Excellent cooperation with Entrepreneurial Venlo

Greater risks and incidents
In this fast-changing world, entrepreneurs and governments increasingly face greater risks and incidents. That has partly to do with the climate; however, also with new laws and regulations needed to make innovative production processes at companies safe. So companies in Venlo's 20 business parks must obtain their KVO (Quality Mark for Safe Entrepreneurship) certificate every three years. This is proof of the sustainable cooperation between all parties involved: entrepreneurs, municipality and emergency services. It lists agreements to combat nuisance and crime. Also Fire safety is important here. Take the fire on Voltastraat in May last year as an example. This saw five businesses go up in flames completely.

Orange Column
What happens when a fire breaks out? From the moment of scaling up, emergency services (police, fire brigade and medicine) are called in. Just such as the Bevolkingszorg team, also known as the Orange Column. In it, crisis management officials, communication advisers and the municipal secretary are represented to facilitate cooperation during disaster

combat and crisis management in the best possible way. The municipality's team uses a pre-protocolised script. So had to warn property or business owners of 15 addresses in the case of the fire on Voltastraat. From the evaluation showed that the cooperation between the various emergency services, municipalities and companies during that May 6 event had been satisfactory.

Approach
Scholten explains the approach: "A pre-designated person is on pager duty and visits the location where the incident takes place. At the case of high water or a major fire, a team will then meet at the city office. From From there, contact is established with park manager Lidy Rutten and entrepreneurs. Because this team has responsibility for crisis communication, environmental aspects and looking after any evacuations and reception. But creating a safe situation on and around the site also falls under their responsibility. Think about accessibility of the companies involved, setting out routes et cetera. This is often done via app groups or emails."

According to Scholten, there were no major learning moments. "Those cooperation showed that everything was well organised. A Example: the fire brigade had a good view of the buildings and various compartments before arriving on Volta Street thanks to the video system in the vehicle. The These were old business premises built under different legislation and guidelines. Today, we have to deal with very different licensing requirements."

High water
Another example is the situation surrounding the high water in July 2021. As chairman of the Safety Region North, Scholten was responsible for North and Central Limburg. He quickly decided to switch to level GRIP-4 (Coordinated Regional Incident Response Procedure). This is the method by which emergency services determine how their work at incidents should be coordinated. The highest level is 5. Both Venlo and the region faced several alerts. "We have crawled through the eye of the needle in those days," Scholten now admits. "A employee of the safety region called and said: 'The water levels in the Roer are so high that they are not even in our contingency plan.' So there was no contingency plan for such a situation. Hence my decision to scale up to GRIP-4."

'It may sound crude, but we learn the most when something actually happens'

Examples
A good example Scholten was serious about was the situation of VieCuri Medical Centre. "In Initially, I did not want to evacuate. Al soon found that one dyke was not very strong. This one was crucial for both the inner city and the hospital. With that knowledge was decided to evacuate anyway. That don't want to do when the water is already flowing into VieCuri. Despite the fact that this did not happen, I do not regret this decision."

Several times a year, different groups, such as employees of the municipality and members of Entrepreneurial Venlo, meet for consultations and to discuss new developments. "It advantage of these meetings is that all parties get to know each other better and also contact each other more easily."

Carmeetings
Scholten also sees the good cooperation between the municipality and companies in taking measures against illegal carmeetings in and around the business parks. "This not only creates unsafe traffic situations, but also various other nuisances (such as noise and waste). Moreover, mass attendance jeopardises the accessibility of business parks. The are ultimately the entrepreneurs themselves who have taken measures such as installing fences and cameras. This shows that a partnership like Entrepreneurial Venlo is very important."

Whether it is high water, fire or situations like these carmeetings: every business park involves customisation. Scholten, "Everywhere, the situation is different due to infrastructure, businesses present and buildings. The Most important, however, is that companies know they will be heard and have a say in decisions. That ensures the best cooperation and results."

venlo.co.uk