Issue Number 6 Volume 2 | Spring
CHRONICLE FGH Security’s quarterly magazine // fghsecurity.com
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
G
UARDHALL SECURITY Ltd.
Alarms // CCTV // Access
THE OVERVIEW
“The Stallion…”
Or any other good name you can think of for one of our van fleet. Let us know and become immortalised.
Keep on running
The sun setting over Morecambe Bay I just hope I’m going to get a chance to appreciate all the great scenery and views as I drag my legs out of the sand. It’s all for a good cause so please dig deep if you can.
Let the sun shine in
Me on the balcony at the Head Office enjoying some welcomed good weather.
w
elcome to the sixth edition of the FGH Chronicle. It is with great pleasure I can announce our recent acquisition of Guardhall Security Group; further details of which can be found later on in this magazine. I’d urge anyone who wants further details of the services we can now offer to get in touch, in particular, anyone with an alarm system who would like it maintaining and monitoring by ourselves. A viewing of our state-of-the-art Alarm Receiving Centre can be accommodated for our existing clients. Congratulations to Rob Smith, Operations Director of Vimac Leisure who won the IPOD after completing the Questionnaire enclosed in the last edition of the Chronicle. To summarise some of the results we received back - your favourite part of the magazine is, believe it or not, this section the Overview written by myself with every respondent circling 10! Your least enjoyable section is the new contracts which we have now chosen to cut back to just one page so we shall also be refraining from putting every single contract in. Also, I am pleased to say that on average each magazine is read by at least 4 people and all our replies said they read ‘All of the magazine’ as opposed to ‘More than half of each issue’, ‘Less than half of each issue’ or ‘Not at all’. Thank you very much to all who responded. Whilst on the subject of results we recently had the best return ever of our anonymous Employee Opinion Questionnaires. I am pleased to announce that we had 31 replies back (55% from DS staff, 41% from SG staff and 4% from Keyholders) which gives us a good representative sample of the whole organisation. Some of the results showed that over half of our front line staff strongly agree the management team are approachable, 65% of staff feel their job is secure and 58% of staff feel the pay is fair for the work they do. Again, thank you to all the staff who replied – your opinion really matters to us and we do act on it too. I’d like to also thank the customers and staff who recently assisted in our SIA Approved Contractor Status audit. I can now proudly say that FGH Security is the only company in the UK to hold SIA Approved Contractor Status (ACS) in Security Guarding, Door Supervision, Keyholding and Vehicle Immobilisation. In the spirit of competitions we have another important announcement. Our fleet of company vehicles now extends to 8 vans. Throughout the day they are referred to by the prefixing four digits of the registration mark and questions along the line of, “Shall I take VK58 out today?” are the norm. We don’t think this is personal enough and the vans are an important part of the operation. Inspired by the great haulage tycoon Eddie Stobart we are soon to be personally naming the vehicles and would like your help. We are looking for staff, customers, the public, children or anyone else to forward name ideas to us stating why you think the name is fitting for one of our vans. The winners will get to name the vans and also be featured in the next Chronicle. Email us at van-names@fghsecurity.co.uk As you can see from the opposite page I have been frantically training for the Cross Bay Half Marathon and am raising money for CancerCare again, any donations to my just giving page would be most appreciated. CancerCare are a brilliant charity and are their every year for hundreds of people and their families when they most need it, so please dig deep. Further news; FGH Security has recently purchased a Home Office approved head camera system (the exact same model is being used by several police forces), more details will be in the next Chronicle and the system is currently on trial proving to be an excellent deterrent to would be criminals! The Robocam system is available to purchase for £795 or alternatively is available on a weekly rental basis with prices starting at £25 per week. Finally, we are looking for representatives from across the company to take part in Staff Raising Standards meetings. The meetings will take place in Lancaster on evenings from approximately 5pm - 7pm and subject to a trial could be held several times a year. It is an excellent addition to your CV and your chance to say how you think the company could improve its service delivery to customers or conditions of employment for staff. The group will be made up of approximately twelve staff and we are looking for a representation from right across the company. Please email srsgroup@fghsecurity. co.uk or contact the Lancaster Head Office to register interest. I’d like to extend this opportunity to say a big hello once more to all the former Guardhall Security Group staff, customers and stakeholders who are new to FGH Security. As always, feel free to get in touch with me personally or any member of our management team if you think there is anything we can do to improve. Kind regards
Peter Harrison, Managing Director FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
'The FGH Future' cover design by Dave Hassall As we begin our full diversification into the electronic side of the security industry Dave thought a ‘future focused’ cover would be really fitting for this issue by drawing inspiration from, in his own words, “cool and cult near future focused films”.
Getting in touch with us... If you’d like to talk to us about the Chronicle, the services we can offer, would just like to find out a little more about us or see how we could be of use to you then please feel free to get in touch with us at our Head Office. Call us 01524 847 554 Email us CHRONICLE@ fghsecurity.co.uk Find us fghsecurity.co.uk (or type FGH Security into any search engine) Or write to us FGH Security Alston House White Cross South Road Lancaster LA1 4 XQ
Staff Section | 2
Employees Other of the Quarter News
This quarter’s highlights of what’s been happening with FGH Security and the people who make up the company. If you have any news or would like to be featured call Dave Hassall on 01524 847 554
Congratulations to Adam Tomlinson, Lancashire Operations Manager on the slightly belated birth of his new son, Zachary Leonard Tomlinson. Adam is proud to be a new father and is looking forward to spending time with his new baby, not too much time, of course, as he is still running the entire Lancashire Door Supervision operation. Peter Harrison, our Managing Director, will be running the Cross Bay Half Marathon over Morecambe bay in aid of Cancer Care. It’s for charity so dig into your pockets and sponsor him. You can even sponsor him online through the FGH website and what’s more the largest sponsor gets to choose his fancy dress outfit for on the day.
Garry Hutton
Jason Murtaugh
Chris Piercy
Gary has won employee of the month for his outstanding commitment and work he has done at Lancaster Royal Infirmary. He is very conscientious, quick to pick up issues he feels are affecting the job and will make useful suggestions that enhance the standard of the delivery that we give to the NHS and improve the company. Gary is a great communicator and is well respected by staff and visitors he comes into contact with on a daily basis.
Jason has quickly established himself as the number two at Yates in Bury and recently has become a regular face on the Trof Bars in Manchester. His friendly attitude to both staff and customers and his ability to drop what he is doing to cover a shift when requested has made him a favourite for customers, venue managers and his FGH colleagues alike.
Consistently performing to an exceptional standard on his regular three venues (Friary Lounge and Revolution) has made Chris a real standout member of staff. He is always willing to help out his team members by covering last minute on shifts and narrowly missed out on winning New Starter of the Year at this year’s annual awards.
Security Guarding
Door Supervision
Just for you in this Issue... Staff
02 Staff Section - Employees of the month, news and the usual essential bits and pieces. 03 Staff Interview - This time featuring Derek Santon and some of the “Carry On’s” he’s seen in his time. 05 In the Know - Interesting facts and figures form the security industry plus the odd one that makes you look like a bit of a genius.
