The charity SafetyNet has been awarded a grant from the Social Investment Fund to make Guernsey the first place outside of mainland Britain to have clubs and bars certified as 'Safe Places'.

10 training sessions will be held for 300 Guernsey bar staff over five days, from 31 March.

To receive Safe Place certification, 75% of customer-facing staff from each venue must undertake the half-day training course.

SafetyNet will be contacting local venues to sign up for free in the coming days - with all Randalls’ venues and Pingquay already on board.

SafetyNet Chair Poppy Murray says the course covers a lot:

"Understanding what unacceptable behaviours are within the nighttime economy industry, what kind of risk factors there are and how to try and prevent them, learning how to better protect customers and staff, and also respond if an incident does happen and (how to) support police investigations. 

"(It is) Really stressing that it is not a venue's fault if someone is behaving inappropriately in their establishment."

She hopes this will make staff and customers feel safer:

"It doesn’t mean that nothing will ever happen in that venue, but it does mean that customers will know that the staff behind the bar or at the door have been trained to help respond and, if it got to the point of a police investigation, that critical initial evidence and information would have been taken at the time."

SafetyNet Chair Poppy Murray at Pingquay

Detective Sergeant Thomas Lowe from Guernsey Police says this will aid investigations:

"This is a really good step to educate everybody.

"The bar staff will be more aware, to be looking out proactively for situations which they might report to us, and then when we get there they know what we expect and how to ensure everyone is safeguarded.

"We do live in a safe community, but we've got to keep on top of any type of offending - whether it is anti-social behaviour, sexual offences or drink spiking - and any training or initiative that can make a positive impact is brilliant for us."

The chair of the Social Investment Fund, the Very Reverend Tim Barker, says this will help the whole community feel safer:

“SIF is pleased to support this important work in Guernsey, which will improve safety for both the public and bar staff alike.

"We are aware of the high incidence of sexual offences in the island and increasing reports of spiking of drinks.

"We hope that the training will improve support for victims, and help staff to respond more effectively to difficult and dangerous situations.”