In response to the heightened demand for security at the major (petro) chemical plants in the U.S., the Safety Council Security Consortium (SCSC) developed a standardized, systematic screening package modeled after the American Chemistry Council’s – Site Security Guidelines. This standardized package is reciprocal among 14 major market areas and among the thousands of contractors and the many participating plant owners. With a turnover rate in excess of 400% annually, this reciprocal solution has saved the industry in excess of $40 million in redundant screening costs. The SCSC – Contractor Background Screening program was initiated in 2002 as a direct result of plant owner sponsorship in SE Texas in partnership with the local safety council. Several program objectives were defined as critical to the success of the program:

Over the past four years, since the program inception with the Safety Council – SC Basic Package, there have been several program enhancements. In 2003 a Social Security Number Verification process was deployed and in 2005 the Basic Package was upgraded to include the grading or adjudication of criminal background and Patriot Act search results. The current SC “graded” package and SSV process are recognized as industry standards for contractor security screening. The overall success of the program can be defined in the shear volume of the workforce that has been screened through the SCSC model. To follow are a few of the more impressive metrics:

Grading of criminal searches is conducted for eight levels, scaling up from “00” = clear record, “01” & “02” misdemeanors, “03” through “06” = felonies and “07” = Patriot Act Search hit. Once all county level jurisdictional searches are completed, a final package grade will be associated with the applicants record.

For more information, contact your local safety council