Clients
06 20 Questions - Mick Hoyle gives us an insight into what makes him tick. 09 John Halstead - An introduction to FGH Guardhall’s Operations Director and a little bit about what a good man he is. 12 Dan Willis - Find out about the man who runs FGH Security’s Guarding Division and how he’s planning to bring the best out of the FGH Guardhall staff. 13 New Contracts – A quick overview of our new clients that have started using our services. 19 Service Offerings – A quick punchy overview of the top class services we can now offer.
Company
06 Operation Siskin - Update- Showing how FGH Security is leading the way up in Cumbria working alongside the Police to reduce underage drinking. 15 Staff Awards – All the winners from the night and key facts that should help jog your memory if a few things are still a bit ‘fuzzy’. 18 FGH Work in Practice - A good case study of our success with the NWCCA and the integrated service that we are about to start providing to East Lancashire PCT that has come off the back of it.
Features
07 The FGH Guardhall Feature – Have FGH started doing alarms and CCTV? Why yes. Yes we have in a big way. Find out about the new wing of our company where it came from and where we’re taking it. 17 SIA News - Highlights of the news from our industry regulator for the last three months.
Door Supervision
Upcoming Pay Dates
7th May 21st May 4th June 18th June 2nd July 16th July 30th July 13th Aug 27th Aug
The new, upgraded FGH Website has been up and running for a couple of months now. If you haven’t looked at it yet why not go and do so. The website includes up to date company news and information you may not have known. If you work for FGH the chances are that there are some pictures of you on it somewhere too. FGH has been chosen as a finalist in the IFSEC Awards 2010. These are a national awards which generates international interest. We will be running against some of the largest security companies in the UK in two categories. Merely being nominated in such august company is a massive achievement and fingers are crossed for the awards ceremony in May. Dave Hassall likes to spend his weekends parading in tiny shorts for the approval of a panel of judges and the rest of his time lifting very heavy objects in the gym. FGH’s Marketing Manager took part in the UKBFF North West Bodybuilding Championships in March. Although competition was fierce, Dave’s hard work paid off as he placed third in his class making him one of the best light heavy weights in the region. More importantly however he was rewarded with a really cool trophy that’s nearly two feet tall.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
arry on CGuarding
Derek Santon shares some of his favourite, what can only be described as, ‘unusual’ experiences and the comedy characters that he has met posing as Security Guards in his time. PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVE HASSALL WRITER: DAVE TAYLOR
T
he security industry has changed dramatically in recent years. If you’ve ever wondered why this is then you should think about it this way. Nights are long and lonely on a guarding site, and Derek Santon, head of security at Standfast and Barracks, spoke to us about some of the bizarre things he’s seen over the years and how things have changed now he’s on the case. There is an old adage that ‘if you pay peanuts then you get monkeys’ and Derek seems to have encountered enough to fill a zoo in his time. He believes that a guard should be made to feel valued and paid a decent wage for his work. This cannot be stressed too highly, in Derek’s opinion, possibly because he has seen what happens when they aren’t. A guard asleep on the job is simply showing a lack of creativity in some people’s eyes. Oh, matron! In the code of conduct for most modern companies it should state that a guard should not fondle his own equipment while on shift. No, it’s not what you were thinking. This was a guard Derek encountered who had brought in a load of his own gear and was using his shift to burn pirate DVDs for sale around the town. To minimise the risk of getting caught he was
Staff Interview | 4
clever enough to stash the equipment in a hidden cache on site. Unfortunately he was not clever enough to evade Derek’s eagle eye and when he was caught he left the equipment behind. Irony being what it is, he was then left with the task of trying to sneak back in past the real Security Guard who replaced him in order to retrieve his equipment. In certain circumstances things can move into the realms of the ridiculous. Among the many responsibilities of a guarding manager is to pop back at random times to check the guard has filled in his log properly or is conducting patrols as you would expect. It is difficult to imagine what any manager would do if he found not only that the guard was not wearing his tie, but that he had discarded his uniform altogether and was now wearing a complete 1930s dress combination with red shoes and matching make up. Think Gary Busey in Under Siege and you’re probably still not close. Derek claims he simply stood there for a moment looking at him and the image must have burned itself into his mind for him to recall it in such detail. He then held a brief conversation and proceeded to carry out the checks he was there to perform quite normally, just as if the
guard was properly uniformed. He checked back later and found the guard was, once again, wearing his proper uniform. It’s almost enough to make him think he’d imagined it. Other stories have imprinted themselves on Derek’s mind over the years. These include guards who fell asleep and guards who stole from the site they were supposed to be guarding. As mentioned before guarding can be a lonely occupation, but for most it is not sufficiently lonely for them to bring their girlfriends with them to their shifts to keep them company. Although he has encountered this he has yet to catch any of his staff in flagrante, a fact for which he is eternally grateful. The worst kind of guard, in Derek’s opinion, is not one who is so bad it’s almost funny. The worst kind is the guard who sits there throughout his shift doing as little as possible; the guard who is rude or obstructive to people on site or the guard who regularly calls in sick at the last minute or doesn’t turn up at all. Such people, Derek says, let the whole team down and he has absolutely no time for them on his site, or in general. He advocates a zero tolerance approach to such behaviour. On his site everybody is a team, not just the guards together, but also the front of house site staff and all stakeholders in the business. In the light of this teamwork he would like to make a special mention of Mrs Hedges, a front of house team member at Standfast without whom, he says, his job would be significantly harder. Derek believes that, with the introduction of the SIA such behaviour is on its way out at a national level. With FGH, he stresses, it is already gone. He puts this down to the FGH management. Derek says he has never worked for a more approachable, helpful, but above all attentive company. He is grateful for the support that he has been shown and the training opportunities that have been provided. He recommends FGH to any new guard starting out as he believes they will provide the best possible introduction to the industry and allow the guard to develop his skills as far as he wishes.
The customer is king Derek and his NVQ in Customer Care certificates that usually have pride of place in his office.
The days of bizarre happenings may be over, but Derek is generally the happier for it. Nobody likes to have to come to work unsure whether he’s going to be confronted with a guard dressed up like an extra from Carry on Matron or other farcical behaviour. He takes pleasure in running a professional and reliable team and for that he says he has to thank the SIA and he has to thank FGH.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
IN THE KNOW Concentrated “I didn’t know that” pub quiz winning knowledge that’s not just about the security industry… honest.
I
f all the staff members of FGH Security stood on each others shoulders the human tower would be as high as a 115 storey building and about half the height of the Eiffel Tower.
There are no officially verified estimates on the amount of CCTV Cameras in the UK but the most recent and widely quoted estimate suggests that there are over million public facing CCTV cameras now in operation across the UK.
42
http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/cctv/news_and_facts.htm
Plus, it’d probably be the best circus trick in the whole of human history.
It is estimated that at any one time, nearly 1% of the world’s population is drunk.
