The owners and operators of major sports and leisure venues including three that were used for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games have achieved the top grading in a national health and safety audit, under the guidance and direction from RDHS Limited.
The award comes after a detailed, quantified and objective evaluation of the occupational health and safety management system across the whole organisation. The audit measured the organisations’ performance against a number of key safety management indicators and achieved the highest rating.
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 its Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit conducted by the British Safety Council.
The Authority and Vibrant Partnerships achieved a score of 94.81 per cent – a slight improvement on the score achieved in 2012 (94.53 per cent).
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 said: “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 our retained Health & Safety Consultants, RDHS Limited. Managing Director, Joe Ryan said: “This achievement should not be underestimated. We are all extremely proud of what has been accomplished. Both organisations 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 comprehensive audit process surveyed a number of sites across the park, including: Lee Valley Camping and Caravan Park, Edmonton; the Rangers’ service; Fisheries team; the Youth and Schools Service, Lee Valley White Water Centre, Lee Valley VeloPark and Myddelton House. Teams from Head Office were also interviewed, including our Human Resources, Asset and Maintenance (APMD) and Senior Management Teams.
The British Safety Council’s Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit provides organisations 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 organisation’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.
