Utilita Arena Sheffield hires specialist dog protection teams to keep venue safe

Utilita Arena Sheffield is working with Global Support Services to provide an additional layer of safety and reassurance to consumers as part of a comprehensive set of safety procedures.

Dogs have a sense of smell up 100,000 times more sensitive than humans and the presence of canine protection teams with strong sensory powers often has a positive effect on anti-social behaviour and crime.

The introduction of specialist canine teams is part of a wide range of measures in place at the Arena to keep customers safe when attending live events at the venue.

GSS are planning to allocate QR coded tags to each working dog as part of a customer engagement initiative.

The QR code will allow customers to find out more about each dog and gain more of an understanding about their role at Utilita Arena Sheffield.

‘Safety our is our top priority’

Dom Stokes, Head of Live Events and Venues at Sheffield City Trust as well as general manager at the Arena said: “The safety and welfare of all our guests, promoters, acts and partners is our top priority.

“Quite simply this will give all our stakeholders total confidence in what we do. We were recommended GSS by our principal security provider, as the partner of choice and experts for specialist dog teams in our sector.

“This is another aspect to our comprehensive risk assessment process. We have found GSS to be responsive to our needs, passionate and consummately professional.

“Most of all, they’re a great bunch of people to work alongside and in a short space of time, have fully integrated into our protective security platform here at the arena.”

Dave Pitt, GSS Specialist Services Director, said: “Due to the changes in the threat picture and customers seeking safety and reassurance along every step of their entertainment experience, the transactional days of ‘dial-a-dog’ are over.

“The team at Sheffield Arena works with us proactively on the identification of risk and values our recommendations on the appropriate, measured allocation of resources to mitigate those risks.”

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