The Event Services Association

Showsec has raised the bar by achieving a record-breaking rating in the Security Industry Authority’s ‘Approved Contractor Scheme’ for an eighth successive year. A rigorous three-day assessment of the company’s operation resulted in the award of an impressive score of 132, putting them in the top five per cent of security companies in the United Kingdom. The Approved Contractor Scheme for Door Supervision and Security Guarding praised all aspects of Showsec’s set-up, highlighting as good practice the way training modules, the e-learning platform and senior management support help to stimulate career development and progression.

“This assessment provides a good benchmark of how the company progresses year-on-year, so it is extremely satisfying for everyone that we have achieved our highest-ever score yet again – the eighth year in a row we have done so,” commented Mark Harding, Showsec’s Managing Director.

“ACS is a recognised hallmark of quality for companies looking to engage security providers. To be up there in the top five per cent of over 650 companies is an achievement we should all be immensely proud of. “Showsec delivers 97% of its business through its own staff. Our clients can be assured therefore that the standards achieved through ACS are directly reflected in the product which we deliver to them. “We were one of the first companies to adopt the ACS scheme upon its introduction because we were committed to encouraging and driving the raising of standards across the wider security industry.”

He added: “This excellent result will certainly give added impetus to the dedicated efforts of so many people within the company and that can only boost our attempts to keep pushing that bar even higher. “We have consistently done that over the past eight years, which is very pleasing, but there is always room for improvement and we will be endeavouring to do that with our ongoing initiatives aimed at raising standards. This is especially important with the introduction of business licensing in 2015.” Harding has a dual interest in Showsec being at the forefront of a co-ordinated path of progression in the industry. As well as his role with the company, he sits on the Strategy and Standards Advisory Board for the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association which addresses challenges faced by security companies. The ACS assessment covered all elements of the business over the three days and the findings of that inspection were reached after interviews with staff at all levels and also representatives of their clients.

Showsec scored particularly highly in three out of the nine categories – strategy, financial management and leadership –while performing strongly in all other areas to ensure there was a rise in their rating.