RoSPA and Parkwood Leisure working together on safety management

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has linked up with one of the UK’s leading leisure management companies, Parkwood Leisure, to help maintain and enhance its health and safety practices.

The new two-year agreement will see RoSPA, a 97-year-old safety charity, deliver specialist health and safety services for Parkwood Leisure. As leaders in influencing safety standards and codes of practice, and in promoting appropriate approaches to safety management, RoSPA consultants will help Parkwood Leisure to increase staff knowledge and understanding of leisure safety risks, from those in customer-facing roles right up to directors and senior managers.

In a bid to ensure best practice and legislative requirements are met, RoSPA will review Parkwood Leisure’s current policies and conduct a health and safety audit of 15 sites. The overall aim is to support Parkwood Leisure by further strengthening its existing safety management procedures. RoSPA’s state-of-the-art online safety auditing software will also be installed in 15 of the company’s sites.

Additionally, all of Parkwood Leisure’s 84 sites will become RoSPA leisure safety members, and will benefit from expert advice via a dedicated helpline, and access to the RoSPA Infocentre – a unique collection of more than 28,500 accident prevention resources. The company’s centres will also be able to keep up-to-date with the most recent changes in the leisure sector by receiving a copy of RoSPA’s digital Leisure Safety journal every three months.

David Rushton, head of education and leisure at RoSPA, said: “We are delighted to be working with Parkwood Leisure. The company is showing a genuine commitment to the safety of its customers and staff. RoSPA’s breadth of experience is unparalleled in the leisure safety sector and it is this knowledge and expertise which will help Parkwood Leisure as it seeks to invest in safety and risk management for the long term.

“With RoSPA’s help and guidance, Parkwood Leisure will strengthen the foundations of its safety management by actively involving staff in health, safety and welfare procedures and by identifying potential safety hazards.”

Darren Parrot, assistant regional director at Parkwood Leisure, said: “Health and safety has always been a key priority for Parkwood Leisure and our partnership with RoSPA will enable us to build on the work we do already and ensure that all our sites follow best practice approaches.”

RoSPA is a registered charity with a mission to “save lives and reduce injuries” and has been at the forefront of accident prevention for nearly a century. To find out more about RoSPA’s leisure safety work, visit www.rospa.com/leisuresafety.

Parkwood Leisure is one of the country’s leading leisure management contractors operating 84 leisure and cultural facilities on behalf of 27 local authority clients and employing over 4,500 staff. The company’s experience includes the management of 50 metre international swimming pools, fitness gyms, to theatres and conference venues. For more information, visit www.leisurecentre.com/Aboutus.aspx.