So far since the SIA have been licensing operatives in the security industry there has been a total of 1,760 appeals by people refused a licence. In 83% of cases when the appeal has gone to court the SIA decision has been upheld. FACEBOOK: 5% of fan pages have more than 10 fans, 65% have 100+, 23% have 1,000+, 4% have 10,000+, 0.76% have 100,000+, 0.047% of pages have more than one million fans. You can find us by searching for ‘FGH Security’ Since 1978, at least 37 people have died as a result of shaking vending machines, in an attempt to get free merchandise. More than 100 people have been injured.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
The estimated turnover of the top 20 security guarding companies in the UK is estimated to be £1,958,000,000 which works out at 89.02% of the total market share for 2009.
According to the British Crime Survey conducted by the Home Office the top three reasons for improving home security given by all of the respondents were;
24% 16% 14%
Done as part of general improvements to the house
Own home was burgled General increase in burglaries in local area
Yahoo the complex internet
organism has a complicated name. The Word “Yahoo” is shortcut for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”. It was coined by PhD
candidates at Stanford University
In the UK currently there are 634,850 people who have a qualification which entitles them to hold a type of SIA licence. Whilst only approximately 51% of these people currently hold an actual valid licence. http://www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Pages/licensing-stats.aspx
Updates and regular features | 6
Operation Siskin
01 02
Update
03
What do you like least about your current job? Paying wages
04
Favourite saying that is relevant to your life or the way you run your business? Live everyday as if its your last
20 Questions with Mick Hoyle
With the agility of its namesake the police operation weaves from one success to the next in its campaign to combat alcohol related disorder.
05 06 07
WRITER: PETER HARRISON
I
n March the most recent meeting of key stakeholders in Operation Siskin was convened. Among these were myself and Danny Geere, Cumbria Operations Manager. Operation Siskin has been going on for over 18 months. It represents a partnership between Cumbria Constabulary and numerous parties in the local area of which FGH Security is a key member. The aim of Operation Siskin is to enable people to enjoy their social time across South Cumbria without being subjected to anti social or violent behaviour. The operation, headed up by Sergeant Paul Madden of Cumbria Constabulary, has taken many forms. FGH’s involvement has contributed to raising awareness of key issues, in particular the dangers of underage, or excessive, drinking. In order to accomplish this we designed and produced over 10,000 fliers to be distributed over the Furness Peninsula. These fliers warned people about the dangers of drinking and encouraged young people to carry suitable proof of age cards in order to combat underage drinking and avoid disappointment among legitimate drinkers. Our front line staff also publicised the scheme at the point of delivery. Our most recent meeting was attended by various representatives of Cumbria constabulary. These included PC John Brookes, the South Lakeland Licensing Officer, Sergeant Paul Madden and Inspector Dave Bosson. At the meeting the Inspector relayed some glowing statistics about the success of the scheme so far. It has helped to facilitate a fall in violent crime. Last year saw a 7% reduction in violent crime, the third consecutive year of reductions. More impressive still was the astounding 46% reduction of crime within licensed premises. Overall Cumbria Constabulary has a 63% crime detection rate. These figures show what is possible when the police and other agencies, such as FGH Security, operate a true partnership approach. FGH Security supply Door Supervisors to nearly 70% of the premises in Barrow-inFurness who have a Door Supervision requirement.
The scheme includes increased checks on licensed premises to ensure they are compliant with the licensing act and any conditions on their license. T-shirts were also given out to licensees and bar staff for advertising and the scheme is still developing new ideas. This month the Barrow-inFurness Police held their first key meeting as part of Operation Siskin. This takes the form of a 15 minute meeting between key Door Supervisors and police officers prior to starting their shifts on a Friday evening. The meeting is designed to be an efficient way of sharing new intelligence on any particular problems that may encroach on the evening and we see it as an excellent way to encourage communication between Door Supervisors and police officers. Further development of the scheme includes planning for the upcoming World Cup. Discussions have taken place proposing a “Yellow Card Scheme” for those who fall foul of police, licensees and Door Supervisors whilst the football is being shown. If the scheme goes operational then the yellow card would act as an interim measure used before an individual is put forward to the local ‘bar watch’ scheme. The card would be served as a warning notice and in the event of an individual being given two cards in a six month period further action would be taken. The scheme has proved a massive success with the Sussex police force with over 500 yellow cards being issued in the Brighton and Hove area over a six month period last year. FGH Security is committed to working with our stakeholders in all the security sectors and geographical areas we operate in. I am extremely proud of the success this scheme has had already and would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to all our front line staff in Barrow on the part they have played in helping to reduce violent crime by such proportions.
08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
What was your first job? Winter Gardens Fairground age 13 What do you like most about your current job? Holidays
Who are your heroes and why? My mum for bringing up 7 kids Where do you see yourself in five years time from now? Retired What things in your life are you thankful for? 5 kids Do you have any regrets? A few too many to mention What’s your earliest memory? Falling off a bus What’s your fondest memory? Lapland trip for my 40th Birthday in 2000 What are your hobbies and interests? Golf, Football and now running What’s your favourite item of clothing that you own? Flip Flops What are your pet hates? Bad manners What would be your dream holiday or car? Aston Martin Who’s your football team and why? Leeds United from the 1970’s If you were stuck on a desert island and you had to pick two people to be on there with you who would they be? Jamie Lee Curtis and Rachel Ward If you were Prime Minister for the day what would you change? No Vat or Tax What was your favourite pet? My horse What’s the best thing about working with FGH? Ben Knott (Micks regualr point of contact at Northwest Parking Solutions) Now that you’re famous is there anyone you want to say hello to? My Dad
Mick Hoyle is one of Lancaster’s most recognised and successful entrepreneurs, here he is pictured with Sir Alex Ferguson. Some how he manages to find the time to be the Chief Executive of Lancaster City Football Club and oversee his operations at Rack ‘Em, the Wagon and Horses Pub and Squires Snooker Hall. Currently he uses NPS to manage his two main car parks.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
7 | Special Feature
FGH Guardhall The David Copperfield bit
It’s not Dickens but this biography charts where Guardhall came from and where it’s going as part of FGH Security PHOTOGRAPHY: DAN WILLIS & DAVE HASSALL WRITERS: PETER HARRISON, DAVE TAYLOR AND JOHN HALSTEAD
Guardhall Security Group
If you are an FGH customer, or employee, then you may be wondering who Guardhall Security group were and why FGH would be advertising another company in their amazing company magazine. If you are a Guardhall customer the reverse of this may also be true. You may be wondering what FGH Security is and what it has to do with you. This article is designed to answer those questions. On 16th February 2010 FGH acquired the total shares of Guardhall Security Group, gaining control of thecompany.
