TMA and Security Systems News Announce Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Award

The Monitoring Association (TMA) and Security Systems News have partnered to create a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Award with the goal of promoting and fostering a more inclusive workforce throughout the security industry.

Today’s business world requires that businesses create, foster, and encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace to be successful. Doing so stimulates innovation; drives better decisions; makes teams more agile; and results in better business outcomes for employees and customers. These improvements result in higher levels of employee engagement and better financial performance.

The idea for the “TMA/SSN Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Award” emerged from a small working group comprised of TMA CEO Celia T. Besore; TMA President-Elect Steve Butkovich, SSN Editor Paul Ragusa, and staff in 2021. The award will be given to TMA members who demonstrate a commitment to DEI policies and programs across their organization.

“TMA, together with Security Systems News, seeks to be an agent of change and to raise awareness of the significance and the value of DEI initiatives within the security business sector. We’re proud to introduce this new award as a means to bring this critical issue to the forefront, to inform, and to empower companies to embrace and embed these core principles,” stated Celia T. Besore, CEO, TMA.

“With workforce development one of key topics within security today, the focus and conversation has turned to building a strong company culture that attracts quality candidates and inspires them to want to stay and grow in your company,” added Paul Ragusa, editor, Security Systems News. “Creating an environment that is inclusive, open and based on a strong DEI framework is key to successfully retaining top talent, and this new award was created to recognize companies that are leaders in this area.”

The efforts and achievements must have been demonstrated through specific work with other individuals or groups, or through a specific product, initiative, innovative programs, or activities that have a visible, tangible, or measurable impact on the perception of, attitude toward, and respect for a truly inclusive environment, where individuals are valued for their talent and able to reach their full potential.

Each nominee will be asked to deploy the TMA/SSN DEI Employee Assessment Survey to their employees. The web-based assessment tool consists of approximately 40 questions covering eight facets of DEI practice within your organization. (Companies will receive only a summary report without individual responses.)

Each nominee will also be required to submit one to four “Shared Success Examples” of how their organization implements DEI-related activities in the following areas of focus, such as:

  • Workforce Diversity
  • Multicultural Outreach
  • Community Involvement

The TMA/SSN DEI Leadership Award aims to:

  • Raise industry awareness of the importance and value of being a diverse and inclusive industry.
  • Recognize TMA member organizations who have developed innovative initiatives to foster DEI efforts within their organization.
  • Initiatives may include new hiring policies; practices to create and retain diverse candidate pools; best practices for facilitating difficult dialogue; and how to create an effective diversity program within your organization.
  • Inspire business strategies and industry best practices that reach out to diverse populations.
  • Through analysis and sharing of the information obtained from the TMA/SSN DEI Employee Assessment Survey, organizations across the industry can gain valuable insights into the development or improvement of their own DEI policies and programs.

Companies interested in applying for the award, please click here to begin the nomination process.

Preliminary Technical Review Period is Now Open for the TMA-AVS-01 Alarm Validation Standard

The Monitoring Association (TMA) Standards Committee has opened a Preliminary Technical Review Period for its TMA-AVS-01 Alarm Validation Standard. Initiated in 2020, the standard provides a method of creating an alarm scoring or classification metric for unauthorized human activity detected by alarm systems that will assist law enforcement with resource allocation and Call-for-Service prioritization. The purpose of this optional review process is to allow interested stakeholders to provide feedback prior to the commencement of the official ANSI public comment period. Professionals from across the physical security industry, law enforcement, and emergency communications are asked to review and submit comments. All comments must be received through the TMA portal no later than 8:00 PM ET on Friday, June 17, 2022. All interested may access the draft document at https://tma.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AVS-01-Committee-Draft-Rev-24.pdf and the TMA online comment form at https://tma.us/avs01commentform.

“This is a ground-breaking standard for stakeholders across the security and first-responder communities,” stated Glenn Schroeder, TMA Standards Committee Chair. “The TMA-AVS-01 Sub-Committee, chaired by Mark McCall, Immix Protect, and co-chaired by David Holl, Lower Allen Township (PA), and Larry Folsom, ADT, has put forth an extraordinary effort to bring this life-saving standard to fruition. At this point, we now look to other professionals who possess firsthand, working knowledge of alarm communications, emergency communication, and incident response to validate the methodology as put forth in the standard. Stakeholder input is critical.”

The TMA-AVS-01 committee will review all preliminary comments for possible inclusion in the document published for review during the ANSI public comment period. A webinar on, or about, May 25, 2022 will be held to address questions. Responders are encouraged to submit comments as early as possible.

After the committee has prepared a final draft document, TMA will submit the standard to ANSI, with the desire to initiate the 60-day ANSI Public Comment process.

If you were unable to be in attendance for TMA’s informational AVS-01 webinar on May 2, 2022, you may view a recording at https://vimeo.com/705870823/2d66afe899.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Bryan Ginn at bginn@tma.us.

TMA Welcomes Four New Members

Join in welcoming the four newest members of our community! Learn more about each one here.

Guardian Alarm Company (Returning Member)
Listed Alarm Member
Southfield, MI
www.guardianalarm.com

M2M Services
Associate Member
Boca Raton, FL
www.m2mservices.com

Property Protection Monitoring, Inc. (Returning Member)
Listed Alarm Member
Lowell, MA
www.propertyprotectionmonitoring.com

Totem
International Member
Guayaquil, Ecuador
www.totem.com.ec

Preliminary Technical Review Period Opens for TMA-AVS01 Standard

The Preliminary Technical Review period is now open for the TMA-AVS01 Alarm Validation Standard. The purpose of this optional review process is to allow interested stakeholders to provide feedback prior to the commencement of the official ANSI public comment period.

 

The TMA-AVS-01 committee will review all preliminary comments for possible inclusion in the document published for review during the ANSI public comment period.

 

All comments must be received through the TMA portal no later than 8:00 PM, June 17, 2022. Access the TMA online comment form at https://tma.us/avs01commentform

 

We are planning a webinar on or about May 25th to answer questions. Responders are encouraged to submit comments as early as possible.

 

After the committee has prepared a final draft document, TMA will submit to ANSI, with the desire to initiate the 60-day ANSI Public Comment process.

 

If you were unable to be in attendance for the AVS-01 Webinar on May 2, 2022, you can view a recording at https://vimeo.com/705870823/2d66afe899

 

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Bryan Ginn at bginn@tma.us. 

Denver City and Country Bring TMA’s ASAP-to-PSAP to 104 ECCs Nationwide

The Denver 9-1-1 Communications Center is the 104th emergency communications center in the United States and the 2nd agency in the state of Colorado to implement the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP). Denver went live on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 through Friday, April 15, 2022 with Vector Security, Rapid Response Monitoring, Guardian Protection, Security Central, Stanley Security, Securitas, United Central Control, Tyco (Johnson Controls), Protection One, Brinks, Affiliated Monitoring, Vivint, National Monitoring Center, and ADT. Alarm Detection Systems based in Aurora IL will be live with Denver over the upcoming days.

Learn more about TMA’s growing ASAP-to-PSAP Service.

The DO’s and the DON’Ts of Business Insurance

Contributed by Rob Tockarshewsky, USI Insurance Services, Robert.tockarshewsky@usi.com There is an old adage:  ‘Failure to plan is planning to fail…’  No one ever sets out to fail, yet more times than not, failure may be the end result. Providing insurance & risk management services is similar to alarm companies providing security & fire alarm systems […]