With all the festival season about to start, today is a great time for organisers and event contractors to review the approach of theirs to screening stewards.
For most Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) protection firms that deploy non licensed staff on stewarding duties it is a no brainer. Stewards interested in front line visitor help and also health & safety assistance occupy a place of trust to a comparable level as being a security officer and must as a result be also screened to BS 7858. For all those businesses, screening all deployed staff members to BS 7858 is a badge of honour and might additionally be a helpful differentiator, conferring naturally competitive edge when bidding for contracts. Event organisers are going to be appreciative of this greater level of assurance.
For other businesses the temporary nature of any event stewards work, the amount chargeable and also the absence of specialized abilities mitigate against the management cost and energy of screening. This might particularly be the case with little contractors supplying stewards for smaller, lower profile events.
Thus, in case you are on the assessment fence what factors would you have to have into account?
For starters, it is worth looking at when it is appropriate to deploy a non licensed person to stewarding duties. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) suggests 5 great activity exemptions from deploying certified security operatives:
• Responsibility for the and comfort and safety of spectators inside a designated area
• Monitoring and keeping the pedestrian flow at key places e.g. exit and entry points.
• Providing direction and direction to guests arriving by automobile or even on foot, like the managing of roadway crossings to make certain the safe passage of guests through the roads
• Reporting to a manager or maybe safety officer any damage or maybe defect that is apt to present a risk to spectator’ health and safety’ e.g. a damaged barrier or seat
• Volunteering
Consequently, in principle, so long as the non licensed stewards of yours do not cross some lines, for instance in fact screening a person to create the suitability of theirs to get into a venue, the necessity to get an SIA license (and, in case you are ACS, to filter to BS 7858) might not use. But watch out for grey places! For instance, in case the steward of yours must determine on their very own effort to intervene in a surprise struggle event – say coming to the help of a colleague actually being assaulted – an exclusion is available. Nevertheless, when there is an expectation they must be well prepared to do and so, the job becomes licensable along with a certified security officer have to be deployed in the job.
Next, and also going for a broader perspective of your safeguarding duties, it is worth looking at that whenever you deploy a non licensed person you are not obtaining the assurance of that person having undergone a DBS test, which obviously is powered by the SIA license. For that reason’ BS 8406:2009 Event stewarding and also crowd security – Code of practice’ suggests that wherein a person is used in a place which doesn’t demand an SIA licence, the service provider obtains a DBS check.
Still on the fence?
Whether you are ACS or perhaps not, you have to balance the expense of screening non licensed stewards against brand safety and the significant responsibility of yours for visitor wellbeing. Very affordable Screening’s view? As a minimum, you need to be checking out Right to Work, DBS Check, persona guide and 2 employment references.