Guardhall History
Guardhall Security Group Limited (incorporating Guardhall Investigations Ltd and Guardhall Central Station Ltd) operates from Accrington, East Lancashire and was established back in 1983 by the husband and wife team, Shaun and Susan Raywood. Since then they have diversified into other areas of security, the most notable of which was the construction of the Alarm Receiving Centre, or ARC, which was officially opened in 1996.
the manned guarding division. This includes all the security guards and the keyholding and alarm response specialists. The company also maintains a division for the installation and maintenance of alarm systems. The hub of the operation is the Alarm Receiving Centre. The alarm monitoring division is based here. This is also where all other operations are coordinated. In addition to these main divisions Guardhall also operates a CCTV monitoring service and carries out corporate investigations.
Guardhall Structure
The Acquisition
Recently Guardhall has evolved into three distinct divisions. The largest of these in terms of manpower is
Uniform Appearance FGH Guardhall staff outside their operational office in Accrington sporting their new FGH Security uniforms
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
Last year FGH senior management made a strategic decision to purchase
Special Feature | 8
Guardhall Security Group. The next nine months were spent carrying out detailed market research into the sectors that we were venturing into. A considerable amount of time was also spent dealing with the legal aspects of the sale and carrying out research into the nature and qualities of the Guardhall operation and sitting in rooms with bank managers. The main focus of the deal, from our perspective, was in order to give FGH Security a good platform from which to enter the electronic security market. In addition to this the manned guarding division of Guardhall has served to increase our already significant market share in this sector.
Guardhall People
After purchasing the company it was decided that we would keep the vast majority of the staff, including all frontline staff members. Since the takeover we’ve been really pleased with the staff we’ve taken on. They are, in the most part, a credit to themselves, to the company and to the wider security industry. At the top of the Guardhall tree stands John Halstead, Operations Director of FGH Guardhall. He is the man responsible for the whole electronic operation. The company also employs its own accountant, the mercurial Carl Stone.
At an operational level Guardhall comprises ten highly trained ARC staff, see the following pages for a full explanation of the ARC. There are also over thirty security officers and a team of elite mobile response officers. These officers carry out keyholding and alarm response duties twenty four hours
a day, seven days a week. Last, but by no means least, Guardhall also employs several professional engineers. Their job is to install new alarms to service and maintain the alarms on the many contracts Guardhall provides for.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
9 | Special Feature
Guardhall Accreditations
Guardhall, like FGH, have always taken pride in their work. The best way to show this to the world is to gain accreditations and accolades for the work that you actually do. Guardhall has proven its ability by garnering a string of qualifications as long as its arm and it has a pretty long arm. The NSI, or National Security Inspectorate, is responsible for the auditing of a majority of companies within the sector. They are the same body that audits FGH annually to maintain our SIA Approved Contractor status. The NSI has three levels of accreditation with bronze showing that a company conforms to the industry standards through to gold which shows the company is far beyond the norm. Guardhall holds NSI Gold in Alarm Installation, NSI Gold for their Alarm Receiving Centre, NSI Silver in Security Guarding and also ISO 9001 Quality Management certification.
Changes and Improvements Guardhall Security Group is now known as FGH Guardhall and carries out all the electronic work for the FGH Group including alarms, CCTV, access control and also the alarm receiving. FGH Security has absorbed the manned operation of Guardhall Security Group namely the security guarding contracts and staff and also the key holding and alarm response duties. These duties will now be carried out by FGH Security Ltd.In the near future we expect to see many more options for career progression and development for our staff. In particular there will be numerous training options offered to those who wish to take them up. Our customers will benefit from an ever increasing range of services and most of all from our ability to offer a complete package across all areas of the security industry. An example of this is fitting, maintaining and responding to alarms on licensed premises that already employ our door supervisors. Several other improvements have also taken place across the company. All of our new guards have been issued with a brand new uniform and the alarm response division supplied with an entire fleet of brand new vans. We have also upgraded our alarm receiving and CCTV monitoring software, allowing customers to remotely log in and change vital details such as a keyholder’s telephone number and also access the alarm system twenty four hours a day remotely from anywhere in the world. This is just the beginning. If anybody reading this has any ideas on how we could improve our service further we’d love to hear from you.
Welcome Aboard
We’d like to welcome all the Guardhall staff to our organisation - we hope you’ve found the transition and past three months exciting and share our vision of providing an unparalleled service to our clients. We’d also like to extend this welcome to Guardhall clients. We hope service from FGH Guardhall is everything you want it to be. If you have any questions or suggestions for improvement or you would like a meeting with a senior member of management or director then please do not hesitate to call.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
The Future
We hope to be able to offer the complete security package to our clients - one complete solution catering for all your business security needs. From here, we urge anyone reading this who currently has an alarm monitored or maintained by someone else to call us now. If we already maintain your alarm but you use another company for your manned security requirements then again please get in touch. If you need an added security presence at your site and are thinking of having CCTV installed then do not hesitate to call us. The list could go on - in fact should you have a car park and can’t get in your space in the morning then we’ve a solution for that too! We are open for business 2 4 hours a day, 365 days a year catering for your every need, fulfilling your security requirements whilst you sleep at night.
John Halstead A man who knows his ARC from his elbow
FGH Guardhall's Operations Director and his four decades in the industry
J
ohn has over thirty years of experience in the security industry and has performed every role imaginable from front line staff all the way up to director level. John started off in security protecting cash and valuables in transit for what was then Securicor. After a spell running the Alarm Receiving Centre for Shorrocks, John was head hunted by Guardhall Security in 1996. John’s outstanding managerial performance led to him being made a director of Guardhall Security in 2001, a role which he has been persuaded to continue for FGH Guardhall. John has frequently used his contacts within the security industry to move smoothly from one job to another. He found out about the job at Shorrocks while delivering the wages there on behalf of Securicor. He started as a security guard and ARC operator before moving up to running the entire operation of the ARC at Shorrocks. It was during this time that he met Shaun Raywood, who was to become the founder of Guardhall. It was hardly surprising, given John’s vast experience with the ARC that Shaun later asked him to move to Guardhall and run the newly set up ARC operation at Cannon Street. From talking to him one might conclude that nobody’s known so much about ARC operations since Noah.
BRAND NEW
A re-branded FGH Guardhall Installation van just before it was taken out on the road for the first time.
MODEL STAFF
Raza Rauf takes his little turn on the catwalk.
John is currently responsible for overseeing all of FGH Guardhall’s operations. This is a wide ranging role and encompasses overseeing the day to day running of the FGH Guardhall Head Office, of the Alarm Receiving Centre and all of FGH Guardhall’s many engineers. He is also a family man with two grown up daughters, three grandsons and one more on the way. Trust is the central issue with any security company according to John. He points out that he has worked with some of his current customers for over twenty years. When a mutual bond of trust is established then security provision is at its best. Outside of FGH Guardhall John volunteers for work as a magistrate, and has been doing so for over ten years. He regards it as a valuable service to his community. In addition to this John is a keen player of snooker with a stack of amateur trophies. He is still regularly making breaks of over 50 and has, in his time, played against such legends as Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins. John remembers watching Alex Higgins playing cash games against two separate opponents at any one time and then taking all the winnings straight to the bookies. He regards him as a great character of what is now a past age. John has seen many changes in the security industry over his long career. He believes that for the most part change has been a positive factor, most especially over recent years. He believes the next big change we will see is the decline of manned guarding with ever more sophisticated technological solutions taking on much of the work that had formerly been the sole province of manned guarding personnel. He adds cheerfully that FGH Guardhall is now in a position to provide the very best in such technological solutions while FGH Security has a proven track record of manned guarding success. With the combination of the two he believes the future has never looked brighter.
