Bleak House was the venue for a 5-day course on Crowd Safety and Security Management, delivered this week by the Emergency Planning College (EPC) which is an integral part of the UK Government’s Cabinet Office. Gibraltar’s Emergency Services as well as some of the event organisers were widely represented on the course. This included members of the Royal Gibraltar Police, Gibraltar Fire & Rescue Service, Gibraltar Ambulance Service, Ministry of Culture, the Media, Youth and Sport, Gibraltar Cultural Services, Gibraltar Sports & Leisure Authority and the Gibraltar 2019 NatWest International Island Games XVIII Organising Committee. 

The delegates were trained on the management of risks and threats to crowded places, crowd safety management plans and incident and emergency management. Delivering the training was Dan Ward, a Consultant and Associate Lecturer with the EPC Crowds and Public Safety Faculty. Dan Ward has brought a wealth of experience having been intimately involved with high-profile sporting events such as the FA Cup Final and London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Reflecting on the past 5 days, Dan Ward commented: “It has been a great pleasure to bring some of our core EPC training to Gibraltar. We have been able to contextualise industry guidance and good practice to the unique events held in Gibraltar and both the opportunities and challenges they bring. It is heartening to see a genuine commitment to multi-agency risk ownership. This team of people will be able to add new learning to existing competence and continue to drive forward the best possible standards of safety and security”.

The Minister responsible for Civil Contingencies, the Hon Gilbert Licudi QC MP, said: “I warmly welcome the opportunity to have been able to host this Crowd Safety and Security Management Course. I am very pleased that a wide cross-section from the Emergency Services and Sporting and Cultural communities have been able to benefit from such important training. The Emergency Planning College is widely recognised as one of the world’s premier training deliverers in the field of Emergency Management and Public Safety and I am therefore grateful that we have been able to tap into this resource. This year we will again see high quality events throughout our sporting and cultural calendar. This year in particular will see the NatWest International Island Games returning to the Rock and September also promises to be another great month as we hold our National Day celebrations and the now world famous Gibraltar Calling Music Event. Public Safety is the key priority in all that we do and I am therefore pleased that we, quite rightly, continue to invest in developing our capabilities”.