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Cover Story
screening, health checks, the
cleaning processes, and access and
egress to site.”
The on-site Hilton Garden Inn
helped speed up the process of
ensuring high cleaning standards, as
the main Hilton brand have already
in place regimented guidance for
their properties, called the ‘Clean
Stay Programme’, Davies explains.
There are multiple documents,
but having the West Indies team
already on site has meant that a lot
of the bureaucracy has been
fast-tracked. Davies says: “We had
the government guidance, we had
an ECB risk assessment, an ECB
operations manual, we had our own
risk assessments and our own
operations manual, and then the
Hilton’s cleaning programme. It all
came together to form a large
operational manual, and has meant
a lot of training.”
This, then, means the venue is
more than prepared for when events
return, a point made by Nicola Pinder,
Emirates Old Trafford’s head of venue
sales. “I think that is one thing that is
going to help me massively in terms
of when events come back,” she
says. “All these risk assessments
being put in place means we can
draw on it for each individual client as
we would do normally; but we now
have the experience with what needs
to be done.”
How important has the role of the
wider stakeholders been in ensuring
that Emirates Old Trafford is ready
host live events? Davies explains:
“We have sought medical advice
both through the ECB and ourselves,
and then we have brought in
external health and safety
specialists as well, to act as
independent auditors.
“Professor Nick Pierce, who works
for the ECB, has been a huge help,
as have all the other medical experts
within the ECB. They have given us
guidance, as the one thing I have
found is the information you get
from the Government is very loose
and general. For example, the
Government will tell you to clean
regularly, that is what their
guidelines say, whereas if you speak
to a medical expert, they will tell you
how regularly, what kind of material
you need to use, what chlorination
level, and all that kind of stuff.
“We have been wise to seek extra
support elsewhere, such as bringing
in an independent health and safety
organiser. It has meant that we are
not entering a situation believing
that what we have written is the
absolute gospel truth, but that we
have had it verified by experts.”
It is an exciting time, in a manner
of speaking. With Emirates Old
Trafford acting as a living case study
of a bio-secure event, how do they
anticipate the industry will react
following the Test?
Pinder says: “I’m hoping it will be
one of excitement, and reassurance
that if these things are put in place,
and adhered to, then these types of
events can take place. I think from
my perspective, it is about sharing
the best practice. We are an industry
that likes helping each other, I would
not think twice about picking up the
phone up to another venue and
asking them what worked for them,
what didn’t work, so I’m hoping that
through our learnings after the Test,
we can help with that, and that we
are there for people.
“I think ultimately it is our
responsibility to make sure
Photo: Emirates Old
Trafford, Manchester
everybody is kept safe. We want
people to come into the venue and
feel safe, but not for that to take
over the experience. I have been
having a lot of conversations with
clients, trying to get their feedback
on what they want, and although
they obviously want to feel safe, they
also don’t want to come in and
everything to feel too clinical. If
some extreme measures are put in
place, it would almost make them
too nervous.”
Davies makes the point that while
the venues is “10 out of 10” in terms
of safety, you don’t want delegates
to miss out on the experience.
“Going back to my days in [theme
park operator] Merlin, we never
wanted anyone to come off a
rollercoaster saying ‘that was a
really safe experience’, you want
people to come off saying ‘that was
an amazing experience’, and none of
us want to go into a restaurant next
week and say ‘that was a really safe
meal’, we want to say ‘that was a
really amazing meal.
Subconsciously, however, you need
to tick that box.
“I think at the moment, the world
has safety at the forefront of its
mind, and the trick is how do we
slowly push that back and let
experience and immersion come to
the forefront. I think there are some
great lessons to be learned from
that.”
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