Key points
- Texas security guard insurance requirements apply to the licensed company: general liability of at least $100,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage, $50,000 for personal injury and $200,000 aggregate.
- Proof goes to DPS on the PSB-05 Certificate of Liability Insurance, signed by a Texas-licensed insurance agent and uploaded through TOPS. Binders aren’t accepted.
- If proof of coverage isn’t on file, DPS suspends the company license. Missing the 10-business-day window means a reinstatement application and a $150 fee.
- Individual guards and commissioned officers hold their own licenses but don’t file insurance. The company’s policy is the one DPS looks at.
- Most clients require $1 million to $2 million in limits and additional insured status, far above the state minimum.
Texas requires every licensed security guard company to carry general liability insurance and keep proof of it on file with the Department of Public Safety. The statutory minimums are $100,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage, $50,000 per occurrence for personal injury and $200,000 in aggregate, and the proof is form PSB-05, the Certificate of Liability Insurance.
That’s the legal floor. The policy that actually wins contracts looks different: higher limits, assault and battery coverage, armed guards disclosed on the application and the client named as an additional insured. This guide covers both, in the order a new or renewing guard company runs into them. Tree Insurance Agency writes guard and patrol accounts out of our Katy office, and we complete the PSB-05 at every new policy and renewal.
Who needs insurance under Texas Occupations Code chapter 1702
Chapter 1702 of the Texas Occupations Code governs private security, and DPS enforces it through its Private Security Program. The chapter separates the business from the people who work for it.
A guard company holds a company license (the statute calls it a security services contractor license). It can’t offer guard or patrol services without one, and it can’t get one without insurance. Section 1702.124 makes a certificate of general liability insurance part of the license application, and section 1702.123 says the company must keep that certificate on file with DPS at all times.
Individual guards are licensed separately. Since a 2019 rewrite of the chapter, noncommissioned officers, commissioned officers and personal protection officers each hold an individual license (older paperwork calls it a registration), and they must work for a licensed company. The insurance requirement doesn’t attach to them. A commissioned officer carrying a firearm on post is covered, if at all, by the employer’s policy. DPS doesn’t ask the guard for a certificate.
So when someone says “Texas security guard insurance requirements,” they mean the company’s general liability policy. If you’re a guard thinking about going out on your own, the insurance comes with the company license, and you need both before you take a paying post.
Texas security guard insurance requirements: the minimum limits
Section 1702.124(c) sets three numbers, and the PSB-05 repeats them word for word:
| Coverage | Texas statutory minimum |
|---|---|
| Bodily injury and property damage | $100,000 per occurrence |
| Personal injury | $50,000 per occurrence |
| Total aggregate, all occurrences | $200,000 |
The policy has to pay for injury or damage caused by the company or its officers, agents or employees while doing the work the license covers. It also has to cover all of the company’s private security activities. A policy written for “office operations” with guard work excluded won’t satisfy DPS, and the rules require the certificate to list any exclusions or endorsements that apply to security work.
Personal injury is the line people skip past. In a general liability policy it covers claims such as false arrest, detention, malicious prosecution and defamation. For a guard company that stops shoplifters or walks trespassers off a property, those are everyday exposures.
What the PSB-05 (PSP-05) Certificate of Liability Insurance is
The PSB-05 is the only form the DPS Private Security Program accepts as proof of business insurance. The DPS forms page now lists it as PSP-05, since the regulator stopped being the Private Security Bureau, but the form itself still says PSB-05, and so do older contracts and carrier paperwork. It’s the same certificate.
Who completes and signs it
The company fills in the top section: the business name, the company license number and the address. Those three must match your DPS record exactly. “ABC Security LLC” on the certificate and “ABC Security Services, LLC” in TOPS is enough for a denial.
