POINTING THE WAY TO WORK PERMITS

The UK Border Agency has recently been introducing  a new points-based system for people who want to come to the United Kingdom to work. This system replaces most of the existing work-based categories; and has the potential to cause employment problems - if not staff shortages - in the live events industry.  Here, Mark Sly, operations director of leading crewing company Pinnacle Crew, explains the effects of this change.

 The UK live events industry has always relied heavily on freelance and temporary staff, some of whom are from countries like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  This is especially true of the crewing side of the industry; but with changes to work permit regulations, clients need to ensure that they are working with a crewing company that is fully aware of these changes and is employing its staff legally.  

From our perspective, one of the key changes has been the replacement of the “working holidaymakers” visa with the Youth Mobility scheme.  This is a points-based scheme that requires applicants to acquire sufficient points to gain leave to enter the UK.  Points are given for age (18 years to 30 years), whether applicants have at least £1,600 to maintain themselves, and whether the applicant’s own country participates in the scheme.

There are only four countries participating in the Youth Mobility scheme - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.

Crucially, this means that South Africans - who historically have provided a large proportion of crewing staff - are now restricted in the ways in which they can gain a permit to work as crew in the UK.

The main method is having a grandparent born in the UK, which will qualify a South African citizen for what is called an “ancestral visa”. This is a five-year visa that allows the holder to take up employment in the UK. 

Secondly, a person having a father who is a British citizen immediately qualifies for British citizenship and may therefore work in the UK.  Those with a British mother, however, currently only have the right to register as a British citizen if they were born between 7 February 1961 amd 1 January 1983.

Of course, there are different rules for citizens from the European Economic Area (EEA), which comprises the EU plus the non-EU countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.  An EEA national who will be in the UK for more than three months will have a right of residence for as long as they remain a “qualified person” - one who is in the UK and exercising an EEA Treaty right by showing evidence as a job-seeker or worker.

Exceptions to this rule apply to Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, whose nationals need to register under the Worker Registration Scheme.

Similarly, Bulgarian and Romanian nationals need permission to work before starting any job.

In contrast, Swiss nationals have the same rights as those enjoyed by EEA nationals.

Employers have a statutory responsibility to ensure that all of their migrant employees  are eligible to work in capacity for which they are being employed, and it is easy to see how some fall foul of the law. 

Close on-going monitoring of migration and  work permit guidelines should be a priority to provide clients with complete trust in employment practices. 

Without this close monitoring there is a critical danger that illegal workers will be employed - even unintentionally - in the live events industry.  This can well result in insurance and public liability cover being rendered null and void. Clients should be able to trust their suppliers to provide a service that covers this legal minefield.

For example, we have implemented a computer-based system that integrates each new crew member’s passport identity and work permit expiry dates with their corresponding embassy’s.  In fact, it is our policy to end contracts with our staff once their work permits have expired.

We all have a responsibility to make the industry as professional and as safe as possible; and placing this emphasis on working within the immigration laws is one important facet in achieving this.

A version of this article was published in the March 2010 issue of Access All Areas www.access-aa.co.uk

Leading crewing company, Pinnacle Crew, has become one of the latest organisations to offer the new safety passport course for the live events industry.

Making the announcement at the Event Production Show, Pinnacle’s managing director Heath Freeman said:

“This is an important development in the live events industry.  By introducing an industry-wide safety scheme we can raise awareness of our serious approach to health and safety.  In addition, the Health and Safety Executive is looking to reduce the incidences of accidents in our sector; and this scheme will be recognised by all the relevant authorities.”

Working with the Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) Ltd - a leading health and safety passport body - Pinnacle will now be offering the one-day course specifically designed for the general workforce in the events industry.  General crew, production workers, stage hands, lighting and sound crew, stage and set builders, backline technicians, electricians, safety stewards, drivers, riggers, laser and pyrotechnic technicians, and video and production crew, can all benefit from the increased knowledge of how on-site safety is managed, the common hazards faced and how they can be best avoided.

As well as offering the course throughout the industry, Pinnacle will be delivering it as standard to all its own crew.

Specifically, the course covers six modules comprising organising for safety; workplace safety  which cover occupational law, employer and employee responsibilities, risk assessment and a safe place of work; plants and machinery;  health  covering work equipment, electricity, noise, transport, hazardous substances, manual handling and stress; and procedures and the environment which together cover safe systems of work, emergency procedures, fire, accidents, pollution prevention and environmental responsibilities.   The entire course will be delivered by fully qualified British Safety Council trainers.

