BS 7858 is the British Standard for screening people who work in a security environment. It sets out the checks an employer should carry out before someone starts, including identity, right to work, a continuous employment and activity history, criminal record and financial checks. For buyers, it means the officer on your site has been checked by their employer as well as licensed by the SIA.
What is BS 7858?
BS 7858 is published by the British Standards Institution. It is a code of practice for screening individuals employed in a security environment, and it is widely used across guarding, alarm, CCTV and other security work. It is also referenced by the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme and by industry bodies such as the BSIA.
The standard is revised from time to time. If you need the detail, check the current edition with BSI rather than relying on an older summary. This guide sets out the principles a buyer needs to understand.
What checks does BS 7858 include?
In broad terms, BS 7858 screening includes:
- Identity: confirming the person is who they say they are, using original documents.
- Right to work: confirming they can legally work in the UK.
- Address: confirming where they live and have lived.
- Employment and activity history: a continuous record covering a set number of years, with periods of employment, education, unemployment or time abroad confirmed.
- Gaps: any unexplained gap in the history is investigated.
- Criminal record: a criminal record disclosure, usually through the DBS in England and Wales.
- Financial: a credit check, looking for issues such as county court judgments or insolvency that could create pressure or risk.
- Character references and a face to face interview.
How is BS 7858 different from an SIA licence?
An SIA licence shows that an individual has completed the required training and passed the SIA’s own identity and criminality checks for that licence type. It is a legal requirement for licensable work. It belongs to the officer and moves with them from employer to employer.
BS 7858 screening is carried out by the employer. It looks at the person’s history in more depth, including employment, gaps and finances, and the records are held by the company. It is the employer saying "we have checked this person ourselves", in addition to the licence. You want both.
Why vetting matters for your site
Security officers are trusted with keys, alarm codes, access to stock and cash, and often the only presence on site at night. If someone with a history of dishonesty or unexplained gaps gets that access, the damage can be serious and hard to trace.
Thorough vetting is also a sign of a well run company. It takes time and money to do properly. A contractor that can deploy brand new starters within hours of an enquiry should be asked how their vetting fits into that.
Can officers start before vetting is complete?
The standard allows limited provisional employment in some circumstances, while the full checks are finished, subject to controls and minimum checks already completed. Practices differ, and buyers are entitled to set their own rules. If your site is sensitive, you can ask in the contract that only fully screened officers are deployed.
Ask your provider how they handle provisional screening, which checks are done before any deployment, and how quickly the remainder are completed.
Questions to ask your security provider about vetting
You do not need to be an expert in the standard to test a contractor. These questions will quickly show whether vetting is taken seriously:
- Do you screen all officers to BS 7858, and who carries it out?
- Are you an SIA Approved Contractor, and when was your last assessment?
- How many years of history do you verify, and how do you deal with gaps?
- Do you deploy officers on provisional screening, and under what controls?
- Can you confirm in writing that each officer on my site is fully screened?
- How do you check that licences stay valid during the contract?
- How are screening records stored and protected?
Vetting and data protection
Screening involves sensitive personal information, so the employer must handle it under UK data protection law. Buyers do not normally receive the screening files themselves, and should not need to. What you are entitled to is confirmation that screening has been completed to the standard and that records are held securely. KBG is ICO registered and holds Cyber Essentials Plus.
What BS 7858 cannot tell you
Screening checks the past. It cannot guarantee future behaviour, and it says nothing about whether an officer suits your site. That is the job of good recruitment, site training, supervision and management. A screened officer who is never visited, never checked on at night and never given clear instructions can still let you down.
Treat vetting as the entry ticket, then look at how the company supervises officers once they are deployed. Ask how often supervisors visit, how the control room checks on lone officers and how performance problems are handled.
BS 7858 screened officers from KBG
At KBG Security Solutions, officers are SIA licensed and vetted to BS 7858. We are an SIA Approved Contractor for security guarding and door supervision, reference KBGSECSC01, and we have run from our head office in West Bromwich since 2007. Licences are checked before every deployment, supervisors visit sites, and our 24 hour control room keeps in touch with officers through each shift.
To talk about vetting requirements for your site, or to arrange a free site survey, call 0845 388 0348.
