Auditing against BS8484..the story so far

I've spent much of the last couple of weeks or so getting a handle on how the two main audit bodies in the UK plan to audit a company against BS8484. This particular posting is probably of use to those in UK ARCs and not many others but I though it worth an update. Once the dust has settled a bit and more becomes clear I will post a entry that gives an update on BS8484 from an employer's perspective but until then..

The two main audit bodies in the UK security industry are the NSI and the SSAIB. Both have confirmed that they will audit a company against BS8484 and indeed some audits have already started. (Connexion2 has its booked for the 4th March).

SSAIB are happy to audit a company against the whole of BS8484 whilst NSI are expecting three different types of application:

1. Audit against the whole standard
2. Audit against section 6 only (likely to be from an ARC who isn't wanting to sell to a client)
3. Audit against section 7 only (likely to be from a private response company)

NSI are happy to audit to either their Silver or Gold standard with the difference really being the fact that to get Gold, NSI have to audit a company against ISO9001 at the same time.

Applications are being taken now and a number of ARCs are also starting to apply to Police forces for URNs as per the application published by ACPO recently.

What is already clear though is that a couple of companies are already claiming to be 'approved' against BS8484 when in fact they either haven't yet applied or have only been audited and approved against section 6 or 7. One to watch out for!

A couple of ARCs are telling me that for mobile phone based customers they are having to start the process of notifying them that its unlikely they will be able to guarentee a Police response once the process of using URNs kicks into gear.

More details to follow as the picture becomes more clear...