Axis security team of the year award
During our Christmas Luncheon at the Royal Automobile Club on the 3rd December, John Fitzpatrick our Operations Director, had the pleasure of awarding the coveted 'Security Team of the Year' award.
The Security Team of the Year award went to our team of seven security personnel at Discovery Network EMEA based at Chiswick Business Park. The team is managed by an on-site Security Manager, Steve Kendall and is responsible for the European HQ including 1500 staff and the live broadcast from site. The nomination was made by David Russell Director of Facilities and was based on the following comments:
CUSTOMER CARE: The team consistently supports and assists will all events relating to Discovery House. A Few examples of this are Discovery Kids Day (80+ children in the building), Town Hall events and Media events where large numbers (50+) of visitors have to be coordinated.
SITE KNOWLEDGE: The team have an intimate knowledge of the site, its working and improvements which have been added since the team began here. They are fully familiar with the access control/CCTV systems as well as using Lotus Notes and Microsoft Excel to produce reports. The team also administers and manages Discovery offices in Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw in addition to Discovery House. Bucharest will soon be added. This has involved writing alarm procedures, monitoring access/CCTV for these offices and issuing their cards from London.
ATTITUDE: The team have a professional ‘can do-will do’ attitude, participating in projects, always willing to assist in any way, consistently courteous and willing to offer suggestions.
TEAM APPROACH: As a growing organisation the business has had to re-structure many departments this year and there have on quite a few occasions been some particularly difficult times for Discovery employees. The security team's professional approach has been excellent in ensuring that individuals are respected and cared for when they have been knocked quite hard when hearing news of their role being changed or no longer. This has led to an opportunity for the team to work alongside our Human Resources department to improve lines of communication, and there has now been an agreed procedure which I think has helped all parties immensely. I also think it is worth noting that the team has taken an increased role with our emergency procedures and systems. This year we had a major water mains failure, leaving us with no water and in dire trouble. The team assisted in locking off washrooms and closing the building down, as it became clear the office could no longer meet H&S standards. The team worked collectively and showed a level of value that we at Discovery had not seen before. (The loss of live feed from site could cost Discovery up to £29m per minute if action not taken quickly to deal with any potential disaster).
Axis Security would like to commend and congratulate, not only Steve Kendall, but also his team of Security Officers; Karren Dalton, Darren Ambrose, Liban Musse, Maxwell Buller, Muhammad Kaleem and Said Davarpahah for all their efforts over the years and wish them all well for 2009.
