Safety certificate is needed at Newlands

WESTERN Province Rugby confirmed yesterday that it has lodged an application for a venue safety certificate for Newlands under the new safety regulations issued in terms of the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act.

That is in response to SA Rugby announcing Newlands as the venue for this year’s Rugby Championship Test between the Springboks and All Blacks on October 7‚ pending the successful safety approval.

SA Rugby’s public warning that the Test might be moved to another venue (understood to be Cape Town Stadium)‚ has forced WP Rugby to acknowledge that it needs to comply with the new regulations.

They have been able to host Super Rugby games at the increasingly decrepit old ground because there is a grace period to apply for the a new safety certificate. The deadline is June 2.

Under the new regulations‚ venues such as Newlands are now required to make an application to the relevant local authority in accordance with certain requirements and criteria set out.

Previously‚ the only requirements expressly set out in the Act pertaining to safety were those relating to event safety. WP Rugby had applied for and obtained‚ an event permit certificate biannually from the City of Cape Town.

Confirming the application‚ WP Rugby Group CEO Paul Zacks said: “We have been in regular contact with both the City and SA Rugby regarding the new application requirements and have been working on meeting the new requirements for some time‚ in consultation with our health and safety advisors.

“WP Rugby takes safety and security at Newlands very seriously and full fire and disaster risk management preparations, including an assessment of the stadium, are regularly undertaken by the City as a part of their event risk assessment and certification process.

“We are confident we will meet the requirements under the new regulations. In fact WP Rugby recently achieved 89% for an event compliance audit conducted by independent specialist risk consultants‚ the highest score achieved in respect of rugby stadiums in South Africa hosting Super Rugby matches.

“This is an ongoing process. The matter is now in the hands of the relevant assessors at the City of Cape Town and we have offered our full support and commitment in engaging with them to meet the various requirements‚ as usual.”

Zacks did not address why WP Rugby took until this week to lodge its application‚ knowing that the regulation was in place since March.

He also took the opportunity to counter SA Rugby’s inference that the Test could be moved.