Dr Alan Billings is supporting the Active Response Security Services Bee Safe initiative aimed at protecting primary school children.

The initiative was launched at the Digital Media Centre in Barnsley, on Friday 24 June and the benefits will be available to schools nationally. It is even expected to be used in children’s museums, kids clubs and in shopping centres.

Dr Alan Billings said: “The school summer holidays are fast approaching and this is a time where children are looking for fun things to do.  The days are long and will hopefully be sunny.  We all know that shiny machinery and building sites draw children’s attention from a very young age.

“I hope this awareness campaign will offer guidance to those wanting to go on adventures that building sites are extremely dangerous.  There is equipment left on site and foundations that could be treacherous.

“I would like to thank Active Response Security for raising the issues with young people in schools and their parents, to ensure that tragedy’s such as the one in Barnsley last year, are not repeated.”

The Idea was formed by Managing Director Michelle Bailey who said:  “Whilst death and injury on building and derelict and void sites amongst children is reducing according to national figures provided by HSE, the numbers are still shocking and we cannot afford to be complacent. We all have a shared responsibility to keep our children safe and this is a common danger that presents itself to us often whilst providing security on sites.

We wanted to develop a fun, interactive way of educating our young ones on how to recognise dangers and avoid them. We decided to develop a series of HD Videos using a 3D animation character that could be used by teaching staff to engage children and alert them to varying dangers. Episode one deals with avoiding building sites and derelict and void buildings and will appear in Schools in early July 2016”.

The project is being fully funded by Active Response and has no cost implications to those wishing to use it to educate our children.

Active Response, after engaging in focus groups, decided on a Bee character. The character and story theme is light and humorous but highlights the difficulties children could find themselves in when entering unauthorised or derelict areas.

Children will be encouraged to draw a scene they remember and name the Bee from a colouring template provided.

Michelle Bailey concluded “We have always been passionate about safeguarding and invest heavily in staff training, this initiative seemed the next natural step for us and we are very excited to be working in partnership with educational authorities – helping to get this message across. Building sites, derelict buildings may seem fun but conceal many hidden dangers.”