NTIA launches Night Safe Champion Programme
The programme, which launched on 10 February at the NTIA Summit in London, aims for a new approach to accreditation and training that will lift professional standards of night time operations.
NTIA chief executive Michael Kill said: “Our industry has always advocated for the safety of our customers and our staff at night. businesses across the industry want to do everything possible to ensure that customers and staff are able to socialise and enjoy culture in safe spaces.”
“The accreditation scheme is a functional, yet versatile approach to blended learning, which can encompass existing training mechanisms across the country."
He believed one of the most important parts of this initiative was the rolling assessment process and evaluation of the accreditation and its impact on the environments the sector operated within.
Safety first
“As an industry the more our workforce is aware of safeguarding and vulnerability,” he added, “the bigger part we play in reducing the crimes attached to vulnerability across wider society.”
It will also offer educational pathways to meet these standards and cover topics such as Vulnerability Awareness, Sexual Harassment, Drugs and Alcohol Awareness, Spiking, Conflict Management, Working in Licensed Premises, an Inclusive Approach to Safeguarding, as well as the role of a Night Safe Champion, welfare engagement officer.
The Safeguarding Nightlife Accreditation programme aims to unite industry specialists to create a life-cycle where standards, education, assessment, benchmarking and engagement meet the needs of night time communities through the workforce.
Furthermore, the night safe champion and welfare engagement officer roles have been created to support people who find themselves in vulnerable positions in the sector.
Savenightlife CIC director Silvana Kill said the aim of the initiative was not just to increase awareness, but through collaboration, to give back the confidence communities were lacking and empower people to feel safeguarded and know what to do in a vulnerable situation.
"We have listened to our communities and the challenges faced. We acknowledge that more needs to be done to ensure our customers and people feel safe,” she said. “We understand that it takes more than writing policies, and placing well meaning posters. We need to do more.”
Looking after communities
She believed the NTIA partnership would allow Savenightlife CIC to share performance data with all music rights holders, as well as finally offering insight into music played to the respective venues and promoters.
The programme will take a blended approach to learning. Experienced tutor teams will work closely with industry experts to help the industry safeguard its communities
Safeguarding Nightlife director Deborah Hewitt said: “Our aim at Safeguarding Nightlife is to maximise the impact of information by sharing best practices across the country, in line with local policy and standing as ambassadors to prepare and protect both our community and an industry that promotes a positive impact on our mental health, without our community coming together, through fear of vulnerability we would see a far higher fallout in family and workspaces alike.
“It's our job to nurture a positive impact on preparation to safeguard as this is about our industry being celebrated for generations to come.”
