Industry expertise

Expert councils

Three councils by field: logistics security, food safety and information security. They prepare the industry substance of requirements, which is then put to the vote of the Technical Committee.

The role of the councils

The committee decides — the council knows the industry

The Technical Committee adopts standards and assessment schemes. But it cannot know every industry to the same depth: requirements for the carriage of chemical products and requirements for the protection of information are about different things and are verified differently.

The expert councils close that gap. They are made up of practitioners in the field — representatives of member organisations, industry unions, expert and certification organisations. The council prepares the substance; the committee puts it to the vote.

The division is deliberate. The council answers for a requirement being workable and verifiable in the real conditions of the industry. The committee answers for its fitting the Association's common framework and not contradicting the other documents.

Composition

Three fields, three councils

Each council is responsible for its own group of SSA standards. That is the subject of its work: the council carries the documents of its field from development through to revision in the three-year cycle.

I
Expert council
Logistics security
Supply chains, transport and storage of goods. One of the two fields in which the Association has assessment schemes in force.
Standards in its charge
CLSSA Transport service CLSSA Tank cleaning CLSSA Warehouse
  • Integrity and traceability of the supply chain
  • Security of warehouse operations and storage conditions
  • Access control and protection of goods in transit
  • Requirements for tank cleaning and handling of residues
  • Readiness for incidents and the order of response
II
Expert council
Food safety
Production, distribution and storage of food products, packaging and feed. The second field covered by certification schemes in force.
Standards in its charge
FSSA Food FSSA Packaging FSSA Feed
  • Control of hazards in production
  • Conditions of storage and transport of product
  • Traceability and the procedure for recalling batches
  • Packaging materials and contact with product
  • Cross-contamination in feed production
III
Expert council
Information security
Protection of information and resilience of digital infrastructure. The field in which requirements age fastest, which makes revision particularly important here.
Standards in its charge
SSA Cyber
  • Data protection and access management
  • Continuity and recovery of processes
  • Security in supplier relationships
  • Incident response and investigation
  • Comparability with ISO/IEC 27001 and adjacent schemes
The work of a council

What a council actually does

A council does not adopt documents — it prepares them and carries them through. The decision stays with the committee, but without the council's work there is nothing to put to the vote.

01
Preparing the substance of requirements
The council sets out what has to be secured in the industry and by what signs this is verified. The result is a draft document or section ready for the committee to consider.
02
Review of drafts
The council gives opinions on drafts affecting its field, including international documents on which the Association forms a position.
03
Feedback from practice
The council gathers experience of applying the schemes in force: where a requirement is read differently, where verification yields nothing, where the industry has moved on. That is the basis for revision in the three-year cycle.
04
Representation of the industry
Councils are made up of representatives of member organisations and industry unions. Through a council the industry takes part in forming requirements rather than receiving them ready-made.
Taking part

How to join a council

Representatives are nominated to the councils by organisations — associate members of the Association. Individual participation without an organisation is not provided for: a council represents an industry, not particular specialists.

Membership terms Write to the Association
01
Membership of the Association
The organisation joins as an associate member and accepts the statutes and the membership regulation.
02
Nomination of a representative
The organisation appoints a specialist to work in the council for the relevant field.
03
Approval of the composition
The composition of a council is approved by the Council of the Association along with its rules of procedure.
04
Work on documents
The representative takes part in preparing requirements and reviewing drafts in their field.
Where the councils' work goes
Standardization
Requirements prepared by the councils are put to the vote of the Technical Committee and become SSA standards — nine documents in three groups.
Standardization
What lies between the fields
Research and practice centre
The councils work on their industries separately. Where a threat arrives across the boundary between fields, the centre for corporate security studies takes it up.
Research and practice centre