Although industrial security as a distinct discipline started gaining firm roots in India in early’ 60s under the aegis of the government, it soon dawned on all concerned that security interests of the fast and growing industrial environ in the country will have to be shared and protected by non-government agencies as well. The last few decades, therefore, witnessed almost mushroom growth of private security agencies all over the country. By and large, this growth of private security agencies was necessary to fill in the ground that governmental agencies could not cover because of obvious limitations. Unfortunately, however, the demand for security requirements could not be that easily fulfilled as adequate number of professionally trained security personnel were not available. It is to make up for such lacuna that experienced professionals in the field started thinking of organising professional training for security personnel or those who would wish to make industrial security a professional career.

It is in such context that the idea of setting up the Indian Institute of Security & Safety Management (IISSM) was conceived. It was finally established in the year 1991 as a registered educational society. Indeed, the IISSM is a pioneering body in this field in India. It is a unique body comprising practising professionals belonging to users, providers and consultants in the field of industrial security & safety management. With its dedication towards promoting professionalism par excellence, it took no time for this Institute to eke out its due place of eminence in the world of industrial security management. It is a measure of the growing stature of the Institute that foreign experts participating in its programmes, persistently demanded expansion of IISSM activities outside India. From January 1, 1997, the Institute has, therefore, been converted into the International Institute of Security & Safety Management. It held three Annual International Seminars in three consecutive years in Mauritius (1997), Kathmandu (1998) and in Penang (1999). Its headquarters remain in New Delhi, India.

The IISSM aims at providing world class training and education to security and safety professionals with a view to promoting professional outlook and upgradation of skills among them. It is also engaged in the onerous task of creating the requisite ambience for all those connected with the security profession at the managerial level. In addition, IISSM provides career guidance, consultancy service on request and on case to case basis. The Institute has an elaborate programme of certification of security practitioners and consultants and award of Fellowship to selected experts so as to encourage higher level of professional expertise in the field of security and safety management.

The IISSM organises every year a number of thematic and customised training courses and workshops for the industry and trade. These courses are designed to give a special thrust to the latest approaches to modern security concepts and challenge and include expert presentations and discourses on security in corporate sectors, anti-sabotage / anti-terrorism measures, executive protection, use of electronics to attain efficiency, IT security and cost effectiveness in the field of security and safety.

One of the prestigious activities of the IISSM is to hold every year an International Seminar - at times accompanied by an Exhibition - in the field of security and safety management. It is here that the IISSM truly acts as a catalyst for bringing professionals from all over the world and from different fields together on a common platform for experience sharing and development of mutual understanding. Nineteen such Seminars have been held since 1991. Each Seminar has evoked better response than the previous one which is indicative of the rising popularity of these Seminars among both practising professionals and experts. Among the foreign countries from where delegates have attended these Seminars are: Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Province of China, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, USA, Canada, U.K., Denmark, Australia, Israel, Kuwait, Belgium, Bangladesh, France, Reunion Island, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Nepal, Mauritius and India. Participants have come from private sector industries, public sector undertakings, private security agencies, security equipment manufacturers, academic institutions, financial institutions and banking industries as well as departments and ministries of the government. These Seminars were:

The programme for the next International Seminar is as below:

Some of the courses run by IISSM have been in collaboration with recognised national level institutes, such as, the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), easily the premier agency for training of senior bureaucrats and officials in the public sector, and the Indian Institute of Coal Management (IICM) of the Government of India.

International recognition to IISSM has come in many ways. It is a matter of satisfaction that the Industrial and Vocational Training Board (IVTB) of the Government of Mauritius, where the VII International Seminar was held, had accorded recognition to the IISSM Seminar as a one-off basis. The IISSM had entered into a joint venture with the International Professional Security Association (IPSA) of the U.K. and the Tepe Group of Turkey in matters of membership and training programmes. IISSM is an Affiliate Member of the International Relations and Security Network (ISN), Switzerland. An MoU for collaboration in the field of training has been signed with the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Saudi Arabia. In November, 2008, IISSM was conferred the status of Affiliate Membership of the esteemed International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO), based in Geneva, Switzerland. In November 2008, an MoU for promoting professionalism and education in the security industry had been signed with the South African Institute of Security, South Africa. IISSM has also entered into joint venture MoU with International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) based in UK in October, 2009. In March, 2010, an IISSM delegation participated in an industrial security meet organised by SECUREX Asia, Singapore. IISSM application for UNECOSOC affiliation has been admitted and is now under consideration with the Committee on Non-Governmental Organisation, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.

By way of promoting sustained induction of technology into security industry, IISSM had in the past organized Exhibitions of state-of-the-art security-related equipment concurrently with its Annual International Seminars. For some years now, manufacturers of such equipment are being encouraged by facilitating ‘product presentations’ during these Seminars. IISSM was actively associated with the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) of the Government of India as one of the collaborators, along with the Central Industrial Security Force of the Government of India, for the International Exhibition of Security, Safety, Fire, Disaster Management Equipments and Services held on February 22-25, 2009.

It will be relevant to note that in appreciation of the need to broadbase the organization further, the management of the IISSM itself has been thrown open. Now, representatives of both Providers & Users in equal proportion are nominated / elected, in addition to senior security consultants, to the Board of Governors of the IISSM. IISSM has now been associated with the International Fire Safety and International Security & Smart Cards Expos being annually organised by the Times of India Group.

In appreciation of the fact that security concepts have to be taken up at the appropriate management level, we have written to the various Chambers of Commerce, both at national and state levels and have also requested the Institutes of Management and the Universities having Management Faculty for incorporating some basic security tenets in the curriculum of MBA-trainees. While some of the Institutes of Management have accepted our proposal in principle and are considering implementing the same, the IISSM has the privilege of annually conducting a 6-day module on Security and Safety Management as a part of credit course of the MBA-trainees at the Aravali Institute of Management, Jodhpur.

It is worth mentioning here that the Hon’ble Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Science and Technology and Ocean Development, Govt. of India, while inaugurating the XIth annual International Seminar of the IISSM at Kolkata on December 15, 2001, had directed the IISSM to take up introducing Degree / Post Graduate Diploma Courses in Security and Safety Management in collaboration with Universities. The matter is now being followed up by the Security Skills Council of India (SSCI).

On the suggestion of the then Minister of State, Internal Security, Ministry of Home Affairs, the IISSM had set up (1994) an Expert Committee and suggested suitable changes in the Draft Bill for the Regulation of Private Guards. The matter had been pursued with fresh recommendations having been worked out in association of Bureau of Police Research and Development, Ministry of Home Affairs. It is a matter of great satisfaction that a new Act, namely, Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, has since been enacted by the Government of India in June, 2005.

As a follow-up of the above, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has tasked the IISSM to assist it in shortlisting the institutes of training for security personnel in the private sector. Suitable “Training Standards”, forwarded by the IISSM to the Ministry, is under consideration.

In the execution of its objective of spreading security concepts amongst both security professionals and others not-related to security, IISSM has been regularly hosting a monthly Newsletter in its website. Both the quality and the contents as also the style of presentation of the Newsletter have evoked highly laudatory references from far and wide and diverse quarters, including professionals and non-professionals.

Eminent public figures have always inaugurated the annual Seminars or presided over the closing ceremonies. Attached for information is the list of dignitaries who had encouraged us by their presence in our midst on such occasions in the past.