December 4, 2019

Vesper Group participated in ICoCA’s annual meeting in Geneva late November. The meeting dealt with usual topics such as the annual report, budget and membership issues, but the agenda also included various panel discussions and workshops.

The workshop, “Towards Shared Responsibility: The Role of Clients”, focused on customer responsibility. Large-scale companies and organisations participated in the workshop to discuss the importance of their due diligence processes when purchasing security services given that the biggest risks are often linked to subcontractors. They argued that security companies with ICoCA certifications have a proven commitment to responsibility, regardless of how complex the environments in which they operate are. As one of the speakers put it:

– An ICoCA certification guarantees us as customers that the company not only does what is permitted by law, but that it also adheres to what is ethically right.

But the discussion also focused the many challenges that remain – above all the need to inform customers about the importance of conducting due diligence of sub-contractors and about ICoCA’s role in this process.

Private security companies have a responsibility to inform the market about the importance of ensuring that they exclusively use responsible companies. Choosing suppliers based on lowest price only is associated with significant risks which may not only affect the companies themselves but also the people living in complex environments where security services are often performed.

The Assembly in Geneva. Photo: ICoCA