Successful trainees will be provided with a robust plastic photo card, valid for three years.  This Safety Passport scheme, which has been in place in other industries for many years, means that clients can be assured that they are appointing competent contractors and freelancers who are aware of their health and safety duties and responsibilities.  In fact, all Passport details are held on a central database that may be interrogated by client companies.

As Heath Freeman said:

“The Safety Passport concept is simple.  It helps establish a safety culture by providing a nationally recognised standard of health and safety training and assessment that is cost-effective, easily accessible, tests knowledge and caters for a specific industry sector.  It is a very easy way for people who move from one contract or company to another to prove to employers that they have received basic training, and therefore saves time and money in unnecessary induction training.”

Press enquiries; please contact:                                                          January 2010

Jonquil Simons, The Simons Partnership

Tel: 01323 469200   email: jonquilsimons@aol.com

Notes to editors

Pinnacle Crew may be seen on stand 324 at the Event Production Show.

Pinnacle Crew’s managing director, Heath Freeman (second right) and his team mates with the award for the Fastest Channel Swim of 2009, presented by the Channel Swimming Association.

The four-man relay team, known as Marlow River Buoys, swam the English Channel in September from Dover to Cap Gris Nez near Calais.  They raised £4000 for two charities - CLIC Sargent (Helping Children with Cancer) and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

Explaining their winning of the Award, Freeman, who did the last leg of the swim and took the team to its goal of landing on the French coast at Cap Gris Nez, says:

 “The distance of the swim is 22-miles as the crow flies, but due to the currents and winds on the day we actually swam 29 miles, completing the crossing in 9 hours and 29 minutes.”

As well as discussing the company’s fully managed crewing service, visitors to Pinnacle Crew’s stand (no: 324) at the Event Production Show will have the opportunity to support a worthwhile cause. 

The company will be launching its long-term support for children’s hospice, Naomi House, at the show, and will be highlighting the various ways it is helping the charity.

Pinnacle has committed a monthly donation to help the tremendous work being carried out at Naomi House.  Furthermore, the company is using its professional contacts and expertise to help with fund raising events. 

The company is also nominating one working day when all crew and other staff will work at least one shift with the total income from that day going to Naomi House; and in the future a percentage of Pinnacle’s income from every event it works on will go to the hospice. 

There are also plans for Pinnacle to enter a team into a long endurance cycle challenge.  Suppliers, clients and friends of the company will be invited to sponsor the team, with all proceeds going to Naomi House.

Visitors to the Pinnacle stand at the Event Production Show will be able to make a donation to the hospice, which provides respite and terminal care and bereavement support in the Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Wiltshire and parts of West Sussex and Surrey to children with life threatening conditions and their families.

Commenting on Pinnacle’s support for Naomi House, Helen Lovell, the hospice’s corporate fundraiser, says:

“It costs more than £2.5-million a year for Naomi House to  provide support to children with life limiting conditions and their families.  With just 10 per cent of our funding coming from the Government, the hospice is dependent on the generous support of people like the team at Pinnacle Crew.  In addition, Pinnacle’s support will be invaluable to helping us reach our target of £12million to build equip and run jacksplace, the new hospice for teenagers and young adults suffering from life limiting conditions.”

Picture shows one of the children at Naomi House taking part in music therapy.

The long-term effect of price cutting is becoming the elephant in the event industry.  Pinnacle managing director Heath Freeman summed it up when he said: “Customers are no longer asking ‘what price can you give me?’ - they’re asking ‘what price can you give me in the current climate?’”

Often claimed to be a baromter for the state of the event industry, the staffing sector is…worth casting an eye over.  Pinnacle’s Freeman says his (crewing) sector has taken a substantial hit over the past year: “We have been squeezed to the minimum and it is not currently sustainable in the long term - we are having to use less resources to get the same job done.  There is pressure to cut prices, but it’s a slippery slope and we must stay realistic.  After the turnaround, prices will have to go up.”

Freeman says that he will need to convince companies that you get what you pay for when it comes to crewing, and that his profit is reinvested.  “I don’t think any crewing companies are in the business of ripping people off,” he says.  “We offer a very simple service.  However, I see some start-ups offering low prices, and I know that they can’t be putting in the right training.

“Businesses are starting to realise the value of using a good staffing company.  We have people who have been trained to undertake a wide range of jobs, which means that we can afford to take fewer people to a job and get the same work done,” he adds.

It seems quality still holds value in these tough economic times, but the long-term effects of customers demanding added value and low costs are far from decided.

