G4S celebrates 2,000th employee to gain NVQ

Ryan Blewitt was awarded a certificate at a special ceremony held at the company’s Canary Wharf offices in the heart of London’s Docklands.

Presenting the award was Gordon Hermiston, managing director at TQ Training (specialists in the delivery of NVQ’s and apprenticeship programmes in the workplace and the company managing G4S’ training programmes.

G4S has been working with TQ Training for over four years now, affording employees the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and skills base in the security sector. NVQs and apprenticeships, of course, are nationally recognised qualifications that help build and develop employees’ experience.

In practice, G4S employees enrol on work-based courses ranging from Front of House customer service through to crowd control management.

The training usually lasts between four-to-six months, and assessment is monitored through video clips and a portfolio of trainees’ accomplishments. Each employee also has a dedicated assessor with whom they meet at least three times during the course.

Highly qualified and motivated employees

Valerie Dale, HR director at G4S Secure Solutions (UK), said: “We are the world’s leading security solutions provider largely because of the quality of our employees. By ensuring that they are highly qualified and motivated it allows us to deliver the best possible service to our customers.”

Dale continued: “We are proud of our partnership with TQ Training, and the successful completion of the 2000th applicant is an important milestone in that relationship. We look forward to achieving further accomplishments together in the future.”

Gordon Hermiston added: “We’re committed to giving people the opportunity to learn and develop their skills while doing the job. Our work with G4S is a great example of how training schemes can not only benefit an individual’s development but also impact businesses on a positive basis.”

G4S secures contract for Rockness

G4S Events has been awarded a contract as the sole security provider at one of Scotland’s largest music festivals, Rockness, which takes place between 8-10 June

The contract will see the G4S team of more than 380 employees provide a range of security and safety management services during the festival. These include conducting ticket checks and bag searches and providing perimeter security as well as offering crowd management support and rapid response teams to deal with inappropriate behaviour.

Rockness takes place annually on the shores of Loch Ness, attracting over 20,000 music lovers from around the country. This year’s headliners include Biffy Clyro and Deadmaus.

Having worked closely with the event organisers over the past three years to provide a range of security and safety management services, this is the first time that G4S will be providing the entire deployment of stewards for the event.

Eric Alexander, managing director of G4S Events (UK), said: “Every year G4S provides security services at thousands of events across the United Kingdom. By working in close partnership with Rockness we are able to provide the highest level of security and safety support to ensure that visitors enjoy the festivities.”

Jim King, the managing director at Loudsound (promoters of Rockness) added: “Rockness is one of Scotland’s most popular festivals so visitor safety is paramount. It’s vital that we have a security and safety management team who understand our needs to help us provide a safe and fun environment for visitors. As the UK’s leading event safety and security company, G4S Events has the scale and size to provide us with the support that we require. We are looking forward to working with them on what promises to be another fantastic event.”