Gyms and leisure centres to trial ‘Ask for Angela’ safety campaign

Eleven gyms and leisure centres in south west London will pilot the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign which allows people who feel like they are in an unsafe or vulnerable situation to ask staff for help covertly.

Originally designed for bars, clubs and other licensed businesses, the campaign allows people who feel like they are in an unsafe situation to ask staff for help by discreetly using the code word “Angela”. A trained member of staff will then look to support and assist them. The pilot is the result of a collaboration between ukactive, Safer Business Network, the Metropolitan Police Service, Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign and the Mayor of London.

The campaign aims to help promote safety and wellbeing for anyone who feels vulnerable or who feel they are in an uncomfortable situation. The organisations behind it want to explore its use in other public settings, starting with the fitness and leisure sector.

Launched in March, the pilot will see an external evaluation agency capture the impact and learnings to help determine how well the campaign works in fitness and leisure facilities and whether it is suitable for adoption more widely within the sector.

Staff at each facility, including those on the front desk, gym floor and management, have been provided with a range of training tools to ensure they can best support users if they ask for ‘Angela’.

It builds on recent work from ukactive and This Girl Can as part of ‘Safer Spaces to Move’, a two-year funded project that aims to address sexual harassment and intimidation by supporting more fitness and leisure facilities to improve their services for women and girls.

Harriett Jones, ukactive, said: “The fitness and leisure sector is determined to play its part in creating a safer nation, where everyone feels confident and comfortable in our communities.”