To read a full version of this feature go to: www.eventmagazine.co.uk

In these economic times, expectations of suppliers at public events are steadily rising.  Everyone is expecting value for money, hiring fewer crew and lead times are getting shorter.  But, I believe there are factors that clients can look for in suppliers that show that they operate professionally, go that extra mile and meet expectations.

At Pinnacle we never forget that clients are paying for a managed service and should not have to spend time chasing crew to get the job done.  Crew therefore need to be self-motivated, and team leaders should be professional and trained in how to lead an effective crew.

We have learnt that it all starts with the process of interviewing prospective crew members.  We find that putting together a successful crewing team is as much about personality, self-belief and pride, as anything else. 

Of course, crew have to have a willingness to learn.  As well as the obvious health and safety training, crew must understand what clients expect of them.  At Pinnacle we achieve this by working with clients to provide training into the various disciplines - such as staging, lighting, AV, power - that are encountered at public events.  This enables clients to rely on crew to do so much more than merely carry heavy kit.

In addition, regular client contact and feedback should form part of crew evaluation.  We organise on-site management visits and have account managers who constantly keep in touch with their clients.

Taken together, the result of proper training and client feedback is consistency of crew quality, and client confidence that even when things go wrong the crewing company will come up trumps every time.  

Heath Freeman

Managing Director

Pinnacle Crew

For full version of this feature go to www.eventmagazine.co.uk

These days everyone in our industry is looking at costs.  But what if there were a way to save money without compromising efficiency?  Heath Freeman, managing director of Pinnacle Crew believes there is - indeed that efficiency can even be improved - by using on-site crews to their full potential.

_____________________________________________________________________

What I’m about to suggest won’t cost you a penny, and could have a real impact on productivity on-site.  I would go even further and suggest it can actually save you money.  It is nothing that we don’t all already know.  It is just something that slips by the wayside when we are pressurised and deadlines are looming.  It’s the creation of a true team, working with the same objectives in mind.  

In any walk of life, the key to building a successful team is the knowledge of what the team is trying to achieve and how it is going to reach this goal.

Applied to our industry, this principle of creating a unified goal-orientated team requires the proper integration of the production team and outside crew.

If this integration is achieved, then my experience is that the crew will work harder, and are more willing to go the extra mile for clients because they feel they are doing a job that is important and valued.

Most importantly, the client will save time in the long run - remember crew are paid by the hour and the more responsibility they are given, the less they will require instructions on site.

We have proved this with many clients, who now send fewer - extremely expensive - production staff on site, since they know our crew can take responsibility and see a task or event through to completion.

Underlining that, our experience has also shown that crew are not always used to their full potential.  It should be remembered that crew are a resource, and, if used correctly, a very valuable resource.

Crews work on hundreds of jobs in a year.  This means that they have a unique insight into operations on-site as they have seen numerous and perhaps similar jobs executed in a variety of ways.    In addition, crew come from many different backgrounds.  We have plumbers, electricians, chippies, firemen and engineers working for us.  They have a wealth of knowledge that may be useful at no additional cost.

But before this situation can be reached, I believe there are three they key steps that need to be taken at every event.

First, introduce crew to all personnel and decision makers on site.  This can save time during the job since the crew will know exactly who to speak to when something unexpected happens or they need advice.

Secondly, the crew should receive a good briefing. This may seem obvious, but how can the crew possibly appreciate what the client is trying to achieve without knowledge?  A short, detailed briefing means that the crew know exactly what is expected of them and what the deadlines are. Time spent at this stage will save time in the long run by empowering crew and encouraging them to take responsibility.

The third factor that can be very valuable is a familiarization walk through of the venue.  This will highlight such things as potential health and safety hazards, and access routes where crew may even be able to suggest alternatives since it is very likely that they have worked at this venue before and have found better or more efficient methods.

And efficiency is what it is all about.  Nobody can deny that our industry is suffering from the credit crunch.  But if we can all work more efficiently, and cost-efficiently, using everyone on the team to their full potential, then I believe the industry will not only survive, but be ready to prosper when times get better.

I was delighted to see my comments relating to how tight deadlines in our industry prevent improvements in health and safety in your Health and Safety feature.

Explaining that more fully, I would like to add that in an ideal world, improvements in health and safety could be achieved by the entire chain of suppliers that make up an event team getting together to do an on site visit well before the job.  This would ensure that all health and safety protocols are in place.  However, as one supplier within this large chain of suppliers, we realize that this is not always possible due to time constraints and budgets. 

My solution to these difficulties is therefore drawn from the real world.  Realistically, it should be possible for all suppliers, together with the venue management or production team, to do a short but detailed walk around the venue just 10 minutes prior to the start of the job to identify potential health and safety hazards.  I believe this would be a true attempt to take health and safety issues and the risks we all face seriously.

