Audience and Visitor Security
Audiences

Audience and Visitor Security

Audiences

Tours

Public Open Days

Special Events Programmes at BBC Premises

Visitors

VIP Visitors and Persons at Risk (PARs)

Common Questions

Key Points

Audiences at main production centres must take place:

In a secure and controlled environment which is subject to a security response level determined by the perceived threat.
Where there are always guards, cameras and search facilities in place and working.
Where the audience can easily and readily access security assistance.

In addition the following measures apply as set out below:

The use of audiences for programmes is subject to a strict review at each security response level, where it would be possible, if the risk warranted it, to stop the admittance of audiences.
All BBC managed audiences at Television Centre and London Broadcasting House are looked after by a Studio Audiences Manager and a team of stewards.
All stewards receive training in security issues and threats.
All audiences at TC and LBH are subjected to airport style x-ray and scanning facilities before they enter the site.
All are in possession of pre booked tickets.
Audiences are escorted at all times.
Audience stewards carry radios which give them immediate contact with site security.
They are always contained within the Foyer prior to attending a studio at Television Centre.
Once in the studio there are always stewards escorting the audience at all times.
Audiences are escorted off site.
Live programme audiences should be subject to a security risk assessment and the provision of security guards.

Audience Responsibilities

The following persons are assigned responsibilities for audiences where radio and television programmes are made:

Site Security Team - responsible for site access control and incident management. Security Officers at BBC studio premises have overall control of site security and should liaise with those managing and supervising audiences, during search on entry (normally carried out be Security Officers), and whilst an audience (or other groups of the public, such as Backstage Tours, London Open House, and VIP visits) are on the premises should breaches of security occur, or if an incident should develop.

Security staff must satisfy themselves that there is adequate marshalling of members of the public when entering, during, or when leaving an event.

Person Responsible for Audience Management in the Studio or at the Location - this person may be part of the Studio Management team, a Facilities Manager, Venue Manager at non-BBC locations, or a dedicated Audience Coordinator (an Audience Coordinator must be appointed for all audiences comprising twelve or more persons in all London studios).

They will be responsible for the management of, ushering, ticketing, general audience control and initial incident management. They will be responsible for organising the marshalling of members of the public whilst they are on BBC premises or other venues, either with stewards or Security Officers engaged specifically for this purpose by the production.

Audience Stewards - responsible to the audience manager for audience supervision, ticketing and assistance with initial incident response.

Programme Producer - responsible for the safety and security of all persons in studios and other programme venues, and where no specialist audience handling staff are engaged, to be responsible for management of ushering, ticketing, general audience control and initial incident handling.

Audience Ticketing and Vetting

Ticketing is controlled by the Producer responsible for the event. The producer may delegate this responsibility to either his/her own production team, BBC Audience Services, or an external audience agency. In general, there should be no restrictions on who is invited to participate in the audience, although there may be an element of pre-selection due to the targeting of audience members who have attended previous similar productions, and in identifying the type of audience members who may have an interest in a particular production subject. Lower age limits (and occasionally upper age limits) will also be set, amongst other criteria, according to the production brief.

Ordinarily, there is no requirement for audience pre-selection vetting to be undertaken as this contravenes the BBC's policy of open access for licence payers to such events. However, where participants, presenters or audience members are deemed to be Persons At Risk (PAR's see VIP Security) the head of production unit responsible should refer to the Head of Corporate Security for further advice. In cases of doubt, it will be necessary to refer audience lists to the Investigation Service for identification of persons excluded from BBC sites for security or public order breaches.

Tickets and letters of invitation will have a printed exclusion clause, such as: "the BBC reserves the right to search on entry to our studios and may refuse admission" and must be marked "Not Transferable". Tickets must be numbered to assist on-site identification.

Audience Access

The BBC's intention is to welcome visitors to its sites. Audience participants should be treated in the same manner as other visitors to the BBC, and be subject to the same access control measures.

All audience participants should be in possession of an issued ticket or letter confirming a place as an audience member in a named production or event. Where a person is not in possession of a valid ticket or letter they should be politely asked for evidence of their name (driving licence, credit card, etc) for comparison against the audience list for the production they are requesting to visit, and then only admitted subject to the search process appropriate to the BBC Alert Level in place at that time.

Audience Searching

Detailed procedures in respect of searching visitors to the BBC are outlined in the BBC Stop and Search Policy (Security CoP 13 - see related links).

For the safety of audiences and production staff it is BBC policy to always conduct searches of audiences and their property (such as handbags etc):-

mandatory at all production centres and venues when the BBC Response Level goes to 'Heightened';
and/or when the programme risk profile requires such measures.
persons refusing to comply may be refused entry.

Where a participant, presenter or audience member is deemed to be a Person At Risk (PAR) it may be necessary for bag searching to be carried out irrespective of the current Corporation-wide or site Security Response Level. Initial advice concerning risk assessment in such situations can be sought from the Head of Corporate Security.

When carrying out searches it will be necessary to involve the site security staff who must be briefed on the correct procedure, and trained in the techniques and correct use of equipment.

Training and adherence to written procedures is essential where close work with people and their possessions is necessary for an effective search. A search of people in this context is carried out by the use of metal arch detectors and handheld metal detectors, NOT personal searches of people.

A security risk assessment will indicate where permanently installed scanning equipment and places to carry out bag searches will be necessary. At other audience venues, portable scanning devices must be available.

Health & Safety, Audiences

Everyone engaged in the management and supervision of audiences, must have written instructions about their responsibilities. These will include content specific to the venue, and the method of passing safety information to the members of the audience so that it is understood by them. Further information can be found on the Audience and Visitors page.

Incident Response, Audiences

The person managing the audience and the stewards will carry out the initial incident response, normally on instruction from the Studio or Floor Manager who will relay instructions from the Programme Production Team. They will also be responsible for dealing with the incident at source (such as fire, unruly audience behaviour, reaction to building-wide evacuation alarms, etc). The audience manager will be responsible for ensuring that where necessary all visitors are evacuated/invacuated safely to the designated site Emergency Assembly Points or other safe areas.

Audience Behaviour

On occasion, members of the audience may display disruptive behaviour that is upsetting to other members of the audience, and programme participants, as well as being inappropriate to the programme or production. Some programmes require a certain amount of 'audience participation' of a nature that may not be acceptable to other programmes. It is therefore at the discretion of the audience manager to define what is deemed to be acceptable behaviour.

Where an audience member's behaviour is deemed to be unacceptable, the audience manager must make a decision as to whether their continued presence will cause further disruption. Where a person's continued presence is deemed to be disruptive, they should be politely requested to leave the studio and escorted by a steward.

Where an audience member's behaviour is violent or shows signs of escalating into violence, every effort should be made to calm the person down to the point that they can be escorted off the premises. Should the behaviour continue the site security staff and the police may be called as necessary. Should a person require physical restraining, the principle of minimum force should apply.

Those carrying out audience management and stewarding duties must be given training in recognising and dealing with potentially violent situations.