On the 23rd February 2023, Lodge Service were proudly represented at the OSPAS held at Lancaster Gate, London. With over 500 of the best in class security professionals in the room and hosted by Professor Martin Gill, the evening was awash with outstanding achievements and security performance.
For Lodge Service; Group Managing Director Darren Conway attended with Superintendent Patrick Holdaway and Seargent Paul Fagg from the National Business Crime Centre. Sadly Iona Blake; Security & Incident Manager for Boots, was unable to attend.
Darren, Iona and the NBCC, have over the last 12 months formulated and delivered many SaBA days. Safer Business Action (SaBA) Days is a joint approach by police, business, private security, Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRPs) and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) working in partnership to focus resources into a designated location to create a significant impact to reduce crime.
SaBA days are an opportunity to tackle the issues that are important in the community. The resources deployed may not only be police resources and can include teams from businesses and private security allowing a wider footprint of engagement to take place.
Through information sharing there is the opportunity to deter, detain, or identify, prolific offenders or ASB subjects and provide reassurance to the public and businesses.
SaBA Days are often combined with other engagement events such as property marking, neighbourhood watch, or personal safety to promote community safety and crime reduction.
The benefits enjoyed during a SaBA Day include:
The benefits continue beyond the day with lasting relationships and connections made between police, business, BCRPs/BIDs, and private security that may not have otherwise happened.
Due to the huge success of the SaBA days, Darren, Patrick and Iona were nominated in the Ospas 2023.
What are the OSPAs
The OSPAs provide an opportunity for security companies and individuals to be recognised and their success celebrated. They are independent and inclusive, providing an opportunity for everyone to be recognised for their achievements.
The OSPAs are set-up in collaboration with security associations and groups across many countries. This collaboration allows for a more comprehensive understanding of outstanding performance and help to ensure that the awards are truly reflective of the best in security research.
What were the categories for the 2023 UK OSPA Categories
- Outstanding In-House Security Manager/Director
- Outstanding Contract Security Manager/Director
- Outstanding Security Team
- Outstanding Contract Security Company (Guarding)
- Outstanding Security Consultant
- Outstanding Customer Service Initiative
- Outstanding Security Training Initiative
- Outstanding Security Installer/Integrator
- Outstanding Event Security Team
- Outstanding Security Partnership
- Outstanding New Security Product
- Outstanding Security Equipment Manufacturer
- Outstanding Security Officer
- Outstanding Young Security Professional
- Outstanding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative
- Outstanding Security Sustainability Award
- Lifetime Achievement
The Judging Process
Each judge has an expertise in an area of security or in working with some aspect of security. Judges are typically recommended by partner organisations working with the OSPAs and then independently reviewed by the OSPAs team. The judges mark all entries against the criteria set out in the category requirements (viewable on the ‘Enter’ pages) and the highest scoring entry following the judging will be the winner. Entries are assigned to judges as appropriate avoiding any known conflicts of interest. All judges follow a strict code of conduct which can be found below. The judges’ marks result in a list of finalists which is announced prior to the awards event, however the winner of each category will remain a secret until the awards are presented.
What Category did Darren Conway, NBCC and Iona Blake (Boots) enter:
This OSPA recognises a successful security partnership that delivers outstanding performance. ‘Partnerships’ is an over used word in security. Frequently partnerships are identified as crucial to good security but often may involve little more than collaboration, a very different thing. What is known is that effective partnerships are most often the result of good planning around identifiable objectives designed to deliver specific benefits, and are typically characterised by good management/co-ordination.
The Judges were looking for evidence of outstanding performance in:
The award ceremony
As the evening progressed and the category we were entered into was announced, my heart fluttered. ‘Outstanding Security Partnership’ I heard, then the compere read through 10 partnerships that had been shortlisted for this prestigious award.
As our names were called as winners, I now had to get up on stage in front of industry peers with Patrick and Paul, but missing my ‘partner in arms Iona. Never a nice moment, as butterflies kick in!!
However, I didn’t fall down the stairs or trip up which was a massive win.
On accepting the award with the NBCC team, it was also recognition of the hard work and commitment from the ‘Boots’ team, headed up by Iona Blake and also in remembrance of Darren Challand, who was instrumental in the operational delivery of the days.
There are far too many people to recognise in celebrating this achievement, however a few we could not have achieved what we have without them:
Alison Ashley – Account Director TSS
Alessandra Valencic – BCRP Manager – Safer Business Network
Heidi Laybourn – Intelligence and Partnerships manager Lodge Service
Ed Bland – Account Director – Mitie
So what next:
SaBA days are just the start, we have to collaborate more in our industry and we have to break down some of the barriers of information sharing. In addition, we must raise the profile and quality of security service delivery in the UK, through our Elite Guarding Model, BID Wardens and partnerships, this will continue to be at the forefront of what Lodge Service provide.