Introduction
This document outlines the rationale and framework for the development of an environmental health volunteer programme to support public protection in the Olympic Park, other venues and surrounding areas. The programme is being proposed partly in response to capacity pressures of local environmental health services meeting the public protection priorities for London 2012. The focus for the volunteer programme is the need for an instant response and audit team within the Olympic Park and other key venues and to support public and environmental health around venues and visitor/transport hubs.
Since London was selected to host the Olympics/Paralympics in 2012, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has been working closely with the London Host boroughs through the Joint Local Authority Regulatory Services unit (JLARS) which is responsible for managing the regulation of environmental health across the Olympic Park. In the early days of planning it was envisaged that there would be a pool of expert and experienced individuals that could come together to form a professional resource that could be used to support London 2012 project development and implementation in the lead up to and during Games time. In the last two years it has become apparent that there will be restricted funding available to maintain such a resource and that any staffing provision will need to be specifically planned for within the host authorities, neighbouring authorities and service delivery agencies. The CIEH and JLARS are now proposing a specific programme for supporting a professional volunteer pool.
Environmental Health response
The recognised risks to public health from the large numbers of people congregating in the same place and time mean that public health planning is a high priority. The environmental health volunteer programme will provide additional capacity for LOCOG and local authorities to respond to the intensity of public protection demands created by the numbers of visitors and the intensity of the time scale of the Games. The increased risks from mass gatherings have been well documented in previous Games and have been supported by intensive audit and response systems throughout the venues and localities.
In London, capacity reviews during 2010 within host and neighbouring authorities, aimed to identify additional demands on local services and have highlighted the fact that many local authorities will have limited resources and capacity to support the additional impact that London 2012 will bring.
Steve Miller Head of JLARS is leading a team that is in close liaison with both the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG). The regulatory challenges that exist for managing the Games in 2012 include crowd/public safety, security, food safety and alcohol consumption. The capacity to deal effectively with these challenges has led to the exploration of shared resources and the potential for a professional volunteer programme.
This proposal is being developed jointly between JLARS and CIEH and in collaboration with LOCOG.
The environmental health volunteer programme
Environmental health’s responsibility covers a wide range of functions in relation to the public health and safety risks and therefore any volunteer programme can effectively cover a range of responsibilities.
In terms of location, the proposed volunteer programme can be split into two sectors:
- Within Olympic Park and venues - Environmental Health Team (Food Safety)
Working with LOCOG within the main competition venues the Environmental Health Team will focus on preventative and advisory audits as well as being an essential incident response team to deal with any incident or other identified public health risk.
Critical areas that will be addressed by the team include: - Audit and checks of all catering units including advice and problem solving for the contractors on site
- Audit and checks of health and safety and environmental public health risks (including water quality and pest management )
- General support and advisory role to LOCOG and to staff/volunteer workforce within the venues
- Food incident management
- Communicable disease/public health incident
- Environmental incident management
- Support for other incident and crowd/public safety management
The team would work collaboratively with other government agencies such as the FSA, HPA and HSE.
- Outside of venues
The volunteer programme could also offer a bank of professional officers who are available for secondments to provide additional support to local authorities hosting venues or key visitor/transport hubs. Secondments/volunteer support positions could be advertised directly to this group through the CIEH volunteer programme. These opportunities may also be taken up within the private sector as the demands on the consumer and visitor markets will also intensify leading up to and particularly during Games time. The role of the CIEH would be to signpost potential professional officers to vacancies and opportunities that arise.
Environmental Health Team (Food safety)- within Olympic Park and other LOCOG competition venues
The Environmental Health Team will work directly for LOCOG but be overseen and supported by JLARS and the CIEH.
The team will need to be in post leading up to the opening ceremony as part of the preparation phase for opening and then remain responsive 24/7 during Games time. However, there will be some opportunities for volunteers from January 2012 particularly to support the test events. Volunteers will be rostered according to venue need and their availability.
The team will be working predominantly within the following venues and domains:
London LOCOG competition venues:
LOCOG competition venues outside of London:
- Hadleigh Farm, Essex 16th July to 15th August (O)
- Lee Valley, Hertfordshire 15th July to 6th August (O)
- Eton Dorney, Buckinghamshire 15th June to 6th September (O+P)
- Royal Holloway College, Egham (Rowing Village)
- 9th July to 9th September (O+P)
- Weymouth 9th July to 9th September (O+P)
Football stadia:
Hampden Park, Glasgow 25th July to 7th August (O)
St James Park, Newcastle 26th July to 4th August (O)
Old Trafford, Manchester 26th July to 7th August (O)
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 25th July to 10th August (O)
O = Olympics
P = Paralympics
The team’s accreditation by LOCOG will be linked to venues and determined on a risk based priority assessment.
The volunteer team will be managed/ overseen by the LOCOG Environmental Health Team Manager. As a fixed term contract the volunteer will be required to participate in the LOCOG induction programme. Job descriptions and person specifications will be provided and will establish clear competency requirements. The volunteers will work for LOCOG.
In certain venues shift work will be necessary where there are intensive activities and this may mean working unsociable hours. To cover these shift requirements and to provide staff cover it is proposed that a pool of 100-150 volunteers is contracted. Specific environmental health teams will be allocated to venues to help reduce travelling challenges.
There will need to be full LOCOG induction programme, operational and consistency training for the volunteer team. The Team members will be provided with workforce refreshments and all necessary equipment to undertake the role. It is anticipated to also provide travel to the venues during peak hours.
Accommodation for those volunteers recruited living outside of London and venue host authorities will be a challenge. Anyone committed to volunteering should first seek to secure accommodation with friends and family living within commutable distance. JLARS/CIEH will seek to find accommodation within the environmental health network in London.
Advertisement for the positions will be undertaken by CIEH and JLARS.
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