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CANASA 2019 Priorities Announced

CANASA recently announced four strategic objectives designed to raise the profile of the association and continue to increase the value of being a member.

Minimum Standards: These standards are intended specifically for those companies that deal directly with the public  Standards include: background checks for employees who interact with end users or who have access to confidential information; companies should have a minimum of $1 million in liability insurance and all employers must conform to their provincial health and safety regulations.

While the majority of CANASA members meet these criteria, it is our intent to modify registration requirements in order for this information to be captured. These standards will be voluntary for 2019. However, CANASA will begin to publicize to the AHJ community, the insurance industry and the general public that being a CANASA member company assures a credible standard of business.

Education: CANASA continues to work diligently with several community colleges as well as private technical schools to develop a “CANASA Endorsed” training program to bring new technicians into our industry.  There is a large shortage at this time and CANASA is looking to assist our member companies by providing the training required to secure properly trained technicians.  CANASA has, and will continue to add online resources available through www.canasa.org with courses addressing: safety in the work place, cannabis in the work place as well as a variety of technically specific courses that can be taken according to one’s own schedule.

Relationships: CANASA has become deeply involved in improving relationships with emergency services across Canada.  We feel that this is an important part of our ability to address the many issues that can affect member companies. CANASA is using direct involvement and an active media campaign utilizing both social media and print publications to get the message out about the association, explaining who we are and what we do.

Growth: Our final strategic initiative is to grow CANASA to be representative of the complete scope of “security” in Canada.  We are no longer just the “Alarm Association” and are branching into areas such as cyber security, IT security, the guard industry and much more. Since all of these security segments are starting to work much closer together, this will help ensure that CANASA is the true “voice of the security industry in Canada.”

Patrick Straw is the executive director of CANASA.

This story appeared in the November/December 2018 issue of SP&T Magazine.