Organizational Resilience Standard ASIS SPC.1-2009 Helps Manage Security Risks

April 2, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS

ASIS SPC.1-2009 is an organizational resilience (OR) standard that provides a management framework to anticipate, possibly prevent and prepare for and respond to a disruptive incident.

OR emphasizes the synergies between the functions of risk, security, preparedness, continuity and emergency managers, according to ASIS. This avoids "siloing" risks and allows the organization to build a proactive and reactive approach to managing risks that is tailored to its size, activities and business/operating environment.

"The new OR standard uses a comprehensive approach to the management of risks associated with intentional, unintentional and naturally caused disruptions," said F. Mark Geraci, CPP, chair of the ASIS Standards and Guidelines Commission.

"It provides a complete suite of tools to build a strategy for dealing with risks compatible with the mission and needs of the organization, as well as addresses the core elements and criteria of the DHS [U.S. Department of Homeland Security] PS-PREP," he said.

The standard can be integrated with quality, safety, environmental, information security, risk and other management systems within an organization, according to ASIS. Organizations that adopted a management systems approach may be able to use it as a foundation for the OR management system as prescribed in the standard.

The standard can be used for first-, second- or third-party verification and certification. Organizations can use it to improve resilience performance, as well as demonstrate to customers, clients and supply chain partners that the company has a "robust" resilience program.

The OR standard was under development simultaneously in countries on four continents. The publication of this American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard will be followed by the publication of this document as a national standard in other countries that support the initiative.

Source: ASIS International.