Stress Busters: Understanding stress triggers & how to manage them

The summer outdoor events season is just around the corner. Even though it’s still waking up from its winter hibernation, it’s vital that you start getting your health & safety in place sooner rather than later.

Whether you’re hosting a large festival or a small community event in your local area, your workforce, guests’ and performers’ welfare is always the top priority. Here at Harrier, we believe that if you put people first, your event will be health & safety compliant.

Read on for our top tips for getting ready for the events season.

Filling in tickboxes is not paperwork!

Filling in tickboxes is not paperwork!

Every event is different. Yet planners often believe that paperwork is just filling in a few checklists and that’s it. There’s so much more to it than that!

Your documentation, such as risk assessments for example, should be unique to your event and how many attendees you are expecting. It should also cover emergency procedures, how many stewards you will need to have, and who will be looking after the performers or hosts.

Taking great care and spending a little extra time early in your planning stage not only protects you from financial and reputational repercussions should the worst happen, but also clearly shows that you’re putting people’s welfare first and makes their safety an integral part of the event rather than an added bolt-on.

The Construction, Design Management (CDM) Regulations now applies to the events industry.

When Harrier Met Theo

In March 2016 Helen, tweeted Theo Paphitis about Harrier’s health and safety support for SME’s during ‘Small Business Sunday’ and was one of six weekly winners to gain a retweet from Theo to his 500,000 followers.

Helen, our Business Manager, was pleased with the instant impact “Our Twitter account grew quickly after the re-tweet from Theo and we connected with many of the other winners of #SBS, a community of nearly 2000 business owners, all passionate about their own business and supporting others.”

In addition to this instant boost Helen and Managing Director, Andy, attended the #SBS event at the ICC in Birmingham on 3rd February 2017. This event was a chance to put faces to the names of those businesses we had ‘met’ on Twitter and take part in a Q&A session with Theo, fellow Dragon, Deborah Meaden and JML founder, John Mills.

The event really impressed Andy “It was fantastic to hear from such inspirational business people such as Jodine Boothby from Gummee and the Q&A panel. We really appreciate them sharing their experiences, we came away feeling even more excited about Harrier and the service we can provide to our customers.”

Theo presented Helen & Andy with their certificate at the event “We are thrilled to welcome new #SBS members each week and highlight just how important it is to support our small businesses here in the UK. My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learning. The website and Shop #SBS will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish Harrier every success”

The #SBS event was the icing on the cake for an award winning 12 months for Harrier including an International Safety Award and being a finalist in the Rural Business Awards. Andy says “We are proud of the health and safety support we provide to business owners and event organisers, being recognised by an entrepreneur such as Theo Paphitis is a boost and an honour. We look forward to supporting all our customers in the coming year.”

Andy talks event safety with Standout Magazine

Andy Smith, Managing Director of Harrier, featured in the October 2016 edition of Standout Magazine talking with other industry professionals about event safety.

“Each year the way we manage safety within the events industry changes, with varying trends, different challenges and new solutions to keep on top of. The industry is very good at adapting to change and to be able to be a part of the discussion through Standout is very exciting. Event safety professionals across the country are really good at sharing best practice; regardless of the event or who has the contract we are all aiming for the same goal – we want people to have a great time without being hurt.”

This year saw the large fire at Boomtown which destroyed around 80 cars and terrorist incidents in Europe that has meant that additional risks need to be managed and control measures put in place.

Andy is conscious that changes to safety should not impact on people’s ability to enjoy the events they attend.

“People do not want to spend their hard-earned cash on attending events where the control measures in place restrict their movements and enjoyment. Organisers need to find a balance between managing the risks and maximising the customer experience; this is something we are very mindful of when making safety recommendations. Good health and safety measures are generally not noticeable within the events environment including placement of entertainment, concession stands and phased closing of stages.”

For the full Standout article please see page 43 Standout Magazine – October 2016

We are ready for our close ups!

Following on from the fantastic news that we have been shortlisted as finalist in the Professional Services category of the Rural Business Awards we were delighted to take part in a photo shoot with some of our fellow finalists that are all based in our local area.

The photo shoot was part of the coverage for a story celebrating the finalists in our local newspaper, the Village Voice. The team at Harrier is very proud to be based in a rural area, we always do our best to use local suppliers and celebrate the local area therefore to get recognition from our local press is really appreciated.

Pete, the Village Voice photographer, put us all at ease and we had a lovely time meeting our fellow finalists, DG Light Haulage Ltd & Gravity Digital Ltd; as you can see from the photo it was a lot of fun. Keep your eyes peeled for the story in the Village Voice, we will post the link for those of you not in the local area!

For more information on the Rural Business Awards and to book tickets to the dinner please have a look at their website here

Harrier is a finalist in National Awards!

Harrier UK is honoured to announce that we are finalists in the prestigious Rural Business Awards, the only UK-wide dedicated business awards for the rural community and which are supported by the CLA, as well as MPs from across the country.

