With the festival season approaching, now is a good time for event contractors and organisers to review their approach to screening stewards.
For many Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) security companies that deploy non-licensed staff on stewarding duties it’s a no-brainer. Stewards involved in front-line visitor assistance and health and safety support occupy a position of trust to a similar extent as a security officer and should therefore also be screened to BS 7858. For those companies, screening all deployed staff to BS 7858 is a badge of honour and may also be a useful differentiator, conferring competitive advantage when bidding for contracts. Event organisers will be appreciative of this higher level of assurance.
For other companies the short term nature of a steward’s employment, the rate chargeable and the lack of specialist skills mitigate against the administrative effort and cost of screening. This may especially be the case with smaller contractors providing stewards for smaller, lower profile events.
So, if you’re on the screening fence what factors do you need to take into account?
Firstly, it’s worth considering when it’s appropriate to deploy a non-licensed individual to stewarding duties. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) indicates five very clear activity-exemptions from deploying licensed security operatives:
• Responsibility for the health and safety and comfort of spectators within a designated area
• Monitoring and maintaining the pedestrian flow at key locations e.g. entry and exit points.
• Providing guidance and direction to visitors arriving by car or on foot, including the management of roadway crossings to ensure the safe passage of visitors over the roads
• Reporting to a supervisor or safety officer any damage or defect which is likely to pose a threat to spectator ‘health and safety’ e.g. a damaged seat or barrier
• Volunteering
So, in principle, as long as your non-licensed stewards don’t cross any lines, for example actually screening a visitor to establish their suitability to enter a venue, the requirement for them to have an SIA license (and, if you’re ACS, to screen to BS 7858) may not apply. But beware of grey areas! For example, if your steward should decide on their own initiative to intervene in an unexpected conflict event – say to come to the aid of a colleague being assaulted – an exclusion exists. But, if there’s an expectation they should be prepared to do so, the role becomes licensable and a licensed security officer must be deployed in the role.
Secondly, and taking a wider view of your safeguarding responsibilities, it’s worth considering that when you deploy a non-licensed individual you’re not getting the assurance of that individual having undergone a DBS check, which of course comes with the SIA license. For that reason ‘BS 8406:2009 Event stewarding and crowd safety – Code of practice’ recommends that where an individual is employed in a position that does not require an SIA licence, the service provider obtains a DBS check.
Still on the fence?
Whether you’re ACS or not, you need to balance the costs of screening non-licensed stewards against brand protection and your overriding responsibility for visitor wellbeing. Our view? As a minimum, you should be looking at Right to Work, DBS Check, character reference and two employment references. If in doubt, talk with your ACS advisor. If you’d like to discuss a bespoke screening package for your event stewards at a surprisingly affordable cost please email info@affordablescreening.com or call us on 0345 257 3400.
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