Inside the ARC
Special Feature | 10
Alarm Receiving Centre
GRAPHICS: DAVE HASSALL
A Quick Overview
An Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) is a purpose build secure unit which allows activations (such as alarm or fire systems) and live feed data (such as CCTV recordings) to be monitored and acted upon by trained operators.
What can be monitored?
A good ARC can monitor a variety of systems such as burglar alarms, fire alarms, medical alerts, electrical malfunctions, lifts to name but few. But like most technology how useful it can be is always dependent on the people controlling it.
So who’s in charge of yours then?
Our ARC is manned by a minimum of two members of staff twenty four hours a day, every day of the year. Plus, on average each one has in excess of ten years experience in the security industry.
connected to and running in parallel with each other to guarantee 100% resilience, even in the event of a server failure. Then to top it off the entire ARC itself is backed up by a secure sister station located in another part of the UK in the event of total failure. Due to the accreditations that we hold (NSI ARC and NACOSS Gold) we have to, and do, consider every eventuality.
Can you monitor my existing alarm?
Yes.We can integrate with all the well known signalling technologies – for example, RedCare Digital Services Platform, Dual Comm, Free Com, Digi Com and all CCTV monitoring packages. In the past we have never had a problem working alongside an existing system. If you’ve not got an alarm system or CCTV in place already please feel free to contact us as we purposefully go out of our way to be one of the lowest pricing companies in the UK without compromising quality.
So what makes yours special?
We handle over 1500 connections to businesses and homes throughout the UK 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We use the Bold Gemini system which has been shortlisted in the ‘Integrated Security Product of the Year’ category at the IFSEC Awards and is widely regarded as one of the industry’s premier monitoring packages. We also have several servers, each separately located but
What’s the support system like?
Just like every aspect of FGH Security its people and quality of service that matter. Besides being able to answer any questions you may have, all of the various parts of our Alarm and ARC operations run in harmony with one another (and with the rest of FGH too). You’ll never get passed around, kept on hold or always waiting for someone to get back to you. Your time is really important to us and we’ll always go out of our way to provide a really good customer service that you’ll want to tell your friends about.
Worker safety systems in place that are checked hourly to ensure staff are fit and well.
Large multi-display monitor so operators can monitor one full site at a time or several sites at once. All data wires coming into the ARC are fully encased in steel to prevent tampering plus they are constantly monitored right the way through to the alarm or CCTV system they are connected to. A monitored two tier airlock door system to control entry into the ARC to ensure that only authorised personnel can enter the facility.
Two standalone back up generators which will power the facility for days on end.
Specialist tamper proof fire door that is designed so it can not be forced open from the outside.
A key safe holding over 300 sets of keys. Plus a secure key hatch for keys to be passed to Keyholding and Alarm response staff so ARC security is maintained.
Ten CCTV cameras watching the building and the secure lines coming into the building. Bomb detectors on all walls and gas detectors on air conditioning/ ventilation system.
Fully contained kitchen and bathroom facilities for the ARC team members so once securely inside at the beginning of their shift they will not have to leave the facility unattended or risk a security breach by repeatedly coming in and out of the centre.
Please note that whist our ARC features all of the details specified for security reasons the picture shown is an illustrative example and not an exact model of our actual ARC.
The entire FGH Guardhall ARC is full encased in bomb proof steel comparable to the specifications for most modern day bunkers.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
11 | Special Feature
FGH Guardhall People A quick look at the people who make the company tick on a day-to-day basis.
Peter Bishop Peter is the Chief Engineer at Guardhall. He has over thirty years experience in the industry and has been with Guardhall for the last twelve of these. Peter’s job is both to act as an engineer, fitting and maintaining alarms, and also to oversee the other engineers. He likes the fact that no two jobs are ever exactly the same and says he never has time to get bored. With Guardhall Peter is on call constantly and is always ready to respond to anything that may be required of him. He believes that customer satisfaction is paramount and takes a great deal of pride in seeing a job well done. Peter hopes that FGH will provide opportunities for training and development among all Guardhall’s staff, allowing them to be the best that they can be.
Carl Stone Carl is the finance manager at Guardhall. He has a degree in accountancy and is responsible for payroll, invoicing and accounting. Naturally he is every member of staff’s favourite manager because it is his job to ensure that they all get paid. Challenging the common perception of finance managers being people with a degree in maths and a personality bypass Carl is full of enthusiasm and energy. Carl has been with Guardhall for over 15 years and believes that the takeover by FGH will bring a new direction to Guardhall. He says he is very excited to see what form this new direction will take and he is particularly looking forward to working closely with FGH’s Directors to make FGH Guardhall the most successful company that it can be.
Steve Spence Jovial Irishman Steve is an ARC operator with Guardhall. He is responsible for ensuring smooth day to day running within the ARC. Steve used to work as a Door Supervisor in Belfast during the Troubles and regards being in the ARC as a whole lot safer. Steve’s day to day responsibilities include call handling, dealing with alarm and CCTV monitoring, front line customer service and running the control room for the Security Guarding division. He is at the hub of all Guardhall’s operations. Steve stresses that the ARC team are not a loose confederation of individuals – they are a key element of FGH Security. He believes this is the only way to run the ARC properly. Steve is impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of FGH Management and is hoping for several new contracts to come the way of FGH Guardhall in the coming months.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
For more information on FGH Guardhall and the services we can offer visit FGHGuardhall.co.uk
In their natural surroundings (From top to bottom) Peter in his office come workshop; Carl at his desk and Steve in the ARC in a beautiful “action” pose.
Special Feature | 12
Dan Willis Has faith in his ability give you the country’s best guarding service.
Besides electronic based security FGH Guardhall also has a pre-existing client base for its manned security. Dan is looking to take the best from both workforces and merge them into something really special when it comes to service and results under the FGH Security brand.
