Beyond The Blue Training & Consultancy

‘There is only one thing worse than training someone and having them leave; that is not training someone and having them stay’

Our focus is on how we can change attitudes and views to ensure that clients gain an effective advantage. We provide them with skills, knowledge, confidence and perspective to help them manage in a more positive and professional manner.

Friday 31 December 2004

Scores die in Argentine club fire


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Title – Scores die in Argentine club fire
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 31st December 2004

Basic mistakes and greed account for many of the reasons behind disasters round the world. This is not the first time that a fire has resulted in more deaths then would have occurred if basic safety procedures had been met.

If a list of the worlds public venue fires, where many deaths occurred, were drawn up, many would show similarities. Overcrowding and locked or blocked fire exits turn emergencies into disasters. Anyone who has worked in a venue with a strict capacity will know that if you go over the fire limits the venue quickly turns from comfortable and friendly to fraught and very tense. Fire limits are based on the number of fire exits, size of the venue and distance from inside to the external exit doors, if these limits are ignored and fire escapes are blocked or locked, anyone can see that it is a recipe for disaster.

As it was claimed with this fire, a venue supposedly fit to hold 1500 people was packed with 4000 revellers celebrating New Year, the greed to get as many paying customers in as possible is exasperated by the locking of fire exits, to prevent people getting in without paying. Arguably with 4000 inside this venue, even if the exits had been left open no one else would have been able to gain access anyway, due to the sheer numbers inside.

With a death toll of 175 and the number of injuries a staggering 700+ there can be no doubt that the capacity was ignored on this occasion and they are not alone. It is sometimes staggering the number of venues that ignore their official capacities, the pressure on managers and staff to cram a few extra bodies in when the opportunity arises can sometimes seem impossible to ignore. The targets set for managers by senior management and shareholders can simply be overwhelming.

To counter these pressures, more companies are starting to realise the benefits of good staff training. Conflict Management and Resolution Training (CMR) is now being directed at staff beyond the door supervisor team. The realisation that responsibility for your customers goes beyond this team and that all staff are involved, means that bars and venues can boast staff that can cross over from one job to another and where they truly work as a team, in making environment safer. Well trained staff will realise the dangers of ignoring the rules and the more members of your team that know and understand these rules, will put the peer pressure on maintaining them, rather then thinking if it all goes wrong they will be able to claim ignorance.


We run Fire Safety Courses (FS) and In-House Security Induction Training (IHSI) as well as providing Consultancy Services to help you set up the systems that allow your operation to run confidently so that when an emergency arises your whole team is able to react in a positive manner and respond to ensure the safety of, their colleagues, your customers and your property.


Please visit Our website at www.btbl.co.uk

Thursday 28 October 2004

Figures highlight NHS violence


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Title – Figures highlight NHS violence
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 28th October 2004

A figure such as 68% of all injuries in this workplace (NHS) being as a result if aggression and violence from patients is staggering and should make all of us stand up and question the society in which we live. A society that allows this to happen against those people who have dedicated themselves to the protection and well being of others.

Employers from every sector of the workforce, be they related to the NHS or not, have a responsibility to ensure that they protect their staff. There are many ways of achieving this result, you can increase the physical presence of security staff or the police, you can restrict access to the place of work and you can use modern technologies such as increased CCTV, panic alarms and remote access protection.

We believe that before you consider any of these measures you should consider empowering your staff first. Our Conflict Management & Resolution Course (CMR) will help all those attending to resolve situations before they become aggressive or violent, we concentrate on communication skills and look at the body language as well as other signs and symptoms that can help you to recognise the signals of aggression or violence and therefore give you a head start when it comes to dealing with them.
We also recognise that aggression and violence can be at a level already where the point of using your skills to deescalate the situation are useless, as the aggressor has passed the point of comprehension. It is at this stage that there may be a requirement to physically protect yourself from violence and remove yourself from the situation before receiving an injury. Our Physical Intervention course (PI) covers the use of break-away, disengagement and where required restraint techniques. We only teach 'low impact' techniques to allow you to remove yourself from the aggressive situation and call for the help of colleagues or specifically trained staff, such as security guards or the police. We believe that these techniques, that don’t rely on size or strength but rather on your ability to stay calm and to think your way out of the situation, are ideal for dealing with Workplace Violence as they don’t require individuals to use such methods as pre-emptive strikes which take a great deal of practice and if you don’t get them right can lead to further force being used against you.

Please Visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk