An “Auditor” is a new breed of social media entrepreneur, who collect content for their YouTube Chanel by visiting industrial sites / units, Civil Construction Sites (HS2), police stations, and even prisons; then filming these places of “interest” with their phones and sometimes a drone, with a view to make content and hopefully a stand off with security staff (and those police), who do not understand the law re flying C0 Class drones from public spaces.

Their aim is to find flaws in the sites H&S / Environmental Compliancy and test the professionalism and effectiveness of the security team on site. Ideally, they want a negative response from them in order to create “interesting” content for their YouTube channel viewers, which for some, go into the tens of thousands. The more confrontational the interaction, the more interesting the content, the more view and money then get. These people understand the law and their rights, regarding their interactions very well, and can often tie both the police and security staff up in knots because they don’t (although this is slowly improving across the board).

The law allows the public to film anywhere and anyone, whilst they on public land which includes any police station in the UK. However, the interactions differ a lot, with an officer at one station, being helpful and polite, and at another station, an entirely different experience and things can, and do escalate, with the auditor sometimes being arrested, only to be released later without charge and the Constabulary having to deal with a complaint from the Independent Police Complaints Authority, which usually ends in a win at Civil Court and compensation for the auditor.

Once on site, there is a simple two step way to deal with an auditor or team of them if there is two. Firstly, this initial reaction should be polite and friendly, even to the point of offering them water if it is a hot day etc (they are already there, and this needs to be embraced with humility and professionalism.

Once it has been established, they are auditors and the site is aware of them, simply allow them to do whatever it is they want (outside the site and from the sanctuary of public land), and completely disengage with them. Once in zero engagement, stand completely away from them. Once the auditor realizes that the security is professional and that there is not going to be any “entertaining” content for them to gather from this site, they will simply cut short their time on site and look for a less controlled and professional security response.

We have had auditors on several sites across the UK and this course of action is the only one, that will work and may even get a good review by the auditor on their YouTube Chanel, avoiding reputational damage and embarrassment. They can be fair and do publish some good professional interactions as well as the negative ones.

It is imperative, to avoid a negative interaction in dealing with auditors. Any security team coming face to face with an auditor on their site, needs to understand any policy on how to deal with them effectively. They should also understand the law regarding trespass and limit of their area of responsibility and the nearest public area, from where they can film and launch a drone if they want to.

At the end of the day, they are not there to steal, damage, threaten or hurt people on site, they simply want attention. Deny them that, and do so in a professional and friendly manner, they have nothing, and will eventually move on.