As chair of the AEV ’ s security working group , ExCeL London ’ s head of security Henry Havis has been working with other security experts to share best practice and prepare for new regulations .
Havis guides EN into the inner working of the security operations at ExCeL . He shields the exact details of what the team of staff are monitoring across the site – and the wider internet – to protect the venue – even on a rare day of no live events .
Havis is chair of the Association of Event Venue ’ s security working group . Members have said the groups are an invaluable resource to share expertise and best practice to ensure live events are safe for all – whilst behaving
Ready for duty
Henry Havis , head of security , ExCeL London , and chair of the AEV Security Working Group explains how the events industry is working together to improve security and prepare for the planned introduction of Protect Duty legislation later this year
proportionately to ensure they are still welcoming .
Explaining the working groups Havis says : “ The security discipline affects lots of different areas within the events world . So , although a lot of us are security specialists , we also have relevant senior operations people . Some venues may not have security managers , so they may contract that in , but
“ There ’ s a lot going on , particularly at the moment , in understanding and being prepared for protect duty ” they still sit on the group to understand the different needs and expectations . We ’ ve got lots of smaller venues as well , who again may not have security heads of security or security managers , but they still want to know what the future holds . They want to know what the current industry is looking at and what they can do to enhance stuff .”
He says one area that knowledge sharing has proved especially beneficial is in highlighting technology that can help identify potential risks .
Havis says : “ For example ExCeL might go and work with NEC on a particular project and then we ’ ll bring back to the working group .
“ We ’ re looking at a lot of technology , what ’ s out there ,
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