Showforce Float Innovision’s Boat Showforce, the UK’S leading specialist event crew company, were asked to provide labour for the construction of the giant Olympic rings launched on the Thames, to mark 150 days until the start of the London Games. They were appointed by innovision who produced the launch on behalf of the GLA events team. The rings travelled on a barge, passing key London landmarks and were constructed at King George V Docks. Showforce supplied eight members of crew over four weeks period and clocked up nearly one thousand man hours assisting with everything from operating plant to manual handling. As the build was mainly carried out on and over the water the crew complied with maritime Health and Safety regulations. Martin Heap, innovision’s technical director said: “As you can imagine building for a month outdoors, on a river, in February was fairly challenging. As always the Showforce crew were brilliant and carried out their duties successfully and in good spirits.”

Showforce to CrewAggreko’s Olympic Contract Showforce, has secured a contract with Aggreko, the official Temporary Energy Services Supplier to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to become a provider of additional event crew requirements, across 23 venues and the Olympic Park. The contract is for the duration of the Olympic build up and breakdown period and is expected to last until September 2012. Aggreko’s labour requirements include everything from specialist event crewing to plant operatives; forklift drivers, cherry picker and scissor lift handlers. Aggreko awarded Showforce with the contract as it felt that its dedication to providing quality, experienced staff combined with its willingness to invest in the relevant training, was in keeping with Aggreko’s own company standards. In addition Aggreko felt that the accreditation process implemented by Showforce for the Olympic site workforce was one of the best available in the market. All of the crew supplied to Aggreko by Showforce will hold an up to date CSCS card or PSA Safety passport and then, depending on the work they are expected to carry out within the venues, the relevant training and licenses. This includes working at height/ harness awareness training and IPAF Scissor Lift, PASMA and CPCS or NPORS licenses. Dave Clayton, Showforce’s CEO said: “Supporting the global leader in temporary power and temperature control solutions in its preparations for the world’s greatest sporting event is a huge achievement for the entire team. It is a testament to the quality service that Showforce is renowned for and underlines our commitment to invest in training and systems to ensure that we continue to set the benchmark in the provision of specialist event crew.” Showforce’s crew support for Aggreko already includes more than 8000 labour days that equates to 96,000 labour hours across 23 Olympic venues .

Showforce and Hewden Enter into Training Partnership Showforce, the UK’s leading provider of specialist event crew, has appointed Hewden as their sole accredited training provider. The exclusive three year partnership encompasses induction, health and safety, working at height/ harness awareness and accredited plant and access training. Showforce has seen an increase in demand for crew during 2012 and given the number of large contracts already secured by Showforce it is vital that they are in a position to accredit all crew members, ensuring that they have the appropriate training and hold the relevant licenses and certificates. Hewden has conducted a training needs analysis for Showforce and as a result has designed a bespoke induction programme to incorporate all current legislation, health and safety information, risk assessment and the company’s core values and ethics. Additional training courses they will be delivering include; Manual Handling, SPA (Passport to safety Live Events), PASMA, NPORS, CPCS Plant, IPAF, Safety Harness/ Working at Height, Rough Terrain and Telehandling. Hewden’s full training management service includes tracking, reporting and logging of all the training activity. Dave Clayton, Showforce’s CEO states: “Investing in Hewden’s training expertise and guidance further demonstrates Showforce’s commitment to deliver highly skilled, quality crew. We are extremely proud to be amongst the first companies in the event industry to partner with an accredited training provider. It’s already paying dividends as we have seen enquiries increase as a result.” Susan Shardlow, Hewden’s Commercial Director adds: “Hewden is committed to providing a comprehensive range of industry accredited training courses to address our customers’ varying requirements. We are pleased to be working with Showforce to ensure all of their employees are trained to the highest standards before they are deployed on site.” Fifty crew members have already received over one thousand hours of training and completed the accreditation process, in the first month of the partnership. Training hours are expected to exceed twenty five thousand throughout the three year agreement.

Cisco Live Cisco Live is Cisco’s flagship annual technical education, technology evaluation, networking and thought leadership event for IT, Networking and Communications professionals. This industry leading conference provides an educational and visionary experience that can transform an attendee’s career. Working for George P Johnson Showforce sourced crew from all 3 of our UK offices filling a staggering 270 shifts over just 5 days. The crew were involved with many aspects of setting up and taking down this large scale event.

Showforce Award Nominations 2012 is shaping up to be an interesting year for Showforce; with industry event awards just around the corner, we are very proud to have been nominated for 4 awards. Showforce are lucky enough to have been nominated for, two Event Production award for ‘employee of the year ’and ‘Crew Company of the year’. A NOEA award for ‘Event supplier of the year’ and for the 4th year running we have been nominated as ‘Favourite Crew’ in the TPI awards. We will all have our fingers crossed and wait in anticipation for the results of this year’s awards!

Showforce Training Showforce are pleased to announce, in 2011 every Showforce Crew member obtained their SPA Safety Passports and in the New Year we are gearing up to put every Crew member through their CSCS Card training. Our team hold a plethora of plant licences but with 2012 fast approaching we are preparing for what could be one of the busiest years for the events industry. With this in mind, Showforce have offered additional training to its Crew to become efficient in a number of plant licenses, including; Scissor lifts, Cherry Pickers, counter balance forklifts, telescopic forklifts and all terrain forklifts. Our Senior Crew Chiefs are on hand with an abundance of training and experience, all of which are equipped with First Aid training. We believe that the right training ensures that the work carried out on your site, is safe and professional.