Everything below that is completed by the insurance agent. The agent enters the carrier, policy number, dates and limits, checks any exclusions and endorsements (armed coverage, guard dogs, a liquor exclusion and others are listed on the form), and signs it with a Texas insurance license number. The statute requires the certificate to be countersigned by an agent licensed in Texas, or, for surplus lines coverage, issued through a licensed Texas surplus lines agent. DPS lists a missing signature, a missing Texas license number and wrong or missing limits among the usual reasons a certificate gets denied.
How it gets to DPS
A business stakeholder (an owner, partner, officer or manager) signs in to TOPS, the DPS online licensing system, with a personal email address and uploads the certificate from the My Businesses tab. It shows as “Pending DPS Review” until DPS approves or denies it, and a denial comes by email.
No binders
The form says it plainly: insurance binders aren’t acceptable. A binder is a temporary promise of coverage while the carrier issues the policy, and DPS wants a policy that’s already in force. So time your renewal so the new policy is issued, with a policy number, before the old one expires. When we renew a guard account, the PSB-05 goes out with the new policy, not after it.
Keeping coverage continuous
The certificate stays in effect until the insurer gives DPS 10 days’ notice that coverage is ending. If DPS gets that notice and no new certificate is on file, a suspension follows. Every renewal, carrier change or name change needs a fresh PSB-05 in TOPS.
What happens if your coverage lapses
DPS suspends the company license as soon as current proof of insurance isn’t on file. The suspension takes effect when you receive the notice, and a suspended company can’t legally provide guard services.
You get one quick way out. If coverage never actually lapsed (the renewal was issued but the new certificate wasn’t uploaded, for example), you have 10 business days from the suspension to prove continuous coverage, and DPS can rescind it. Miss that window, or have a real gap, and the license stays suspended until DPS approves a reinstatement application. DPS charges a $150 reinstatement fee, and it can deny the application if you kept working posts while suspended.
The fee is the small part. Most guard contracts require you to stay licensed and insured for the whole term. A suspension notice in the middle of a contract term can cost you the account.
Why contracts demand $1 million to $2 million and additional insured status
Almost nobody hires a guard company at the state minimum. Apartment communities, retail centers, construction sites, hospitals and event venues write their own insurance terms into the service agreement, and the usual numbers are $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Larger accounts add an umbrella on top.
The math explains it. A $100,000 per-occurrence limit doesn’t go far against a serious injury from a parking-lot confrontation once surgery and lost wages are in the claim. The property owner usually gets sued alongside you, so the owner wants your policy to defend them too. That’s what additional insured status does: it extends your general liability policy to the client for claims arising from your work. Contracts often add waiver of subrogation and primary and noncontributory wording.
Send us the contract before you sign it. If the clause asks for something your current policy doesn’t include, it’s far easier to add an endorsement or negotiate the wording before the first shift than after. Our general liability page explains certificates and additional insured requests in more detail.
The coverages a Texas guard company should carry
The PSB-05 certifies one policy. A guard company that only buys that policy has gaps that show up on the first serious claim.
Armed vs. unarmed guards
Carriers treat armed and unarmed officers as different risks, and the PSB-05 has a box for armed coverage. Report every armed post on the application, with the number of commissioned officers, their hours and the sites they work. A company that reports only unarmed guards and later staffs an armed post can have a claim from that post denied. If you add armed work mid-term, tell your agent before the first shift.
Assault and battery
Many standard general liability policies exclude assault and battery, which is the most predictable claim against a guard company. Guard programs include it, sometimes with a separate sublimit. Read that limit as closely as the main one.
Professional liability
General liability pays for injuries and property damage. Professional liability (errors and omissions) pays when a client says your service failed: a missed patrol before a burglary, a post left unstaffed, post orders not followed. Many security contracts require it, and many guard programs combine it with general liability on one policy.
Hired and non-owned auto
Guards drive between sites in their own cars, and supervisors run patrol routes in rented vehicles. If one of them causes a crash on company time, the injured driver sues the company. Hired and non-owned auto covers that. Marked patrol cars titled to the company need a commercial auto policy instead.
