ASC

Reduction of screening period to 5 years

02/09/06

Despite objections raised by the Insurance Industry and the ASC the recommendations of the working group were accepted by GW3 the Bsi committee responsible for manned security standards and the 2006 version was published during late August.

The minimum screening period has been reduced to 5 years to mirror the PSIA 2001 and in general the standard appears to have been modified to provide guidance to guarding organisations of Approved Contractor Status to screen candidates to enable a license dispensation to be provided.

Brief descriptions of some other changes are:

? Period allowed for completion of 5 year screening 12 weeks
? More explicit recommendations for checking identity (in line with SIA requirements)
? Removal of the short lived "qualified sign off" process introduced in 2004 which allowed a single gap up to 12 months to be signed off
? Introduction of the use of Statutory Declaration within the most recent 5 years
? Executive acceptance of risk where there is concern about financial history
? A specific requirement for an applicant to sign a declaration

The standard requires "confirmation of a continuous record of employment" there does not appear to be any guidance in respect to what is an acceptable gap, if any, between employments.

It also seems that providing a candidate can obtain concurring statements from a two referees covering a gap this would also be acceptable.