GES becomes ESSA Accredited

GES has become the first member of UK trade association ESSA to achieve its new accreditation scheme.

ESSA Accredited is a quality assurance programme launched by the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA) in November 2019, and GES has just been awarded the status.

GES, a global full-service provider for live events, is committed to ‘achieving the health and safety benchmarks set out by ESSA’ as they demonstrate ‘it is operating and managing systems to agreed industry standards’.

The ambition of the new accreditation is to ‘challenge the [events] industry as well as drive the industry into a new era of demonstrable professionalism’. It aims to give both event organisers and venues peace of mind that ‘only the highest standards of health and safety processes are met’ when they choose to work with a member of ESSA.

Head of health and safety at GES, Paul Ormsby, said: “At GES we are always challenging ourselves to ensure we are leaders in safety practices. In 2019, we were the first events business to secure the new international ISO 45001 accreditation for health and safety – 18 months ahead of the deadline and are proud to follow this achievement with the new accolade from ESSA.

ESSA director, Andrew Harrison, added:The ESSA Accredited standard is great for the members and the wider industry; and something we hope to see our contractors and partners adhere to going forward.

“When we launched the accreditation, we knew that there was great deal of interest from members looking to achieve it. It is no small feat that GES has met the requirements quickly.”