D
an initially began his career working as a manager in corporate recruitment for four years for both the medical and the industrial sectors in London before being head hunted by FGH Security. Since 2007 he has helped oversee our diversification into manned guarding when we initially began developing our service offerings. As his previous role as Recruitment Manager he helped immeasurably in maintaining our high levels of staff selection. As the company has grown he has implemented training and personal development programs across the company. During this time he learned that “the most important thing about good management is good communication.” He also found time to gain a degree in Christian Ministry during this time too and he is still a regular church goer today. Currently Dan oversees the entire security guarding division of FGH Security and has experienced a dramatic increase in responsibility and workload with the recent acquisition of Guardhall. When asked his views of FGH Guardhall Dan described amalgamating their guarding division with FGH to be a “challenge” that he was “looking forward to.” He stressed that all the elements of an incredibly successful guarding division were present in both FGH and Guardhall and he intends to combine them to produce the best of both worlds. Over the next few years Dan expects to see his division continue to grow rapidly across both sites and is particularly hopeful of picking up several more large scale public sector contracts. Dan is keen drinker of tea and has been known to drink more cups of tea in a day than any other man in the history of the world (this may be a slight exaggeration). His one significant failure at FGH to date has been his inability to find out who took his ‘Incredible Hulk’ mug, a loss which haunts him to this day. Outside of work Dan trains in the gym most nights, pursuing his self confessed quest to be “the absolute peak of physical perfection.” He also jogs, walks his dog and does all sorts of other things that seem worryingly wholesome and healthy. As a youth he swam at county level and still swims regularly before work. Dan says this helps him to focus his mind and be on the top of his game right from the start of the day. Others might say it sounds like a lot of hard work. When he has finished with his program of lifting things up and then putting them down again (repeat as needed) Dan likes to relax at home with a DVD and Hannah his wife.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
NEW CONTRACTS FULL INTEGRATED SERVICES
ALARM INSTALLATION
MOBILE PATROLS
CCTV
NHS East Lancashire Primary Care Trust
Tom Martin & Co Ltd
Preston Tom Martin & Co Ltd was established in 1948 by a Mr Arthur Hubert and was a forerunner at the inception of the non-ferrous recycling industry within the United Kingdom, with branches in Preston, Manchester & Poland. Guardhall previously monitored their CCTV at Preston and obviously did such a good that they invited us to install the Intruder Alarm.
Backburn with Darwen Borough Council
Lostock Skip Hire
NHS East Lancashire Primary Care Trust care for a large number of patients at various sites through out the region. Following on from the good work that Guardhall have previously done FGH Security have just secured the complete supply of all security services to the trust. FGH Security will provide Security Guards and Key Holding services whilst FGH Guardhall will provide the electronic side of the operation including Alarm Monitoring and Alarm Response.
NHS Blackburn and Darwen Primary Care Trust
Currently we are providing for the security requirements of the new Birthing Pool Centre in Blackburn. The complete service includes Security Guarding, regular Mobile Patrols and CCTV monitoring for the complete site.
Motorpoint
Burnley We also provide Key Holding and Alarm Response services to Motorpoint in Burnley which is one of the regions largest new and used car retailers which has hundreds of cars on their forecourts.
Senator International
Accrington Senator are the larges manufacturer of office furniture in the UK. Taking over from where Guardhall left off we provide them with top quality Alarm Response, Key Holding and Security Guarding services.
ALARM MONITORING AND RESPONSE Wynsors Shoes
Bolton Lostock Skip Hire provide skips for both commercial and domestic use besides also offer a range of recycling facilities. Due to the nature of the goods kept on their site FGH Guardhall are currently in the process of installing a new top of the line CCTV system which they will then monitor once the site is closed at the end of the working day.
Blackburn FGH Security with its subsidiary company NPS were awarded the contract against nationally recognised companies to Enforce parking regulations and perform mobile patrols at five key council sites within Blackburn. FGH Security visit the sites at specific times each night, locking all the external entrances and exits. Once this has been done, a call would be placed to Northwest Parking Solutions, should any vehicles still be on the car parks within the sites. These vehicles are immobilised, and a release or call out fee charged.
Level One Nightclub
Accrington Lyon who is a old work colleague of John Halstead’s wanted to revitalise the night club scene in Accrington so he thought who better to look after his security arrangements FGH Guardhall.
CAR PARK MANAGEMENT Lancaster Football Club
Lancaster Northwest Parking Solutions has recently acquired the contract to manage the enforcement of parking regulations at Lancaster City Football Club in Lancaster. This is a large car park with around 50 spaces, which is open to permit holders during the week.
DOOR SUPERVISION
SECURITY GUARDING
Citrus Café Bar
Ramsbottom TNT is a global transport and distribution company which was originally one of Guardhall’s clients. Currently we provide a Security Guarding services to one of their the Head Offices which has a lot of TNT personnel and contains a range of key operational equipment. Responsibilities include the safe keeping of the site, doing regular patrols and ensuring that any enquiries are dealt with in a quick and timely manner.
Leeds A newly refurbished venue over three floors which is now owned and operated by the people that own the local award winning Salvos. Downstairs is a café, on the second floor is a bar specializing in world beers and the thirds floor is a mezzanine with a range of American pool tables. By all accounts their food, drink selection and service are becoming real selling points for the venue. Currently they are using FGH Door Supervisors through their busy evening periods on Thursday through to Sunday.
Chubb
Get it Loud in Libraries
TNT
WB Nelson Ltd
Blackburn NPS is now working in partnership with WB Nelson Ltd, a property development company based in Blackburn. Our first contract with WB Nelson is to manage the private car park, owned by WB Nelson on Preston New Road, Blackburn. This is a small size car park of around 12 – 15 spaces.
Block Property Management
Burnley After great success in both Lancaster and Morecambe the scheme, organised and managed by Stewart Parsons, has now started to run at the Burnley library. Get it loud in libraries gives people the opportunity to hear new bands in a unique and warm environment. The events have also been frequented by some more established and recognised bands that have heard about the events through NME and the wider music press and have asked if they could make special guest appearances. FGH Security currently caters for the security requirements of these events.
Blackburn FGH also currently provide a Security Guard for the electronics arm of Chubb at one of their sites close to Accrington. The guard provides a presence on site and performs reception duties. He has also recently prevented a break in and disturbed the thief before he could gain access to the premises.
UK Wide Since 1956 Wynsors World of Shoes has grown from a handful of shops and market stalls into a chain of over 40 stores averaging over 6500sq ft per store. FGH Guardhall currently provides for all of the alarm requirements of the company on a national basis and this includes maintenance and response.
6
Swinton & Wigan NPS acquired its 27th and 28th site in mid-April through its continued successful partnership with Block Property Management, which is one of the largest property development and land management businesses in the UK. Our sites in Swinton, Manchester and Wigan now mean NPS are operational across three different counties in the Northwest.
Riverside Lofts
Lancaster Continuing our work within the community, NPS has now been contracted to enforce residential parking regulations on River Street, St. Georges Quay. This contract was awarded by R.P Taylor (Chartered Surveyor) on behalf of the land owner.
