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Checking a guard or a security company in Washington

This page is for whoever is doing the checking — a client, a property manager, a company vetting a subcontractor. It tells you what a guard and a guard company are supposed to hold in Washington, and walks you to Washington State Department of Licensing’s own records to confirm it.

tessura is not a Washington agency and issues nothing. Every link below goes to the regulator, and the regulator’s answer is the one that counts.

Getting licensed yourself instead? The Washington requirements, training hours, and application steps →

Check the guard

Washington issues a credential to the guard, so you can check the person in front of you.

What they should hold

Every guard working a postSecurity Guard License8 hrs of training · state exam · renews yearly
If they carry a firearmArmed Private Security Guard Endorsement8 hrs of training · state exam · renews yearly

Armed work: Armed guards (21+) add a firearms certificate and the armed endorsement (+$10) on top of the base license.

How to check it

  1. Ask the guard for the name on their DOL guard licence, the licence number, and whether they are licensed armed or unarmed.
  2. Open professions.dol.wa.gov/s/license-lookup, select the "Advanced Search (Name, License type, County, UBI)" radio button, and leave the Professional License tab selected.
  3. Set License Type to "Security Guard", set Licensee Name to "Current Name", and type the surname into the Enter Last Name box, adding city or county if the name is common.
  4. Tick the "I’m not a robot" box below the form. The Search button stays greyed out until you do — it is not broken, and people give up here.
  5. Confirm the record is Active and the expiration date is in the future.
  6. Then get the armed question answered somewhere else, because this lookup cannot answer it. Washington’s only guard licence type is "Security Guard"; armed status is an endorsement on that same licence, so an active record tells you nothing about whether the person may carry. Ask the employer for written proof of the endorsement, or ask DOL directly.
Open the Washington DOL License Lookup →

Shows licence status · shows the expiry date · expects you to pass a “verify you are human” check.

If the lookup finds nothing: Washington DOL Private Security Guard Program, 360-664-6611, security@dol.wa.gov (Mon–Fri 9:00am–4:00pm).

Check the company

Washington State Department of Licensing, Private Security Guard Program licenses the firm itself here. This is the check most people skip, and it is usually the more important of the two.

What the firm must holdPrivate Security Guard Company LicenseIssued by Washington State Department of Licensing, Private Security Guard Program

How to check it

  1. Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence and its Private Security Guard Company License number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
  2. Open the Washington State Department of Licensing, Private Security Guard Program lookup and search for that name.
  3. Search the legal name, not the name on the uniform or the invoice. Brand names, DBAs, and the name on the truck are often not the licensed entity.
  4. Read the status and the expiry date, not just the presence of a record. An expired or suspended licence still returns a result.
  5. If nothing comes up, ask which entity holds the licence and in which state, then check that name. If the answer does not resolve, treat the licence as unconfirmed and call Washington State Department of Licensing, Private Security Guard Program before signing.
Open the Washington State Department of Licensing, Private Security Guard Program lookup →

Ask for insurance properly

A licence says the state let them operate. Insurance is what stands between you and a claim, and it is the easier of the two to fake — a certificate is only true on the day it was printed.

Washington requires it by law

The lowest mandated limit in the country: $25,000 for bodily or personal injury and $25,000 for property damage. That is one-fortieth of Oregon’s per-occurrence minimum for the same business across the river. No aggregate is specified and no endorsements are required.

The statute requires the company to "file and maintain" the certificate with the director, so the duty is genuinely continuous. But there is no insurer duty, no certificate-holder designation, and the only notice hook is the generic 30-day duty to report a "material change in the information furnished" — which requires an inferential step to even cover a cancelled policy.

If it lapses: Continuous cover is a statutory condition of the licence and a failure is actionable, but there is no automatic suspension, no cure period and no stop-work rule.

RCW 18.170.080 — https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=18.170.080

A certificate of insurance (COI) that names your business as an additional insured, not just the certificate holderCertificate holder means you were mailed a copy. Additional insured means their policy actually answers for you if you are pulled into a claim.
General liability, and workers’ compensation at your state’s statutory limitsIf a guard is hurt on your property and the company carries no workers’ comp, the claim tends to land on you. Ask for commercial auto too if they run patrol vehicles.
The policy number and the effective and expiry dates, on a certificate dated within the last monthAn undated or months-old certificate is the single most common tell. The dates let you ask the insurer about the right policy.
The name, agency, and direct phone number of the broker who issued it — then call themThe broker can confirm the policy is in force today. The certificate PDF cannot, and a forged or stale one looks identical to a real one.
A contract term requiring written notice to you before the policy is cancelled or non-renewedStandard certificates promise notice to the insured, not to you. Putting the duty on the company in the contract is what makes a mid-term cancellation a breach.
A fresh certificate part-way through the term, not only at signingRe-asking at 60 or 90 days costs you an email and defeats the whole get-the-COI-then-drop-it pattern.

tessura does not verify anyone’s insurance and has no access to insurers’ records. This is guidance for doing it yourself, not a statement about any company on this site. It is also not legal advice — for a contract of any size, have your own counsel or broker set the limits.

Where this comes from

Washington requirements last reviewed August 28, 2026. Some details on this state are still pending a second check against the primary source. Rules change — the regulator’s page is authoritative if it disagrees with ours.

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