Safety Advisory Groups

Lucia Howland our Regional Investigation Manager and Tactical Events Lead talks about our role in the Safety Advisory Groups.

Safety Advisory Groups (SAGs) are usually co-ordinated by a local authority and made up of representatives from the local authority, emergency services, other relevant bodies and the event organiser.

The group’s role is to:

• Promote high levels of safety and welfare at events by giving advice and guidance.
• Promote good practice in safety and welfare planning for events.
• Ensure events have a minimal adverse impact on the local community.

We are generally invited to SAG meetings by the police or local authority to contribute to the public safety agenda of the meeting- with a particular focus in relation to the provision of security at an event.

In many cases we work with the event organisers to establish their requirements for security.  If necessary, supporting them in confirming the different roles of people working at an event and whether they fall into licensable conduct under the Private Security Industry Act.  For example – is there a correct mix of stewards and is there an appropriate amount of door supervisors and security officers to be supplied.

We do not get involved in the number of security personnel required.  This is not our remit – this has to be specified by the organiser and is sometimes influenced by the police or local authority based on historical events or types of venue.

If a security provider hasn’t been chosen, we will take the opportunity to promote the ACS as a recognised hallmark of quality for security suppliers.

We will highlight to the organisers that their choice of security provider can have a significant impact on the success of their event. We recommend that they carry out some general due diligence enquiries before they choose a security provider. Investing time by undertaking some basic checks can reap rewards.

As soon as a security provider has been appointed there are a number of areas we will look at to reassure ourselves, and the SAG attendees, of the capability and capacity of the provider to deliver the service, these will include:

• That they are capable of providing the required numbers of security personnel, or if not, have they got sufficient contractual relationships in place to deliver the requirement.
  
• What screening and vetting checks of the operatives will be put in place to ensure that the supplied licensed operatives hold a valid and genuine SIA licence. 

From the SAG meeting we can gain an understanding of how the event is likely to run in terms of security personnel being accredited. We may share best practice and known intelligence to support the due diligence practices in place to mitigate as far as possible any known risks.

We will need reassurance that there will be a robust process in place to thoroughly vet and register the operatives deployed.

We don’t attend every event but when we do, we are generally very well received. We work alongside security suppliers during inspections to check the validity of SIA licences. Going forward we will be working even closer with event organisers as customers of security businesses, to mitigate the risk of the use of counterfeit and cloned licences at events and festivals.

Following the event debrief meetings will be arranged with event organisers where needed. These meetings provide an important opportunity for both event organisers and agencies to feedback, learn and share best practice.