London Stadium hosted a ‘major incident’ exercise in collaboration with emergency services partners this week.
The exercise involved security staff as well as colleagues from numerous ‘blue light’ services.
The Metropolitan Police have been working closely with football clubs and large event venues across London conducting a series of ‘Command Post’ exercises. Each exercise is tailored specifically to immerse those taking part in real-time scenarios and test how emergency services personnel and commanders respond to differing spontaneous major incidents.
The day involved a morning and afternoon session where two scenarios were played out.
Peter Swordy, Director of Health, Safety and Compliance at London Stadium, said: “The major incident training exercise gave our staff an opportunity to interact with the emergency services, gaining insights into best practices for incident management and response.
The exercise was a huge success which is also credit to the continuous work carried out behind the scenes, in preparation for all major events at the stadium.”
Chief superintendent Kris Wright, from the Metropolitan Police, who is the exercise director added: “I’m delighted we’ve been able to work with the London Stadium as part of our ongoing efforts to make sure we’re prepared to respond to a variety of incidents, including scenarios resembling terrorist incidents.
“We have visited a number of London football clubs and large sports venues in recent months to hold training exercises. This kind of work is vital to ensure the officers and staff involved can practice in a safe way, building their capability and experience so that, if anything happens for real, they are prepared to respond in the best possible way.
“This is ultimately about keeping people as safe as possible when they come to big events across London and it’s fantastic to see the London Stadium making the safety of their fans and local community a top priority.”
The exercise and scenarios were not carried out in response to any specific threat.
Any spectator attending London Stadium should be vigilant and report anything that doesn’t feel right to a member of staff or steward, or report it to police via www.gov.uk/ACT or by calling 0800 789 321. In an emergency, always dial 999.
