BS 7858:2019 Screening of Individuals

BS 7858:2019 was published in September 2019 replacing BS 7858:2012 and is the British Standard for the screening of individuals working in a secure environment where the security and/or safety of people, goods and services, data or property is a requirement of the employing organisation’s operations and/or where such screening is in the public interest. 

This Standard gives recommendations for organisations who engage individuals working in a secure environment with a methodology to reduce risk exposure in terms of their human resources and to give a high level of confidence in recruiting and the setting to work of individuals. 

BS 7858 is a comprehensive, rigorous screening process which includes –

• 5 Year employment history and references
• Basic criminality check
• 5 Year credit and financial check 
• Proof of ID and Right to work check
• 5 Year address verification

The current 2019 revision of the standard introduces the following principal changes:

• Widened scope allows the standard to be used effectively in other industries outside of the recognised security sector for any employees undertaking work in a secure environment;
• Emphasis on risk assessment, a theme which runs through the standard;
• Clear objective to obtain pertinent background information to an informed decision, based on risk.
• Importance of top management in the screening process (top down approach)
• Organisation retains ultimate responsibility for an outsourced screening process and is required to review the completed screening file;
• Recognition of the role of automation;
• Requirement for character references has been removed;
• While social media and other open source internet checks are now mentioned, they are not a provision of the standard and can only be used as additional information in any employment decisions; and
• Annex A is now informative and provides examples of forms that could be used, which allows organisations to customise them more easily.