North Lanarkshire Leisure Ltd – the not-for-profit sport and leisure trust established by North Lanarkshire Council – is on a 'Quest' to ensure that its leisure facilities top the bill for quality and safety and it's making terrific progress.

 

Three North Lanarkshire Leisure facilities – Aquatec Leisure Centre in Motherwell, Tryst Sports Centre in Cumbernauld, and Wishaw Sports Centre – are the latest to gain the prestigious 'Quest' Accreditation Award.

 

Quest is awarded to sport and leisure providers offering a quality service, which is measured against strict UK standards that are considered best practice in the industry. To achieve accreditation, facilities must demonstrate that they have excellent policies and procedures in place that cover issues such as customer care, facilities operation, staff development and continuous service improvement.

 

Quest accreditation for the three North Lanarkshire facilities is official recognition of the quality of service provided by North Lanarkshire Leisure, the continuous hard work and dedication of all staff involved and the trust's focus on continuous improvement – all of which benefits the customer.

 

"This is just terrific news for North Lanarkshire Leisure", said Councillor Jim Logue, Chair of North Lanarkshire Leisure Ltd, "and symbolises the significant progress being made to further improve and enhance the quality of our sport and leisure facilities throughout the North Lanarkshire area.

 

"Quest is very much a real achievement for everyone involved as it's no mean feat to achieve this standard of recognition and we are incredibly proud that we now have six Quest accredited facilities – Airdrie Leisure Centre, Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex in Bellshill, John Smith Pool in Airdrie are also accredited and the sports development section has been highly commended – that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors throughout North Lanarkshire.

 

"We want our facilities to be the centre of choice for our users and Quest accreditation will help ensure this is achieved."

 

North Lanarkshire Leisure is not only on a quest to improve quality in its facilities – it has also been recognised for its approach to health and safety management within three facilities.

 

Airdrie Leisure Centre, Keir Hardie Centre in Holytown, and Wishaw Sports Centre have all received the Leisuresafe award, which is a unique independent leisure management award delivered by Quality Leisure Management (QLM) in recognition of a planned approach to health and safety management in accordance with legislative requirements and industry good practice.

 

To achieve the award – which is valid for two years – each centre was visited by QLM for a Leisuresafe audit, which covered:

 

• the centre's health and safety management systems;
• facility-wide health and safety issues, such as fire management, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health and electricity;
• area-by-area health and safety and safe systems of work, such as swimming pools, plant rooms, sports halls, gymnastics and outdoor areas.

Councillor Logue added: "These three centres represent a cross-section of the main activities that North Lanarkshire Leisure operates – from the largest multi-use facility to a community-based centre – so it is very encouraging that our health and safety approach has been endorsed in all three areas.

 

"Health and safety has to be at the heart of everything we do to ensure that we provide the best facilities and services possible to help more people get more active, more often and Leisuresafe is the ideal way to do just that."

 

Blane Dodds, Chief Executive of North Lanarkshire Leisure, said: "What is particularly pleasing about both our Quest accreditations and our Leisuresafe awards is that they are the culmination of a dedicated team effort. Everyone has had an important role to play and I would like to thank them for their efforts and commitment.

 

"We are committed to continually improving our procedures, systems and processes and by aiming to be the best that we can be – and having that recognised at the highest levels within the sport and leisure industry – we can be confident in the knowledge that we are delivering an efficient and effective service that improves health, fitness and quality of life in North Lanarkshire.

 

"That is our ultimate quest and one that we will happily take on every day."

 

ends