A final consultation on new spectator safety qualifications is now open at the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA).
The new qualifications follow the publication of new National Occupational Standards for Spectator Safety in 2019. They build upon the previous standards level 2 steward, level 3 supervisor, level 4 safety officer. While the SGSA says that the qualifications will be competency-based, the level 2 as an entry level qualification will also have a knowledge-based qualification.
Each qualification level has its own page on the SGSA website.
Level 2 qualification is for learners in the job of a steward though beyond a sports event this could be an attendant, event crew member or usher. The qualification units cover preparing for spectator events; support of the work of the team and organisation; assisting with the movement of spectators and dealing with crowd issues and incidents at events, whether a fire, medical problem, disorder or terrorism; and helping to manage and resolve conflicts.
The level 3 qualification is for supervisors. Covered are productive working relationships with stakeholders; developing knowledge, skills and competence; managing and maintaining stewarding in designated areas; information for action and decision making for spectator events; initial response to significant or major incidents and plan for resilience; resources for safety and security at spectator events; risks in crowded places; efficient use of resources; monitoring and solving customer service problems; and preparing stewards and venues for spectator events.
And the level 4 is for senior safety officers; on how to recruit, select and retain people; support individuals’ learning and development; work with others to improve customer service; monitor the progress and quality of your work in your area of responsibility; review policies and procedures for safety and security at spectator events; identify and evaluate opportunities for innovation and improvement; manage projects and the safety and security of people; and planning. For example, it is ‘expected that senior stewards, safety officers and similar staff holding overall responsibility for the safety and security of events will be familiar with the UK Terrorism threat levels’.
Such tasks are in line with the SGSA’s sixth edition of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds, commonly known as the Green Guide, released in 2018 and featured in the December 2018 print edition of Professional Security Magazine.
Deadline for questionnaire comment on the consultation, emailed to [email protected], is March 20.
Background
The Bataclan and Stade de France terror attacks in Paris in November 2015 and other terrorism prompted a re-think, and extra match-day and physical security at UK sports grounds, as in public places generally; hence the greater input of terrorism into these qualifications, and the latest edition of the Green Guide. As for steward training, the SGSA and football stadia had already seen off one effort by the regulator the Security Industry Authority (SIA) for ground stewards to be SIA-badged.
Rather than accepting SIA badging – and the cost involved – the football world pointed to how its stewards worked towards vocational qualifications in spectator safety, largely on the job training and work being gathered in a portfolio of evidence (‘competency-based’, in the training jargon). Critics however pointed to the casual nature of steward work, and the high turnover, and that in practice stewards were on the job and unqualified.
