BS7858 a mere nuisance or a certain necessity?

The need and necessity for standards

A few days ago, as I was driving down one of my favourite streets, I was greeted with an unusually jolting surprise, a speed hump of a gigantic persuasion, which rattled my car’s suspension and compressed my vertebrae. I was caught off-guard since this route is among those I frequently use and am quite familiar with. Just to check if my car was still in one piece, I pulled over to a safe side and stepped out for a quick inspection. As I was looking around, another car approached and just blazed over the speed hump with a loud whoosh and a ‘da-dung, da-dung!’ sound. I thought, “oh dear! Someone definitely needs a new suspension after that”. Nonetheless, having found no noticeable damage to my car, I drove off and continued the day.

The next day, as I was driving along the same street, I remembered the enormous speed hump and slowed down to a crawl right before approaching it. I glanced at my rear-view mirror as I was slowing and saw the same car from the day before, the one that blazed over the speed hump. The driver went over the speed hump the same way - a whoosh and a ‘da-dung, da-dung’. Later, they put in another speed hump even bigger than the one they had. So now there are two enormous speed humps one taller, and meaner than the other, with a gap of less than 15 ft in between. Lo and behold, there are no “whooshes” nor are there any “da-dung, da-dung” sounds anymore. All cars driving down that street now go slower than usual, which has reduced noise pollution in the nearby area. In addition, pedestrians appear to feel more comfortable walking around and visiting nearby shops. So, what happened? ‘When people become unruly and lose empathy with a feeling of entitlement, measures must be employed to restore them to their former glory. ‘Standards’ assist people in creating an environment that is safe for all.

BS7858 a brief

The BS7858 Security Vetting, set by the British Standards Institution, is UK’s standard for vetting people employed in the security sector. This screening was introduced to ensure that employees working in sensitive areas or with people at risk are adequately vetted while keeping standards. It is a rather extensive screening and requires employers to collect from employees background information, such as 5 years of employment verification, 6 years of credit history search, proof of ID & UK right to work, proof of address, a valid SIA license and coverage of any 31+ day employment gaps. The process of collecting this information is quite complex and resource-taxing: sometimes the information is just not available despite the best intentions, while other times, the intentions are not proper. Nonetheless, the extensive process renders assurances across different levels that the employed can be trusted with vulnerable people and sensitive property.

Whose responsibility is it?

The responsibility of carrying out BS7858 screening rests with the employer and it is the employee’s responsibility to provide them with the necessary information on time. The employee is required to provide the current employer with contact information for previous employers, proof of address and credit history. The employer then reaches out to each of the contacts shared to verify their respective information. Sounds simple enough: right – now image, the employer has over 100 employees, each with an average of 3 previous employers (some for whom the employee provided an email address only), most of the 300 employees have a good credit score; however, there are a few (75) with a credit score of around 500. For conducting a BS7858 vetting for these 100 employees, the employer will need to make a minimum of 375 correspondences, emails and phone calls, manage respective follow-up and record-keeping processes, and ensure the employee files are kept in a secure place with restricted access.

EarnFlex.com, realizing the value and importance of BS7858, particularly in the security field, has purposefully incorporated BS7858 compliance within their systems. During the sign-up process, each officer is asked to submit documents as required by the standard. There are also disclosures and authorization forms developed by the templates provided by the standard’s recent publication from 2019. Furthermore, realizing that such forms, no matter how meticulously compiled are often confusing, intimidating and time taxing to furnish, EarnFlex.com has a team that calls up each officer on the phone and assists them in providing the required information. So far, this person-to-person contact has generated more responses toward BS7858 compliance than the conventional mechanism. During such phone calls, the officer shares their preferences and previous experiences which allows EarnFlex.com to better match them with jobs. This results in overall morale, motivation and quality of deliverables. What their clients get are, security personnel with a complete set of verified documents, relevant SIA badges and background information, which adds to their peace of mind that the one guarding their valuables is trustworthy and comes from a trustworthy organization. 

It is a nuisance, a jangled mess of multiple finely intertwined strands of silk, and each needs to be pulled out gently without damaging any strands or making any knots tighter. However, when done with intent, BS7858 provides the peace of mind previously missing from the security industry in the UK.