Health and safety is all our responsibility, so with a more integrated and hands on approach I believe we can all work together to create a safer site.

Heath Freeman

Managing Director

Pinnacle Crew

Pinnacle Crew’s managing director, Heath Freeman took a big plunge on September 27 with a Channel Swimming Association accredited swim.

As part of a four-man relay team called The Marlow River Buoys, he swam the English Channel from Dover to Cap Gris Nez near Calais.  The team raised £3000 for two charities - CLIC Sargent (Helping Children with Cancer) and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

The exact date of the swim was not known until the actual day as it depended on currents and weather conditions.

Freeman, who did the last leg of the swim and took the team to its goal of landing on the French coast at Cap Gris Nez, explains:

“We were incredibly lucky as the weather on September 27 was fantastic.

“The distance of the swim is 22-miles as the crow flies, but due to the currents and winds on the day we actually swam 29 miles, completing the crossing in 9 hours and 29 minutes.”

This unofficial time makes the swim the fastest in the last three years.  Once confirmed, and if no other team completes a faster swim in 2009, the team will be presented with an award by the Channel Swimming Association for the Fastest Channel Swim of 2009.

Picture (below) shows Heath Freeman (second right) with his team mates from The Marlow River Buoys.

Press enquiries; please contact:                                                          October 2009

Jonquil Simons, The Simons Partnership

Tel: 07860 466959   email: jonquilsimons@aol.com

With up to 60 personnel working at any one time, Pinnacle Crew recently provided an essential service for the fourth consecutive year towards the smooth running of the five-day Country Living Magazine Christmas Fair, held at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

Central to Pinnacle’s role in the Fair, was its handling of the challenging de-rig. The company had three-and-a-half hours to pull out all 400 exhibitors. This was achieved by having 60 crew on site, divided into teams with four team leaders – an overall co-ordinator in the loading bay and three leaders on each floor. With the team leaders in radio contact, they were able to work together with the show’s production manager and meet new requirements as they arose, moving crew around the venue on demand.

Explains Pinnacle’s managing director Heath Freeman:

“We had to have well-organised crew that remained calm and met the requirements of both the organisers and exhibitors. Key to this was our ability constantly to evaluate the de-rig operation, and be aware that if areas were falling behind schedule, manpower had to be reassigned to those areas. As always, however, we got all of the exhibitors out of the venue in time.”

Paying tribute to Pinnacle, Fiona Abbotts of the Fair’s organising team says:

“Pinnacle Crew always provides us with excellent service on these Fairs. They remain calm and collected throughout the job, and work well both with us as the organisers and with our exhibitors. To see what is involved in the de-rig one would not think it was possible to achieve what Pinnacle does in such a short space of time.”

In addition to the de-rig, Pinnacle worked on the Fair for five days before the opening with crew on hand to assist the organisers and exhibitors to set up the show. This included installing a 25-foot high Christmas tree on the mezzanine level. As Heath Freeman says:

“This is always particularly difficult as we need to take care not to damage either the tree or the venue. Numerous other Christmas trees also have to be brought in and set up. Overall, our work on this show is very varied and our crew need to be on hand, willing and able to get involved in anything that needs to be done.”

This includes laying carpet, setting up the exhibitors’ storage area and helping exhibitors get all their products into the venue and on to their stands.

Pinnacle has been involved with the Country Living Magazine Fairs for the past four years, and has provided crew for four Christmas and four Spring Fairs.

Adds Heath Freeman:

“We really enjoy working with Upper Street Events. The company understands the on-site operation carried out by our crew and the pressures they are under at these Fairs.”

-ends-

Press enquiries; please contact:
Jonquil Simons, The Simons Partnership
Tel: 01643 708843 email: jonquilsimons@aol.com

Notes to editors

About Pinnacle
Pinnacle Crew (formerly Pinnicle Solutions) was founded in 2001 by Heath Freeman and Mark Mower following several years experience in the live events industry. They saw a gap in the market for crew who could multi-task and bridge the gap between those crews who purely carry equipment, and technicians. This means that Pinnacle crew are more technically aware than many other crews in the industry. The company also puts a great emphasis on health and safety, ensuring that all their crew are fully trained and familiar with typical scenarios and equipment.

About the Country Living Magazine Christmas Fair
Taking place annually at Business Design Centre in Islington over four days in November, the Country Living Magazine Christmas Fair attracts more than 400 exhibitors from all over the UK showcasing their unique products and providing visitors with the opportunity to do all their Christmas shopping under one roof.