We are one of only 12 finalists in the Best Rural Professional Services category. The finalists are from all over the UK – from as far afield as Edinburgh in Scotland, Llangynin in West Wales and Preston in Lancashire – and all of the finalists are from a wide range of different industry sectors too! We’re a curious bunch at Harrier so, although we are super pleased at being a finalist, we really wanted to know why! So we asked joint founder and organiser of the Rural Business Awards, Jemma Clifford – and this is what she said:

“The standard of entries was extremely high this year and the finalists in all 13 categories have done very well to get this far. However, the Professional Services category, within which Harrier UK is a finalist, has actually been the most competitive category this year, receiving the most entries.”

“Harrier made its mark on us for a number of reasons including the pace of its recent growth, the nature of its customer testimonials and its contribution to the rural economy. Harrier will find out, along with all the other finalists, which firm will take away the top spot at the Rural Business Awards Ceremony on 13 October at The Belfry Hotel & Spa in the West Midlands.”

How pleased are we? Pretty pleased we can tell you! As our Managing Director Andy Smith noted:

“We are absolutely thrilled to have made it to the finals of such a high profile awards scheme, particularly given that the competition was so strong and that it’s only been a few months since we won our International Safety Award from the British Safety Council for our work at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. “We are extremely proud of our track record, how strong our growth has been over the last two years and, of course, that we have kept nearly half a million people safe this year alone, thanks to our commitment to common sense health and safety. “Being a finalist is a tribute to the whole Harrier team and we are looking forward to finding out whether we are overall winners in a few months’ time!”

There are 13 Rural Business Award categories, all of which will result in one winner and one runner-up. One of the category winners will also be picked to be the Rural Business Awards ‘Champion of Champions’. The Rural Business Awards Ceremony will take place on 13 October 2016. More information on the Awards or its finalists can be found at: www.ruralbusinessawards.co.uk.

Business Matters magazine gets to know our Business Manager, Helen

We are delighted that our Business Manager, Helen McCabe, has been featured in the successful magazine, Business Matters. Helen features in the ‘Getting to know you’ section of the magazine which is aimed at small and medium sized business owners and has a subscription of 47,000 people.

The article turns the spotlight on why Harrier is passionate about health and safety, specifically supporting SME’s, and what tips Helen would offer other business owners.

Andy Smith, Managing Director, was pleased that Helen was featured;

“Health & safety is often seen as a dull subject however this article has shown that the team at Harrier is focused on why health and safety is important to business owners; preventing accidents and ill health, which then ensures that businesses are compliant and safe.

We treat our client’s businesses as our own, their safety success will help their business grow, retain valued employees and improve their reputation. Personally I am extremely proud that Business Matters magazine felt that Helen was the correct person to talk to them about health and safety; it is a publication that we read ourselves and therefore it is a great honour to be featured.”

For the full article please click Here

Alton Towers owners plead guilty to breaching health & safety laws

Merlin Entertainments, owners of Alton Towers, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act which states ‘It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety’

Merlin Entertainments had cited operator error as the cause of the crash and counsel for the HSE stated that the ride was mechanically sound.

The full news story can be found here

Harrier gets recognition from local press for safety award

We were happy to feature in the Derby Telegraph yesterday with the paper covering our International Safety Award for the European Games in Baku.

Andy Smith, Managing Director, was delighted with the coverage. “We have had a lot of press coverage over the last few weeks for our International Safety Award but the highlight has to be the full page article in the Derby Telegraph by Paul Whyatt. Our aim is to help support more local business with their health and safety, this can often fall to the bottom of the priority list or just seem overwhelming; the article will hopefully mean more companies will get in touch to discuss how we can help them keep their employees, customers and businesses safe.

Thank you to the Derby Telegraph for recognising our achievement, we are proud to have our business based in Derby and we look forward to working with more business in Derby and the East Midlands”

Harrier ‘Stands Out’ in industry magazine following recent safety award win

We are delighted that Harrier has been featured in Stand Out magazine for our recent International Safety Award win. The award was received following our health and event safety project for the European Games in Baku during 2015.

The European Games project involved planning and implementing a health and safety system in a six month period designed to keep employees, athletes and spectators safe while they had an enjoyable time at the games.

Andy Smith, Managing Director, is delighted to be featured in Stand Out magazine: – “I use Stand Out magazine on a regular basis to keep up to date with event industry news and it was fantastic to see our name included on the front page of the website this week. Our work in Baku was interesting, challenging and varied but we are delighted to have had the opportunity to work Azerbaijan and help develop the safety culture within the country. Health and safety should be the centre point of all event planning”

Click here to read more on the Stand Out article http://standoutmagazine.co.uk/harrier-uk-and-rdhs-secure-international-safety-award/

Event Industry News features Harrier International Safety Award win

Following on from our British Safety Council International Safety Award win Harrier has been featured on popular event news website Event Industry News.

Event Industry News (EIN) is an online event magazine that provides the latest news to the events industry.

Andy Smith, Managing Director, said: – “We are delighted that our International Safety Award has been recognised by such a popular news outlet. Health and safety is often seen as the unglamorous side of the events industry but is absolutely essential to ensure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience. Our award shows the importance of good safety practices and we appreciate the support from Event Industry News in celebrating this achievement.”