Singapore introduced a new certification program called SG SafeEvents Certification for large scale events to be conducted with hygiene benchmarks and safe-distancing best practices.
During this challenging pandemic period, the Singapore government and associations have been formulating and imposing necessary standards and new regulations for each respective industry to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection and to restart the MICE industry, and SG SafeEVents Certification will play a vital role for the event organizing to reborn again.
Let’s go further in-depth about SG SafeEvents Certification by discussing the following topics.
- What is SG SafeEvents Certification?
- Why would we need SG SafeEvents Certification?
- How can we get certified?
What is SG SafeEvents Certification?
The SG SafeEvents Certification program launched at the Tourism Industry Conference by the Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers (SACEOS) is aimed at event organizers, venue owners, and suppliers’ competitive edge, a mark of assurance in a COVID-19 safe marketplace. The SG SafeEvents Standard is to be used in conjunction with WHO Guidelines and all other prevailing Singapore national standards, such as SG Clean, to ensure you can organize and execute your event in a safe, sustainable and responsible manner.
The certification program is based on the Technical Reference (TR) 84 “Safe event management for the events industry”, developed by the Singapore Standards Council (SSC) and overseen by Enterprise Singapore (ESG). TR 84 is a paid guide that lists recommended best practices in hygiene and sanitization, safe distancing and emergency management for business events beyond the government-mandated Safe Management Measures (SMM). It also referenced the Events Industry Resilience Roadmap (IRR) released by SACEOS in October 2020, which guides organizing safe business events, solutions for hybrid events and new capabilities needed to transform the industry.
Why would we need SG SafeEvents Certification?
The Straits Times stated that the program, announced at STB’s annual Tourism Industry Conference, will run for three years, after which there may be plans to use the experience gained to turn the SG SafeEvents Certification into a full-fledged Singapore standard. Moreover, under the best practices of Event Industry Resilience Road Map Guideline (IRR), it also urged the MICE players to attain SG SafeEvent certifications and work only with certified SG SafeEvent Venues and SG SafeEvent Suppliers. Therefore, it would be no doubt that it can become a nationwide standard certificate every event industry player should have to display or assure that they meet Singapore government standards, ensuring conference attendees and their partners.
How can we get certified?
Generally, the following aspects would be covered to get SG SafeEvents certified.
- Event organizers must have risk management plans, documentation of identified hazards and necessary control measures to be implemented before, during and post the events
- Venue Operators must develop routine and periodic cleaning and disinfection plans
- Organizers and venue operators are encouraged to use contactless technology where feasible.
- Protocols are needed to put in place to contain and manage emergencies.
Moreover, according to Event Industry Resilience Road Map Guideline (IRR), technology adoption in registration management becomes viable and best practices for event organizers in event planning and management. In IRR best practices, it is also recommended to do contactless registration, health screening by asking health assessment questions and perform with clear signages, thermal cameras and temperature checks at all entry points.
In those aspects, you need to consider using technology advancements such as QR codes, RFID Badge or facial recognition for contactless registration and event check-in. And if touchless registration is not practicable, you need to control the access in advance – start from pre-event registration of stakeholders to ensure the number of people onsite and distribute tickets, badges ahead of time to reduce touch points upon entry. But that manual process can delay the working process and make it challenging to manage the registration in huge events unless using event registration management software like EventNook.
EventNook can help your attendees to have the unique QR code when they registered and scan it on their own on EventNook mobile self check-in kiosks. And attendees can even print the personalised badge with name, zone and table number assigned at the onsite independently with no waiting time by reducing the touch points and avoiding the crowded situation as you see in the video below.
Moreover, it should be considered for health and screening safety measures to use an AI temperature scanner, constant temperature monitoring token, disinfection mist tunnel, and anti-microbial coating of common surface areas.
Suppose you wish to be certified under the provisional standard or learn more about the certification process. In that case, you can register for the industry briefing next month by emailing SACEOS secretariat@saceos.org.sg.
I hope you find this article helpful, and if you have any feedback on the article, please feel free to drop us at hello@eventnook.com, and we would love to hear your thoughts!
EventNook is based in sunny Singapore, and we have empowered events from 21 countries and counting. We have supported a range of events from the various organizations – a small non-profit organization to top brands such as Google, IBM, EY, Deloitte, etc. If you are keen to know more about EventNook services for your upcoming events, we will be glad to assist, and please feel free to contact us.
References:
New certification standard for large Mice events, Consumer News & Top Stories – The Straits Times
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