Workers’ compensation
Texas lets most private employers decide whether to carry workers’ comp. Comp limits what an injured employee can sue you for. A company that opts out (a “non-subscriber”) can be sued directly by a guard hurt on post, and guards get hurt breaking up fights and walking dark lots at night. Many commercial clients also require comp in the contract. Our article on workers’ compensation in Texas vs. Georgia covers the rules in both states.
How Georgia compares
Tree Insurance Agency also writes Georgia guard companies through our Fayetteville office. Georgia’s regulator is the Board of Private Detective and Security Agencies, part of the Secretary of State’s office, and its rules work differently.
| Requirement | Texas | Georgia |
|---|---|---|
| Regulator | DPS Private Security Program | Board of Private Detective and Security Agencies |
| Financial proof | General liability insurance only | $25,000 surety bond, or $1M general liability, or proof of net worth over $50,000 |
| Minimum liability limits | $100K / $50K / $200K aggregate | $1,000,000 if you choose insurance |
| Proof filed | PSB-05 uploaded in TOPS | The bond, a certificate naming the Board as certificate holder, or an audited financial statement |
| If coverage ends | License suspended; 10 business days to prove no lapse | 30 days’ written notice to the Board before cancelling; Board can revoke if no replacement within 10 days |
| Workers’ comp | Optional for most private employers | Required at three or more employees |
Most Georgia guard companies take the insurance route because their clients want the liability policy anyway. We write the $1 million certificate for the Board, and a $25,000 surety bond if you’d rather post a bond.
Getting the PSB-05 right the first time
Have your DPS company license number, the exact business name and address from TOPS, a count of armed and unarmed guards, your post types and any client contracts with insurance clauses. With those in hand we can quote guard programs from several carriers, show you the assault and battery and professional liability terms side by side, and send the countersigned PSB-05 as soon as the policy is issued. The full coverage list is on our security guard insurance page.
Common questions
Texas requires a licensed security company to carry general liability of at least $100,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage, $50,000 per occurrence for personal injury and $200,000 aggregate. Those limits come from Occupations Code section 1702.124. Most clients ask for $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, so the state minimum rarely matches what a contract requires.
No. Texas puts the insurance requirement on the licensed guard company, and DPS only asks the company for a PSB-05. Noncommissioned and commissioned officers hold individual licenses but don’t file insurance. A guard who wants to take clients directly needs a company license first, and the company license requires the policy.
No. The PSB-05 states that binders aren’t acceptable because DPS requires a permanent policy that’s already in force. Make sure your renewal is issued with a policy number before the current policy expires, then upload the new PSB-05 in TOPS so your license never shows a gap.
Your insurance agent does. The company fills in its name, address and DPS license number, and the agent completes the policy details and signs with a Texas insurance license number. The statute requires a countersignature by a Texas-licensed agent, or a Texas surplus lines agent for surplus lines policies. A business stakeholder then uploads it through TOPS.
Upload a valid PSB-05 in TOPS and pay the $150 reinstatement fee through your TOPS account. If your coverage never lapsed, proof sent within 10 business days of the suspension lets DPS rescind it. After a real gap, DPS has to approve a reinstatement application, and it can deny one if you kept working while suspended.
Related coverage
Sources
- Texas Occupations Code chapter 1702, Private Security (sections 1702.102, 1702.123, 1702.124, 1702.221)
- Texas Occupations Code section 1702.124, Insurance Requirement
- 37 Texas Administrative Code section 35.27, Insurance
- Texas DPS: License changes effective 09/01/2019 (SB 616)
- Texas DPS Private Security Program: Insurance questions
- Texas DPS: Certificate of Liability Insurance (PSP-05)
- Texas DPS: Submitting insurance documents through TOPS
- Texas DPS Private Security fee schedule
- Official Code of Georgia section 43-38-6
- Georgia Secretary of State: Private Detective and Security Agency FAQ
- Texas Department of Insurance: Workers’ compensation for employers
- Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation: Insurance FAQs