UK health and safety assessment grants top award to owners and operators of Olympic velodrome, hockey and tennis centers.
The owners and operators of a number of major sports and leisure venues, including three used for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, have achieved the top grading in a UK health and safety audit.
Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, the owners of Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Lee Valley White Water Centre in Hertfordshire, and the venues’ operators, Vibrant Partnerships, achieved a five-star grading from the Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit, which was conducted by the British Safety Council.
The authority and Vibrant Partnerships achieved a score of 94.81% – a slight improvement on the score achieved in 2012 (94.53%).
The award comes after a detailed, quantified and objective evaluation of the occupational health and safety management system at the venues. The audit measured the organizations’ performance against a number of key safety management indicators.
Shaun Dawson, chief executive of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority said, “We welcome the decision to award this five-star grading. To achieve a scoring that is better than what was attained in 2012 is phenomenal. We have worked closely with Vibrant Partnerships, the operators of our venues, to ensure we provide the safest environment for people to take part in sports and leisure activities and for the staff who work there.”
Kulvinder Sihota, managing director of Vibrant Partnerships added, “Vibrant Partnerships took over the management of 14 of the venues owned by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority exactly one year ago and we have reviewed our practices and examined how we can do things better.
“We are continually looking to enhance customer experience by introducing new products and improving existing offers and this involves continually assessing any potential risks. This proactive approach has stood us in good stead and we are extremely pleased to have attained the highest five-star grading.”
The audit planning and preparation was led by the authority’s Health & Safety Consultants, RDHS. “This achievement should not be underestimated. We are all extremely proud of what has been accomplished,” said RDHS managing director Joe Ryan.
“Both organizations have not only been through significant change during the past 12 months, but we have delivered a number of events on the world stage, whilst maintaining our standards across all venues and open spaces. A world-class standard has been set and through the safety leadership and guidance from RDHS, and we will continue to be driven by excellence.”
The British Safety Council’s Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit provides organizations with a worldwide benchmark of their safety management systems against current best practice to enable continual improvement. The audit specification was revised in 2013 to include performance measurements in two additional safety management indicators (leadership and continuous improvement) which are continually assessed, alongside other indicators, throughout the audit process.
Within the revised audit, the British Safety Council has placed a greater emphasis on the organization’s approach to occupational health, employee wellbeing, safety culture, allocation of resources to health and safety and planning for change; all of which are considered important best practice factors.
May 5, 2016
