Criminal background checks before you hire or hand over the keys

A criminal background check confirms whether a person has a criminal record. It's one of the simplest ways to reduce the risk of handing someone access to your business, your estate or your home, and it's far better than finding out the hard way.

It isn't the whole picture. A clean record doesn't guarantee someone is honest, and a record from long ago doesn't automatically mean someone can't do the job. A check gives you facts to weigh alongside the interview, references and your own judgement.

Checks can be done in different ways, and they cover different things. Before you commit, Marco will tell you exactly how our check works, what it covers, what we need from the candidate and how long it usually takes.

Every check starts with the candidate. At the very least, you'll need their full name, their ID number and their written consent. Depending on how the check is done, other details may be needed too, such as fingerprints. Marco will tell you exactly what's required before you ask the candidate for anything, so you only ask once.

It helps to raise the check early, at the interview stage, and to explain that it's standard for the role. An honest candidate will usually understand why you'd want to know, especially for a role that comes with keys, cash or access to your family.

Keep a copy of the signed consent with the candidate's application, separate from the result.

• Employers hiring people who handle cash, stock, vehicles, keys or customer information.
• Estates and complexes checking estate staff, guards they employ directly and regular contractors. See estate security.
• Households taking on a domestic worker, nanny, gardener or driver.
• Businesses with access control, before enrolling someone on a biometric reader that opens the stockroom or server room.
• Anyone about to give a new person a key, a remote or an alarm code.

POPIA, the Protection of Personal Information Act, treats criminal records with extra care. Section 26 lists information about a person's criminal behaviour as special personal information, which may only be processed on the grounds set out in section 27. The clearest of those grounds, for an employer or a household, is the person's consent.

In practice:

• Ask first, and tell the candidate why you're checking and what the check covers.
• Get consent in writing before the check is started.
• Keep the result confidential, shared only with the people who make the hiring decision.
• Use it only for the purpose you told the candidate about.
• Store it securely, and don't keep it longer than you need to.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you're unsure how POPIA applies to your situation, check with your own legal adviser.

Most security is about keeping the wrong people out. Background checks are about knowing more about the people you let in. They work alongside everything else: security guards at the gate, access control that limits who can go where, and cameras that record who came and went.

What affects the quote is mostly the number of people you need checked, how often you hire and how quickly you need the results. If you take on staff regularly, tell us, so we can plan around your hiring rather than quote one check at a time.

Background checks involve sensitive information about real people. At DBS Security, the owners handle the request themselves. Pieter de Bruyn Jr and his son Marco run the business their family started, with 25 years in the trade, and they treat your candidates' information the way they'd want their own treated.

DBS is PSIRA registered (468853). Get a free quote for criminal background checks, or see the areas we cover.