Showsec report that they have achieved year-on-year improvement in the Security Industry Authority’s Approved Contractor Scheme for a ninth time.
An assessment of all aspects of the company’s operation resulted in the award of a score of 132. The National Security Inspectorate, the inspecting body that made the assessment, commended Showsec for their performance across all elements of the business and singled out five examples of good practice. The crowd and event security and stewarding contractor adds that they were successful in undergoing assessment for CCTV and Close Protection to prepare them for the introduction of Business Licensing.
The crowd management and event security specialists went for Improvement Scope in the ACS assessment process with the prime objective of gaining British Standard accreditation across all aspects of their work.
Managing Director Mark Harding said: “This excellent result highlights once again the progress made by the Company year-on-year and it now puts us in a strong position should Business Licensing be implemented. One of the prime objectives of this proposed business regulation for the security industry is to ensure that everyone complies with the British Standards in whatever line of security work which they undertake.
“Therefore, we now have that approval for CCTV and Close Protection, in addition to Door Supervision and Security Guarding. The Approved Contractor Scheme is the quality assurance hallmark which was introduced by the SIA and it therefore provides a clear benchmark of the standards we achieve in the delivery of our product.
“We are constantly striving to raise the bar even higher, not only in terms of the services which we offer to our clients and the public, but just as importantly in being at the forefront of industry-wide progression. Everyone within the company can be extremely proud of this achievement and I know it will provide further encouragement to work even harder in the pursuit of excellence and continued improvement.”
The National Security Inspectorate (NSI) assessment was by Joanne Fox, who visited two venues at which Showsec operate in Manchester and Leeds before spending two days at head office in Leicester. She commented in her report: “I cannot believe the number of things you have done in 12 months, a great achievement.”
Among the five examples of good practice highlighted in the report were a specific training module for SIA staff to ensure all supervisors have a clear understanding of the requirements when supervising employees and casual workers, as well as the formation of Facebook accounts managed by Head Office which enable employees and casual staff to communicate about events and activities.
The report also drew attention to the fact that the company has worked with the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association (UKCMA) to develop a specific qualification for event stewarding and crowd management. The other examples of good practice: the company has conducted a number of Human Resources (HR) forums as a means to communicate and to identify any issues, and they have introduced e-briefings for a number of events to provide employees and casual workers with information about events before reporting for duty.
Harding said: “These are just some of the ways in which we have endeavoured to improve our product over the past year, but just as significant is the fact that there were no improvement needs identified in the report. That is an extremely rare occurrence in this process and reflects the extent to which we have gone to make improvements across the board.”
