Training day at Beau Séjour, with emergency exercise planned for staff

Tuesday 10 July 2018

Beau Séjour will close early today so all staff can be put through their paces with an emergency exercise testing their response skills.

The leisure centre will close at 12:00 so the annual emergency training day can be held. It will not reopen until 06:30 Wednesday 11 July.

This training session comes less than a week after Beau Sejour and the surrounding leisure facilities were evacuated following a bomb hoax. The training session was already planned when that incident happened last week and Express was told the training was going ahead as planned today.

A spokesman for Sport and Culture in Guernsey said; "there are always learning oppotunitied to be found in any situation that happens at the Centre, and we always review these situations after they have occurred to make sure we learn from them.

"Once the Centre is evacuated it will always be a case of following the guidance of the emergency response team."

Pictured: An Express report following the bomb hoax. A woman in her 30s who was arrested after the bomb hoax was released without charge, while a 17 year old boy has been referred to the Childrens' Convenor. 

Previous training sessions have been held at the leisure centre, with the annual events ensuring staff know what to do if a real emergency situation occurs. The Sport and Culture spokesman said; "this year's emergency training day will focus on teamwork, and how we work together in emergency situations."

He added that the training day will involve all staff, who usually work across three separate shift patterns. 

"The training day involves all three of the shifts as well as staff in other areas. 

"As the centre is open from 06:30 to 23:00 not all staff are always on shift when a situation happens in real life, therefore it is essential all staff get the opportunity to participate in training that will allow them opportunities to gain experience and to learn from each other.

"The training day is held in the summer to help minimise any disruption as it is our quitest time.

"The training day is set up to cover a variety of situations and skills for the staff."

Anyone wanting to use the facilities at Beau Sejour must vacate the premises by midday. It will reopen to the public at 06:30 Wednesday 11 July.