A Guide to Implementing a Seal Verification Process

It’s important to protect your assets as they move through the supply chain. Without the right procedures, you're leaving your shipments vulnerable to tampering, theft, and contamination. That’s why you need our guide to implementing a seal verification process. A seal verification process involves checking and documenting seal integrity at every stage to detect and prevent unauthorized access.

You don't need a degree in logistics to implement one, but you do need a solid plan. We’re going to walk through the steps to build a process that protects your bottom line and gives you peace of mind.

Assess Your Current Security Vulnerabilities

Before you can fix anything, you need to know where the cracks are. You might think slapping a seal on a container is enough, but if nobody checks it until the end of the line, that seal is just a decoration.

Start by walking through your facility. Look at how goods move from your warehouse floor to the truck. Ask yourself a few hard questions:

• Who handles the seals?
• Where are the seals stored before use?
• Is there a record of which seal goes on which truck?

If you find your seals are sitting in an open box by the loading dock where anyone can grab one, you have a problem. If drivers are applying their own seals without supervision, you have a bigger problem. You need to identify these gaps so you can build a process that actually works.

Select the Right Seal for the Job

Not all seals are created equal. Using a flimsy plastic strap on a high-value shipment is like locking your front door with a twist tie. You need to match the security level of the seal to the value and risk level of the cargo.

For low-risk, short-haul deliveries, an indicative seal can show if tampering occurred without providing much physical resistance. For higher-value or international shipments, barrier seals like bolt or cable seals offer more security and require tools for removal.

Picking the right hardware is step one. If you use the wrong tool, the rest of your verification process won't matter much.

Establish a Strict Chain of Custody

Chain of custody refers to the chronological documentation or paper trail that records the sequence of custody, control, and transfer of a security seal. It tracks exactly who handled the seal and when.

You should treat your seals like cash. Keep them locked up and assign a specific person to manage the inventory. When a seal is handed out, log the following information:

• Date and time
• Seal serial number
• Name of the person receiving it
• Truck or container number it is intended for

If a seal goes missing, you need to know immediately. A missing seal could mean someone is planning to replace a legitimate seal after tampering with a load. If you don't have a log, you won't even know it's gone until it's too late.

Train Your Team on the VVTT Method

You can have the best locks in the world, but they’re useless if your team doesn't know how to use them. You need to train your dock workers, drivers, and security personnel on a standardized inspection method. The industry standard is often referred to as VVTT.

V - View

Inspect the seal and locking mechanism for scratches, glue marks, or mismatched seal numbers.

V - Verify

Check the seal number against the documentation. Even a small mismatch means it's incorrect.

T - Tug

Pull firmly on the seal to check that it’s secure and untampered.

T - Twist

Twist the seal head to check for tampering; it shouldn’t spin or come apart.

Make this training mandatory. Refresh it regularly. It only takes a few seconds to do the check, but those seconds can save you thousands of dollars.

Document Everything Digitally

Paper logs are better than nothing, but they’re easy to lose and hard to search. In modern logistics, you should be moving toward digital documentation.

When a seal is applied, take a photo. Make sure the photo clearly shows:

• The seal number
• The seal physically locked on the container
• The container number

Upload these photos to your shipping software or a secure cloud drive immediately. When the shipment arrives at its destination, the receiving team should follow the same steps before breaking the seal.

If there’s a discrepancy later, you have photographic proof of what that seal looked like when it left your facility and what it looked like when it arrived. This protects you from claims of theft that might have happened after the load left your hands.

Create a Protocol for Broken or Mismatched Seals

What happens when your team finds a problem? If a driver arrives and the seal doesn't match the paperwork, or if the seal looks tampered with, your staff needs to know exactly what to do. They shouldn't have to guess.

The Protocol:

1. Stop: Don’t open the doors. Don’t break the seal.
2. Notify: Call a supervisor or the security manager immediately.
3. Document: Take photos of the seal, the truck, and the license plate.
4. Investigate: Contact the shipper to verify if a seal was changed in transit (sometimes this happens legitimately, like during a customs inspection).
5. Inspect: If the seal was broken or changed without authorization, a full inspection of the cargo is required before accepting the load.

Having a clear "stop work" authority empowers your employees. They need to know they won't get in trouble for delaying a shipment if they suspect security has been compromised.

Conduct Regular Audits of the Process

You can't just set this up and walk away. Over time, people get comfortable. They start skipping the "tug" or the "twist." They stop logging the numbers carefully. This is human nature, but it’s bad for security.

Schedule random audits.

• Check the seal inventory log against the physical stock.
• Watch a loading process unannounced to see if your employees are using the VVTT method.
• Review the digital photos to confirm they’re clear and uploaded correctly.

If you catch mistakes, use them as teaching moments. If you find the process is too cumbersome, refine it. The goal is a system that’s easy to follow but hard to break.

Secure Your Reputation with a Strong Finish

We’ve covered a lot of ground here. From picking the right specialized hardware to training your team on how to spot a counterfeit, every step in implementing a robust seal verification process matters. It certainly takes time, effort, and careful planning to successfully integrate these systems into your workflow, but the reward is a secure supply chain you can trust.

If you need high-quality seals for your shipments, shop Logimate's selection of bolt seals. These seals have a heavy-duty steel locking mechanism that requires bolt cutters to remove. They work well on shipping containers, truck trailers, and rail cars. Don't put the safety of your cargo to chance. With the right hardware and a seal verification process in place, you can protect your goods as they move from point A to point B.