safe & securE
STAY SAFE
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Here we talk to Anthony Howell, Director of TGS Security Services for over 18 years, who specialise in a wide range of services, from tour management to close protection and advanced security at venues, listing many A listers and international events as clients. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We help you to create an event or project, making it fun and entertaining whilst mindful of keeping the public safe and compliant of the latest regulations. Our priority is always to protect you, your team and your premises, ensuring everyone has a great experience while staying safe. From the concept stage to the event, we consult on all aspects, and in the pandemic, put a strategy in place to keep everyone safe. â&#x20AC;&#x153; We asked Anthony about the impact that Covid has had on the security industry and where he predicts we will be in 2021. < BACK TO CONTENTS >
How has the Pandemic impacted your business? We had to look at our business as a whole, the events industry was hit really badly and at that time were affected around 60% of our bookings, very quickly we had to look at different angles and pivot the business in a new direction. How did you pivot the business? Initially we focused on consultancy with some of the local authorities and the hospitality industry, with all the new rules and regulations, it became really important that industries had someone to help and guide them. Staff were faced with managing venues in a way that had never been experienced before and were untrained. We helped venues in and around London to manage the transition period, we know its vital that we do not create Covid 19 hotspots and help to keep everyone safe. With the increase of the spread and further lockdowns this was a fast moving target and it was imperative to maintain a calm and professional service at all times. Having managed events with huge crowds, my team were experienced at looking where things could go wrong and putting a strategy in place ready. What happened after that? As the restrictions became tighter and hospitality was forced to reduce, we realised for the first time ever there were a lot of empty buildings, hotels and industrial buildings that would normally have a full complement of