7 11
1 4 10
5 2 3
9
4
8
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
15 | Staff
Staff Awards for 2009
O
n Sunday 24th of January numerous venues around Lancaster played host to the social event of the season, the FGH Christmas Party and Staff Awards. Always well attended, the event saw security staff from as diverse regions as Manchester, Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness joining together in the communal spirit of eating tapas, drinking beer and celebrating another year of hard work and achievement. The evening began in the salubrious surroundings of 1725, Lancaster’s premier venue for the provision of copious amounts of paella. The management of 1725 had been kind enough to produce a special menu of tapas based treats and, more particularly, all you can eat paella for FGH’s hard working frontline staff. The evening in general provided a great opportunity for staff who would never normally work together to meet up and socialise. It also provided an opportunity for those who would normally socialise to socialise more – you know who you are. The awards were presented by FGH Management into a hushed and nervous atmosphere at Bentleys, which had been kind enough to give us the whole venue to ourselves. As always tension was high, as was the standard of heckling. Last year’s perennial runner up, Nigel Brookes, proved the key culprit in this department. The awards themselves were well received by all, apart from Lee Brown who did not realise he’d won one at all due to the fact he was busy playing on the fruit machine at the time. After the tearful speeches from overjoyed winners the whole show was taken on the road with key moments including two Manchester door staff throwing beer over each other, ostensibly by accident, and also the official FGH contest for seeing who can eat the most crackers. On his victory in the Eating the Most Crackers Contest Dave Taylor commented “this is a very proud moment for me. I am officially the fattest in FGH.” In further news two staff members still do not know how they managed to make their girlfriends so angry, answers on a postcard please, but at least Chris Overton didn’t nearly get banned from the town centre this year. Roll on the staff awards 2010.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
Best Head Door Supervisor
Best Overall Door Supervisor
Dom is the Head Door Supervisor at The Deaf Institute, FGH’s biggest venue in the Manchester area. Dom has built a top class team around him and has successfully gained the respect of venue management, customer and colleagues.
Dave has worked on almost every venue FGH have around Barrow-in Furness, Kendal and Lancaster and has been successful everywhere he goes. Dave is currently an integral part of the weekend team at several venues across Barrow-in Furness.
Dominic O’Sullivan
Best Security Guard
Mark Lee
Mark has demonstrated consummate professionalism for the past year without a single lapse. He takes every opportunity to improve himself and, as such, has availed himself of several training options. Mark is well liked by his peers and is a cornerstone of the GM Fire Head Quarters security team.
Dave Corran
Staff | 16
Best Event Security Supervisor
Most Improved Staff Member
Working all the hours God sends? Not long enough says Ben. Over the summer festival period Ben proved an unparalleled member of staff as he took to regarding time off as something that happened to other people and took charge of teams over and over again to ensure FGH’s best summer yet.
Darren’s professional attitude and reliability across the guarding division this year have made him one of FGH’s most sought after security guards. Darren is always ready to work and has earned a particular commendation for covering several shifts at short notice.
Ben Knott Best Door Supervision Team
Bar 5
Bar 5 is part of the vibrant nightlife of Barrow-inFurness. Over the course of the year Danny Geere and Michael Kahli have built the door team into a well oiled machine, resulting in one of the smoothest running venues across the whole of Cumbria.
Darren Hinchliffe
Best New Starter
Loui Walton Having only started with the company midway through the year Loui enjoyed a meteoric rise to be made number two on the Lounge door team by Christmas. Loui has also worked at a number of other venues around Lancaster and is well liked by the management on all of them.
Staff Choice Awards
Cumbria (left)
Nathan Robinson Lancashire (centre)
Lee Brown & Dave Taylor
Manchester (right)
Dominic O’Sullivan Voted for by the staff who work in the area the award covers. They reflect the views of the staff on who they believe are the best amongst their peers in that year.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
17 | Industry News
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SIA NEWS FOR THIS QUARTER 01 - SABREWATCH LTD AND DIRECTORS SENTENCED AND FINED £215,000 01 MARCH 2010 Security company Sabrewatch and its directors have been ordered to pay total fines in excess of £215,000 for deploying unlicensed security operatives, despite being well aware of the law. Sabrewatch Limited was fined £140,000 at Southwark Crown Court on Friday the 26th Febuary, after being found guilty on on seven of nine sample counts - many other guards were unlawfully deployed around the country. Director and 94% shareholder Luke Lucas, 61, of Charters Towers, Felcourt Road, East Grinstead (the company address), was fined £70,000. Directors George Charalambous, 46, of South Lodge Drive, Oakwood, north London, and Anthony Hutchins, 46, of Stonehaven Drive, Woodley, Berkshire were fined £3,500 and £2,450 respectively. Lucas was well aware of his responsibility not to deploy unlicensed guards, had been advised by the SIA prior to the offence date that this would be unlawful, and yet was willing to break the law, presiding Judge Geoffrey Rivlin said. While accepting that Charalambous and Hutchins did not have the same level of involvement, Judge Rivlin said they had responsibilities as company directors, but were prepared to take a chance and risk in breaking the law.
02 - ACS FAST TRACK APPROVAL ROUTE WITHDRAWN 25 MARCH 2010 The SIA is to withdraw the Fast Track approval route to gaining Approved Contractor Status from 1 April 2010. Industry feedback received during the 2008 review of the ACS scheme was that Fast Track had served its purpose and should be withdrawn. Fast Track application was put in place to allow security contractors with certain existing approvals a Fast
Track first time entry route into ACS. After being available for four years in England and Wales, three years in Scotland and one year in Northern Ireland it is to be phased out. This will simplify the ACS application process and help to reduce the risk of nonconformance with the ACS standard.
03 - ACS REVIEW 2010 30 MARCH 2010 This year’s ACS review is now open, and the SIA is calling for views from Approved Contractors, non-ACS contractors and security buyers. The online survey forms part of the fourth annual ACS review, carried out to ensure that the Approved Contractor Scheme continues to serve the needs of security suppliers and buyers and to identify any ways in which it may be improved.
due to be appointed in coming weeks after which the board will have a total of six members.
05 - PUBLIC CONSULTATION LAUNCHED INTO SPECIALIST TRAINING FOR DOOR SUPERVISORS Plans to raise standards by introducing additional training for UK door supervisors has formed part of an ongoing Home Office consultation ending in May. The aim of the new proposals is to protect the public by raising standards of training across the industry. Additional training will include physical intervention, first aid, special considerations when dealing with young people and awareness of the threat of terrorism.
After collating and considering responses, the SIA plans to publish the results in the summer.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has already included the additional training elements as part of the new qualifications being introduced from June 2010.
04 - SIA BOARD MEMBERS 31 MARCH 2010
The 14-week public consultation proposes making the additional skills a requirement for existing door supervisors in the form of top-up training that must be taken before renewing their licence. This would also apply to those who have an existing qualification and want to apply for a licence for the first time.
Peter Dyke, Brendan O’Friel and Bruce Warman are to leave their posts as SIA board members on 1 April as their current terms come to end. Brendan and Bruce joined the board on 1 April 2003 with Peter joining on 1 November 2004. They were instrumental to the early days of SIA licensing and the development of the Approved Contractor Scheme. SIA Chairman Baroness Ruth Henig said: “Peter, Brendan and Bruce brought their experience and expertise to the SIA and have contributed immensely to the overall strategic direction of the organisation. I would like to thank them for all their hard work and commitment throughout the past seven years.” “I am delighted to announce that Robin Dahlberg has been re-appointed as Vice-Chairman.” The current SIA board consists of: Baroness Ruth Henig (Chairman), Robin Dahlberg (Vice-Chairman), Wendy Towers, Bill Matthews and Linda Sharpe. A further board member is
Bill Butler, SIA Chief Executive, said: “We welcome these proposals, many of which were suggested by the Industry. They understand the challenges faced by door supervisors and the skills needed to carry out their duties professionally, whilst protecting the public.We are encouraging those working in the door supervision sector, training providers and stakeholders to contribute to this important piece of work.” If the decision is made to implement the proposals, top-up training will be compulsory for all door supervisors from May 2011. The SIA will work with awarding bodies to ensure training is available from October 2010.
