan who answers a code in the hours with no officer, such as the house supervisor or local police. Recheck the map each year and after any serious incident.
What does an officer do when police bring in a patient?
When police bring in someone they have arrested, that person stays in police custody, and the officer helps with the room, the door and the visitors. They log belongings and any evidence handed over, and keep the chain of custody your policy sets. Questions about the patient's condition or records go to the nurse in charge, not the officer, so patient privacy stays with the care team.
