by Rebecca Walker — June 30, 2010—On June 15, the Department of Homeland Security announced the adoption of the final standards for the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep), aimed at improving organizational resilience and preparedness in the private sector.
For the first time, private companies can receive DHS certification for their business continuity plans, which gives them a benchmark for evaluating how prepared they are to mitigate risk and keep their people and property safe.
Its also vital for improving national security, said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. “Private organizations across the country—from businesses to universities to non-profit organizations—have a vital role to play in bolstering our disaster preparedness and response capabilities,” she said. “These new standards will provide our private sector partners with the tools they need to enhance the readiness and resiliency of our nation.”
The standard was developed in part by ASIS International as the ANSI/ASIS Organizational Resilience Standard, in partnership with the National Fire Protection Association, and the British Standards Institution. This standard is based on the International Organization for Standardization management system standard model, and can help organizations prepare for the upcoming ISO standards for Organizational Resilience, as well as the ISO Business Continuity Management standard.
However, while embracing many of the key points in this standard is important for business continuity and resiliency, Marc Siegel, commissioner of the ASIS Global Standards Initiative, said organizations shouldn’t be too focused on getting the certification. “The program is new and its unclear if certification is going to have an economic business driver,” he said. “Instead, companies should take the standard and evaluate where they are and how to use the standard to improve their performance of operations and resilience and use it to put themselves in a much better position.” In order to further educate the public sector about continuity, ASIS International is offering a two-and-one-half-day class about how to implement part of the standard, including issues of internal auditing and self-evaluation to identify opportunities for improvement, said Siegel. The first class will take place July 14 through 16 in Chicago and again September 13 through 15 in San Diego. For more details, see the ASIS International Web site.
