Your Staff Are Probably Already Dealing With Vulnerability. Here's Whether They're Ready For It.

By Stephanie Austin, PrimaCura Training  |  March2026

I've been delivering WAVE training in Guildford for eight years now. In that time I've worked with barstaff, door supervisors, venue managers, and retail teams right across the town centre. And the one thing that's been consistent across every single session is this: the people walking through the door have almost always already encountered a situation they didn't know how to handle.

They dealt with it on instinct. Or they didn't deal with it at all, because nobody had ever told them it was within their job to do so.

That gap is what WAVE training exists to close.

‍

What Is WAVE Training?

WAVE stands for Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement. It's a safeguarding programme built specifically for staff working in licensed premises, the night-time economy and retail environments. It covers how to spot when someone may be vulnerable, how to respond without making things worse, and how to get that person the help they need.

Worth being clear about what it isn't. WAVE isn't conflict management. It's not physical intervention. Those programmes deal with people who are already kicking off. WAVE works onsomething earlier and often harder to read: a customer who's been separatedfrom their group, someone who's been spiked, a person in a controlling relationship who's just walked into your venue hoping someone will noticesomething's wrong.

Most staff have never beentrained to read those situations. That's not a criticism. It's just that nobodyever asked them to.

‍

What Your Staff Are Actually Dealing With

Vulnerability in a business setting rarely looks like the obvious version. It's not always someone in tearsor asking for help directly. In the licensed economy and on the high street, ittends to look like this:

•     A customer who's clearly had too much but is beingpushed to drink more by the people they're with

•     Someone who seems disoriented and is being steeredsomewhere by a person they don't appear to know well

•     A person who approaches your staff and seems like theywant to say something but can't quite get the words out

•     A customer who reports their drink tasted odd, or who'sbecome far more intoxicated than the amount they've had should explain

•     Two people where something about the dynamic betweenthem doesn't sit right

•     Someone in your shop who's clearly distressed, beingfollowed, or waiting for a situation outside to change before they leave

None of those announce themselves. They need someone who's been shown what to look for and what to do when they see it.

‍

Why This Matters for GBCRP Members Specifically

The Guildford Business CrimeReduction Partnership exists because businesses in this town are stronger whenthey're working together. Shared intelligence. Consistent responses. A networkthat functions because everyone in it is reading from the same sheet.

WAVE training is exactly that,applied to vulnerability.

When your staff know how to spotand respond to a vulnerable person in your venue or on your shop floor, you'renot just protecting that individual. You're contributing to the kind ofenvironment that keeps Guildford a safe place to work and spend time. Crime, exploitation and harm don't exist in isolation. They happen in spaces wherenobody was looking, or where someone was looking but didn't know what to do.Trained staff change both of those things.

The programme I deliver in Guildford is funded by the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner's Office and commissioned through Experience Guildford. That structure means it's not acommercial training product dressed up as community safety. It's a coordinated,town-wide commitment, and GBCRP members are a central part of the network itsupports.

Ask for Angela, Best Bar None and How It All Connects

If you run a licensed venue, you've probably got an Ask for Angela poster somewhere on your premises. The scheme is well established nationally, promoted by the Home Office, and gives customers a discreet way to ask bar staff for help if they feel unsafe.

Here's the honest version of how most venues are running it: the poster is up, and the staff might not have been briefed.

Ask for Angela works when the person receiving the request knows exactly what to do next. When they've beentrained to respond calmly, discreetly and in a way that keeps the individualsafe. WAVE training does that. It turns a poster into an actual safeguardingmeasure.

For venues working toward Best Bar None accreditation in Guildford, WAVE training is taken into account as part of the overall assessment, specifically around safety practices and Ask for Angela compliance. It's not a box-tick. It's evidence of the kind of proactive approach the scheme is looking for.

It's Not Just for Licensed Premises

One thing I want GBCRP members to know, because it's often a surprise: WAVE training isn't only for pubs andclubs.

I deliver an adapted version ofthe programme for retail businesses across Guildford town centre. Supermarkets,clothing stores, and everything in between. The vulnerability that presents ina retail setting is different from what a door supervisor encounters at 1am,but it's just as real. Someone in a controlling relationship using your shop as a brief escape. A person in crisis who's come inside because they didn't know where else to go. Someone being followed.

The National Safe Places campaign formally recognises retail businesses as designated places of safety for people who feel at risk in public. WAVE training gives your retail staffthe skills to make that designation meaningful.
‍

Eight Years In, and Why I'm Still Doing It

After eight years of delivering this in Guildford, the thing that keeps me coming back is the conversationsthat happen in the room. The door supervisor who's never been asked to thinkabout what his responsibility is once someone walks out of the venue. The shop manager who had a really difficult situation last year and still isn't sure if she handled it right.

Training doesn't just fill aknowledge gap. It gives people permission to act. And in the context of keeping Guildford safe, that permission, multiplied across every member business in the GBCRP network, adds up to something genuinely significant.

Find Out More

I've written a full breakdown ofthe WAVE programme, how it works in Guildford and how the different parts ofthe town's safety framework fit together. You can read it here:

WAVE Training in Guildford: Eight Years in Practice

If you'd like to find out more about what WAVE training looks like for your business or across your BID area, visit:

primacuratraining.co.uk

About the Author

Stephanie Austin, Founderand Lead Trainer, Prima Cura Training

Stephaniehas over 25 years of experience in health, social care and workforce trainingand has delivered WAVE training across Guildford's licensed economy and retailsector for eight years, in partnership with Experience Guildford and the SurreyPolice and Crime Commissioner's Office.

This articleis for general information and awareness only. It doesn't constitute legaladvice or a formal safeguarding framework. Licensed venue operators and retailbusinesses should seek specific advice in relation to their obligations underthe Licensing Act 2003 and any applicable local authority requirements.

‍