A YouGov poll from 2017 found that almost three-quarters of young people have witnessed sexual harassment on a night out, with nearly 63% of women and 26% of men saying they had been on the receiving end themselves. This is one of the many reasons why this summer your Students’ Union has teamed up with the Good Night Out Campaign to make our venues safer for you and others.
The Good Night Out Campaign, founded in 2014, is ‘an independent, international initiative dedicated to helping the night-time economy deal with, tackle and prevent harassment’.
They do this by accrediting bars and clubs, supporting them to use best practice policies and an in-venue awareness campaign, and provide specialist training. With a global network of organisers and trainers in the UK, Europe, North America and Australia, the group has worked with all sorts of venues, from small bars like JC’s to huge nightclubs like Fabric, and currently, work with over 20 Students’ Unions in the UK.
So what did the training include?
We decided to go for the more advanced programme, called ‘Train the Trainer,’ so all our Bar Managers and Events Coordinators can lead their own sessions to train new staff in the future.
The three-hour class encouraged everyone to engage with the campaign and everyone came away feeling positive about
being involved.
There was then a 1-hour example training session with a selection of union student staff led by the group and was used as the best practice example for the new trainers.
So how does it all work?
Before the training, the in-house process and policies are reviewed, and a suggested best practice policy is given. There’s an in-venue awareness campaign in the form of posters (like the one on the opposite page). It encourages you to report anything that you experience or witness that is not acceptable behaviour.
The bar staff are now trained to deal with reports sensitively and correctly, as we want to make our venues as safe as they can be. If you are ever concerned and feel that any of our venues are not abiding by this policy, please get in touch with me on grace.hannaford@swansea-union.co.uk.
What happens next?
The next stage is to ensure all venues have staff that are trained and that the posters are displayed in as many places as possible.
So, if you ever feel unsafe or see something concerning when you’re out, chat to any of the bar staff as they’ll be clued up on how to help.
Thank you to Swansea University and the Students’ Union who helped to make the training happen and I hope that you all have a good
night out!
For more information head to goodnightoutcampaign.org and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me on grace.hannaford@swansea-union.co.uk.
by Grace Hannaford
