University College London (UCL) are the latest Founder Member of ProtectED, the accreditation scheme covering campus well-being – which takes in safety and security. Pictured left to right are Brian Nuttall, ProtectED Director; Sophie Bimson, UCL Crime Prevention and Personal Safety Advisor; Mark West, Security Manager at UCL and Oliver Curran, Deputy Security Manager at UCL.
UCL is now the sixth ProtectED founder member institution. The first 12 university members will be awarded founder status and help steer the scheme. UCL, which has about 40,000 students, is the first of Russell Group university to join. The others are Brunel, Teesside, University of Central Lancashire, Coventry and Salford.
Mark West said: “The safety, security and wellbeing of students is of paramount importance to us at UCL. We are proud to be a Founder Member of ProtectED, demonstrating our commitment to achieving our security objective to provide a safe and secure working environment for all students, staff and visitors. We look forward to working with ProtectED over the coming months to attain full ProtectED accreditation.”
Meanwhile ProtectED held a seminar at Coventry University, to discuss aspects of the scheme. Briefly, accreditation requires institutions to have in place policies, procedures and practices that address institutional security; student well-being and mental health; international students; student harassment and sexual assault; and the student night out, whether on or off campus. For more about ProtectED policies and codes of practice, visit https://www.protect-ed.org/resources.
Their previous evening gathering at the House of Lords in the autumn featured in the December 2019 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
Background
ProtectED is a not-for-profit community interest company and membership body; formed from a concept initiated from K7 Compliance and the four-year research initiative by the Design Against Crime Solution Centre at the University of Salford. Visit www.protect-ed.org. It’s informed by such industry bodies as the UK regulator the Security Industry Authority (SIA); the university heads of security association AUCSO; and the Police Association of Higher Education Liaison Officers (PAHELO).
