Highlights from the 2024/25 year with VSG

The below provides an overview of the Visitor Safety Group’s key outputs and achievements for 2024/25 across its membership, events, sub-groups, governance, and finances.

Membership

The Visitor Safety Group (VSG) now has 80 member organisations in the UK and Ireland, as illustrated above, with two levels of membership available – large and small organisations.

VSG has experienced steady and consistent growth in membership over the past seven years. As shown in the graph, the number of member organisations has increased from 52 in 2018/19 to 80 in 2024/25. This upward trend highlights the increasing recognition of the VSG’s value in supporting organisations to manage visitor safety effectively.

The growth also reflects the expanding diversity of members, which ranges from local authorities to conservation charities, utility companies, government agencies, and heritage sites.

This breadth and depth of membership strengthen our ability to represent the sector and influence policy-makers and enforcement authorities. With many key organisations applying VSG principles, our collective approach can provide a compelling argument in court cases.
Known for its openness in sharing knowledge and advice, the VSG’s membership now offers a valuable resource to draw upon.

Members can communicate with other VSG members via our LinkedIn closed group.

Workshops and Webinars

The VSG follows a hybrid model for events, offering two workshops and four webinars per year. All recordings and presentations from past events are housed on the VSG website and are available to all members regardless of attendance.

In-Person Workshops:

• Illuminating Winter Experiences: Enhancing Safety and Accessibility in Low-Light Environments at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, hosted by the Devonshire Group
  41 attendees
• Back to Basics – Risk Assessment Templates at Roadford Lake, Devon, hosted by the South West Lakes Trust
  30 attendees

Webinars:

• Security: Heritage Crime, Rural Crime, and other Prevailing Security Issues
  70 attendees
• Changes to Fire Legislation in England and Wales
  90 attendees
• National Tree Safety Guidance
  112 attendees
• Managing Visitor Safety with Dogs
  134 attendees

86.3% rated the workshops and webinars as ‘Very Good’.

Historic Built Environment Sub-Group

The Historic Built Environment Sub-Group focuses on visitor safety around the particular needs of managing buildings, monuments, archaeological remains, other man-made structures and designed parks and gardens that are historic places of significance.

The Historic Built Environment sub-group held two meetings in 24/25. They met online in September 2024 and in-person at Chatsworth House as part of the workshop in November 2024.

Irish Sub-Group

The Irish sub-group provides a forum for Irish members to be able to discuss and share issues in relation to visitor safety in an Irish context.

The Irish sub-group also held two meetings in 24/25. They met online in December 2024 and in-person in May 2025 at Treasury Dock in Dublin, kindly hosted by National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) State Claims Agency (SCA) in conjunction with Waterways Ireland.

Training and Learning Task & Finish Group

The Training and Learning Task & Finish Group aim to facilitate the group by curating additional learning opportunities.

One of the outputs of this group is the development of a new e-learning platform that will soon be accessible to all VSG members via the website.
Four training modules are currently in development, (see below) with the first nearing launch.

• Module 1- Visitor Safety Essentials
• Module 2 – Visitor Safety and the Law
• Module 3 – Zoning and the Risk Control Spectrum
• Module 4- Visitor Risk Assessment

High Quality Information Task & Finish Group

The High Quality Information Task & Finish Group works together to produce expert resources supporting high standards across the sector and underpin the VSG Guiding Principles.

The group are responsible for promoting the VSG’s two publications:

• Managing Visitor Safety in the Countryside: 131 copies distributed
• Managing Visitor Safety in the Historic Built Environment: 63 copies distributed

Members also submitted their risk assessment templates for review by the group. Building on this work, a standardised Risk Assessment template is currently being developed for members to use.

VSG also commissioned Mark Daniels, a Visitor Safety Consultant, to provide an Industry Update to members via its quarterly e-newsletter covering case studies, case law, and any new guidance and publications each quarter. The Industry Update is available on the VSG website and members are able to submit their own case studies and case law for inclusion in future Industry Updates using the online form.

Governance

The VSG Management Board met four times via two in-person meetings at the workshops in Chatsworth House and Roadford Lake and a further two online meetings throughout the year. The Finance Audit sub-group also met on a quarterly basis to review the finances and recommendations allowing feedback to be given to the Management Board.

Recognising that peer support and networking are valued benefits of membership, but increasingly challenging as the network grows, VSG introduced a new support service offering members access to expert advice from both current and former members of the Management Board. This service aims to make individual VSG advice more accessible and members are encouraged to connect with a board member who has relevant experience and could offer informed, practical guidance.

Finances