For years our condo has hired a security company here in Thailand, and for this we get two security guards, a day time security guard and a night time security guard. Our daytime security guard has now been with us for over two years and this man is utterly terrific. The problem is the night time security guard. Over the past eight years we've had a large turnover in the night time security guards and most of them have been unacceptable. Most have been sleeping on the job, are unfriendly, etc. So it appears to me that we are getting the castoffs from the security company....that is those a condo community wouldn't want in the first place. My dilemma is we really want to keep our daytime security guard who is simply wonderful. What happens is our daytime security guard must work the night shift as well as the day shift say 25 % of the time so he winds up being overworked. But he does receive the income that normally would have been received by the unreliable night time guard at the price of having to work three or even more shifts in a row without sleep. If we switched to another security company we'd lose our daytime guard due to his not being our employee and being an employee of the security company we've hired. We could of course hire our own security guards to work for our condo, be on our payroll and who would have to accept our rules. But no matter how we'd do this we need to insure our security staff. For example...What happens if the night time security guard assaults one of our condo residents and the resident sues our community in court? Or suppose there is a theft in the building and our security guards is sleeping on the job. There is a fire in the building and the night time security guard is unable to perform?

I've already been informed by my insurance broker who handles my car and motorbike insurance that it's nearly impossible to insure one's own security staff and to keep hiring a security company no matter what the price is. In our case we are overpaying for the two security guards we need while they are being underpaid by the company we have contracted with. And the company is not providing good service due to the inadequacies of the hand me down night time security guards it provides us. Any ideas?

Any ideas?

Yes, accept the fact that you're living in Thailand and don't worry about litigation.

Talk to an attorney who specializes in insurance issues.

Why can't the condo owners directly hire (through the condo association, juris person, etc.) the favored guard as part of the condo general staff, cover the guard under group liability insurance, and still retain the security contractor?

Those are Two valid points. We are going to a new lawyer who is handling other issues for us so I am sure she can advise us.