All of the stories above were sourced from http://www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Pages/about-news.aspx
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
Comapny Focus | 18
FGH Security Work in Practice
East Lancashire Primary Care Trust
T
he East Lancashire Primary Care Trust serves the residents of the five boroughs of Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale. It is made up of a variety of facilities from large Hospitals through to NHS Health Centres which, when combined, treat nearly three quarters of a million patients a year. For the past fourteen years, before being acquired by FGH Security, Guardhall had serviced the Trust’s Alarm Response and Key Holding requirements across a variety of sites, with an excellent track record, whilst its other security needs were catered for by a range of other providers. However towards the end of last year, as FGH Security was finalising the arrangements to take control of FGH Guardhall, we took part in a tender process ran by the North West Collaborative Commercial Agency (NWCCA) to identify a limited portfolio of security companies that could provide to the majority of the NHS Trusts in the region. The NWCCA itself is an award-winning collaborative purchasing agency. Over the past four years, they have helped NHS Trusts to achieve savings of more than £90 million which have been reinvested in enhanced patient care. Working together with NHS Trusts they seek to reduce costs and drive out waste and inefficiency. At the end of the tender process FGH won a place on their final supplier list for a range of different services which included; all manned services (Security Guarding, Mobile Patrols etc), Key Holding/Alarm Response and Alarm/CCTV monitoring. Now, from the 1st August, after meetings with representatives from the Trust FGH Security and FGH Guardhall will begin supplying more than thirty individual sites which compose the East Lancashire Primary Care Trust with a fully integrated service taking the best from each of FGH Security’s and FGH Guardhall’s key divisions and putting together a specialist package not just for each site but for the Trust as a whole. The service will be made up of handling all of their alarm requirements, from installation through to monitoring, and all of the Trust’s manned security requirements too. The trust has utilised almost all of the services we can offer which is of great benefit to the busy East Lancashire PCT Associate Director. On one site for instance our security solution involves providing out-ofhours Security Guards, randomly sequenced mobile security patrols throughout the day in addition to out of hours remote CCTV monitoring through the FGH Guardhall control room. John Halstead from FGH Guardhall commented, “That site in particular is an example of what we can now offer as a one-stop security provider. The Trust is paying less for a combination of manned and electronic services than it would pay to have a security guard on site all of the time but it is a much more robust security solution. Previously the client dealt with several security suppliers but now has one key point of contact within FGH which happens to be me.” “Besides providing the expected top quality service that FGH Security and FGH Guardhall are renowned for we are also looking to provide real added value like we have done with Morecambe Bay NHS Trust. Plus, we know we know we are going to provide real and noticeable financial efficiency savings straight from the word go,” said Peter Harrison, Managing Director. Dan Willis, FGH’s Security Guarding Manager, gave his views on the contract. He said “I’m really looking forward to working with East Lancashire PCT. They are a well respected organization and the challenge of working in multiple roles across multiple sites is something I’m really looking forward to.” Dan went on to specify that the Trust had enjoyed a good working relationship with Guardhall for a number of years already. He said “I wouldn’t be looking to change anything in areas where the partnership has worked so well in the past. I’m not here to fix things that aren’t broken. With the integration of FGH’s service offerings we will be looking to provide an even better service and also some new services in areas Guardhall had not been able to cover. I hope that we will be able to offer a complete package and provide the best quality solutions in order to enhance security provision across the whole spectrum. We expect to see our relationship go from strength to strength for many years to come.” More information on the NWCCA can be found at: http://www.nwcca.nhs.uk/default.aspx
…AND FINALLY FGH Security recently had its yearly Approved Contractor Audit carried out by the National Security Inspectorate and we’re pleased to announce that we have received SIA Approved Contractor Status for: Door Supervision, Security Guarding, Key Holding and Vehicle Immobilisation. That makes us the only company in the whole of the UK currently that can offer these four services under one roof.
Plus, with an overall score from the assessment of 61 our estimates show that this scores us amongst the top 15% of SIA Approved Contractors in the UK. FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
FGH Service Offerings Event Security From small live event through to festivals attracting tens of thousands of people FGH’s Event Security Team has the staff, structure and experience to cater for your actual needs. With a range of trained teams (Dogs, Search, Pit etc) you can work with industry specialists without paying a premium and have a security team who really help set the right tone of your event.
Retail Security FGH Retail Security can offer a range of benefits. As a core part of our service we have shown we can really help stop theft and make staff feel safe as they go about their daily duties. We creating an environment where people feel safe and secure.
Close Protection Specially trained close protection officers nationally and internationally experienced with a range of celebrities and high profile clients will ensure that you or your client couldn’t be in safer hands.
Door Supervisors Winning the Security Excellence Award for Best Practice in Door Supervision means that quite literally we provide the best Door Supervisors in the country. As you’d expect all our Door Supervisors are well presented and experienced professionals who can cater to the needs of any company or venue.
Security Guards Well presented and friendly officers to act as ambassadors for your company. Efficiency is their middle name and usually they are trained above and beyond the industry standard so you’re never simply getting a person in a high visibility jacket.
Alarm Installation and Maintenance Over 20 years experience with all systems imaginable from stand alone bell boxes through to multi sensor dual com systems. Free friendly advice given by reliable staff, not salesmen, comes as standard.
FGH SECURITY Ltd.
Staff // Clients // Community
G
UARDHALL SECURITY Ltd.
Alarms // CCTV // Access
Alarm Monitoring and Response 24 hour professional monitoring with proven excellent response times. Our Alarm Receiving Centre is accredited to NSI Gold Standard, the staff manning it have 10 years experience on average and we could be ready to monitor your site in less then 24 hours.
Car Park Management Three tier service packages tailored to all your parking needs. From signage to full immobilisation we’re your number one option. Our Car Park Management company is fully accredited by the British Parking Association and has fairness and ethics at the heart of its operation.
Keyholding With one of the most secure storage facilities in the region Fort Knox has nothing on us. Fully accredited by the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme you can rest assured that you’re getting a premier level of service that few other companies in the region can match.
CCTV Monitoring Fully trained operatives with years of experience ready to spot the needle in your haystack.
CCTV Installation Whatever your needs, we’ve got the system for you with free consultation and no hidden costs. Our CCTV staff have a wealth of experience so your system, besides being efficient, will be set up to produce quality images and evidence.
“I like the look of that...” For more information on the services listed here or our integrated packages offering the best from each division brought together just for you just get in touch; t:
01524 847 554
e: services@fghsecurity.co.uk w:
fghsecurity.co.uk