Health and safety expert, Right Directions, which manages Sport England’s quality scheme Quest, is offering local authorities a simple-to-use, online Fit For Business self-assessment tool to demonstrate adherence to government guidance before and after reopening their leisure centres.

The comprehensive self-assessment enables any health, fitness, leisure or sports facility to rigorously gauge whether they are correctly following Covid-19 guidance and industry best practice, as well as measure the suitability of processes and procedures put in place for welcoming customers. 

Technology partner and process digitalisation platform, Tillr, is hosting the evaluation platform, giving operators instant access on any device. Local authorities and leisure operators can use the platform to self assess and upload evidence of how their facilities and activities comply with the necessary Covid-safe guidelines (including videos and written evidence). Once completed, operators can apply to their local authority for an independent review of their submission, and receive a ‘Fit For Business’ certificate to display at the facility for customers to see. 

Westminster Council is already using the service and Eugene Minogue, Head of Physical Activity, Leisure and Sport at Westminster City Council says:

“We have been utilising the Tillr platform for many years to great effect in monitoring our leisure contract, so when Tillr announced they had partnered with Right Directions to launch the ‘Fit for Business’ certification we knew it would be quick, easy and seamless to implement. 

“As Right Directions is the leading name in Quality Assurance for our sector, having an independently audited certificate from them lets our residents, communities and employees know we’re taking our response to the pandemic, and their safety, very seriously. The leisure sector has been given permission to reopen the doors, and we wouldn’t want to do that without confirmation we have met the national standards for being COVID-secure.”

Eugene Minogue, Head of Physical Activity, Leisure and Sport at Westminster City Council

The self-assessment, which covers off everything a health club or leisure centre should have in place ahead of reopening, is broken down into five, easy-to-follow sections:

1. Planning – including processes around government guidance and industry best practice, as well as risk assessments and action plans

2. Customer Management – covering areas such as communication plans, booking systems, signage and customer education around new processes

3. Building Management – including everything from cleaning regimes and fire checks to staff, contractors and visitor processes

4. Team Management – covering areas such as health checks and staff illness procedures, consultation and communication, working from home and training

5. Leisure Activity Management – including risk assessments, control measures and sanitisation across all areas of a health club or leisure centre.

Gill Twell is Head of Development at Right Directions, which also delivers ukactive’s Code of Practice, the Activity Alliance’s IFI Mark and accreditation for the Swim England’s Learn to Swim Pathway.  She says: 

“This tool does not replace Sport England’s Quest scheme, it enhances it, and will help prepare centres for their Quest assessments, as it gives operators the ability to step back and fully understand what they should have in place and whether they have considered all areas of the business from both a customer and their staff’s point of view.  It also gives stakeholders the confidence the organisations managing their facilities are following Covid-safe guidelines and are ‘fit for business’.”

Gill Twell, Head of Development, Right Directions

Paul Romer-Ormiston, founder of Tillr says: 

“We are already assisting councils across the country with a unified approach to managing their response to pandemics, so this new capability from Right Directions for their sports and leisure departments simply adds to that portfolio.

“Whilst there are some lightweight checklists available from the government, the rigour of the approach taken to reopening via Right Directions’ Fit For Business assessment will truly give both staff and customers confidence to return to their leisure centre.”

Paul Romer-Ormiston, Founder of Tillr

Tillr is already being used by a number of councils across the country to carry out general inspections of their leisure centres.  The platform enables photographs and videos of any issues to be uploaded onto the platform, which are sent out as a task for centre managers to complete and close off, whilst managers and stakeholders have access to in-depth reporting capabilities.

Please email hello@tillr.io or call us on 020 7992 5858 for more details or get in touch with Right Directions directly.