6 minute read
SECURITY ISSUES
Securing security
This season, the events industry was dogged by a lack of security and stewarding personnel. But what can we as an industry do to help secure security talent?
This year, the events industry has been dogged by staffing shortages, especially security staff and stewards. A lack of skilled staff, a “sea of jacket fillers”, and dubious variations on SIA badges have all been witnessed by experienced event professionals during the height of the summer season. In some cases, UK event organisers are being charged up to £27 an hour for an SIA-licensed security professional but are being provided with someone who is essentially a steward and who cannot speak English.
It’s a worrying situation, particularly as the challenges of 2022 show no signs of waning. Peter Harrison, managing director of FGH Security, Eric Stuart, chair of the UK Crowd Management Association (UKCMA), and Zac Kelly, director at Ultrasec Security, all agree. The quality of staff is absent, competition is rife, roles are being filled by inexperienced staff, and trained security staff are undervalued by the organisers and promoters that hire them. Plus, there are several cash-in-hand “security” firms that are promising the world and delivering nothing, which is tarnishing the services of reputable businesses.
Kelly explains: “The marketplace is quickly becoming a race to the bottom on price again. After COVID, it was expected that people would finally see that the cost of good quality security and safety teams would increase. Sadly, this happened for a short period but is rapidly changing with event organisers trying to cut costs as much as possible.”
Stuart concurs. He states that promoters are desperately trying to suppress costs, against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis. Stuart says: “Prices of everything are through the roof so promoters are raising ticket prices but desperately trying to suppress costs as well. The trouble is everyone’s costs have gone up. Staff need more money to encourage them to stay in the industry, and offices cost more to run. It is relentless.
“Promoters also seem to be leaving it later and later to book security/stewards. I fear some will leave it too late and rely on previous suppliers, who by the time they are ready to pay deposits, will be booked elsewhere. The decent companies in security/stewarding had a tough year getting staff and will not want to over-commit.”
WORK MIRACLES
Stuart says that finding staff has been a huge challenge for security companies, but the quality of staff has been absent. He continues: “I do not want to knock an industry that is doing very well to cope with the demand, but you cannot turn off a tap for two years and then expect it to run smoothly when you turn it back on. My best guess is we have another couple
ERIC STUART
of years like this one unless something extreme happens; either a huge jump in wages to make it viable for good quality people to join the industry or (hopefully not) something bad happens at an event and there is a refocus by the Government on this industry.”
Kelly agrees. Organisers are not booking essential security and stewarding staff until the last minute and are then expecting security companies to “work miracles”. Harrison says that the security industry must be able to compete with other employers. He comments: “Why would anyone invest eight days of their time, and their money, in getting an SIA license or spectator safety qualification, for the same (or sometimes less) money than Costa Coffee or Tesco? The security sector needs business licensing, and it is back on the agenda. This would ensure only competent people could run a company involved in public safety, only a qualified person could call themselves a crowd manager, and that the right training is given to our front-line teams.”
SECRET TO SUCCESS
Kelly would like organisers to be more proactive and offer – and fund – training days, and site induction days. He continues: “They talk about staff who aren’t experienced, don’t know the site/venue layouts, haven’t worked there before, and who aren’t trained etc. But they won’t fund training days, site induction days, or additional hours for CPD. They want people who are security manager quality for unqualified steward rates, and it simply does not work.”
Ultrasec Security provides security services to Ironman; the partnership is a successful one, says Kelly. “Supplying between 150300 staff per event is obviously a massive challenge,” Kelly explains. “But the Ironman team have been understanding about rate increases, understanding about staff welfare, and understanding about the need to increase the number of supervisors to ensure the staff have a strong management team to support them due to the lack of experience in the industry. They also ensured that the whole management team had a full day on-site to ensure they knew their areas like the back of their hands. We create a new crowd management plan every year for each event. And this year, we had some dynamic changes and challenges, but because Ironman incorporated us into their team, things worked much smoother.”
IMPROVE CONDITIONS
Kelly suggests that organisers need to engage with specific crowd safety/management consultants and specialists to ensure that the knowledge, experience, and expertise are on site for when the security/stewarding team arrive; and are not experienced. Engaging a crowd management specialist that can make educated dynamic decisions is “going to be the key to a safe 2023”, he says.
Also, there needs to be an “understanding” within the sector that whilst agreed, costs might change. Harrison concurs. Everyone should expect to pay more for staff and organisers should choose to work with an SIA Approved Contractor or a UKCMA company so that suppliers can be judged on metrics and not just price.
Currently, FGH Security is in the stages of renegotiating with many loyal customers. “They have to be prepared to be paying at least 10 per cent more than 2022; just to keep up with CPI inflation and the Real Living Wage increases,” explains Harrison, who is supplying personnel to Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, Christmas at Blenheim Palace, and Enchanted Christmas at Westonbirt this winter.
Stuart is of the same opinion. “Book now and expect to pay more,” he comments. “If companies know now what they face in terms of peak demand, they can begin to recruit and train people. But most importantly, pay due diligence to the companies you book. If the company only came into being in the few months before you booked them, who are you dealing with? Have they ‘phoenixed’ from a company declared bankrupt in the last few months, leaving staff unpaid and having failed to attend gigs they said they would? Get on social media and search around: Are they one of the companies offering ‘cash in hand’ to anyone they can recruit?”
But what other advice does Stuart have for the industry? What can we as a sector do to attract great talent, and encourage stewards to come and work on events and festivals? Stuart concludes: “Be more honest. It’s a tough job that most people do out there – long hours, poor welfare facilities, and poor pay. We would probably reduce recruitment if we said that but, it might increase retention. There is no point in recruiting people, training them, and then putting them on an event site, which is not what they thought it was going to be.
“We need to improve pay, welfare, and the way we train and support people. It has been said many times, but there is no real ‘career path’ for many parts of our industry, promotions are rare and rely on people leaving roles but that is the nature of the business and people need to understand that.”
