industry focus
ORIS Forums celebrates 10th anniversary with 'best event to date'.
ORIS Forums, the not-for-profit collective of retail-led forums that share best practice and intelligence to reduce risk and crime in the retail sector, celebrated its 10th anniversary in style this month with its party-themed annual Risk Summit.
More than 120 retailers congregated at Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire to celebrate ’10 years of successful collaboration’ among 10 sector and function specific forums.
The two-day event attracted retail, Government, Police and academic presentations on a range of subjects from international terrorism, lone working, global intellectual property protection and cyber protection in the brave new world of the so-called ‘Internet of Things’.
Speakers included Metropolitan Police’s National Counter Terrorism expert Chris Bancroft and Helen Barnham, the Outreach and Stakeholder manager for the Government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
The Summit which attracted heads of loss prevention and health and safety also involved a series of round table and panel discussions around the current and future risks impacting the retail sector.
Zoe Pearson, head of health and safety at Wilko said: “This event represented an excellent networking opportunity to share best practice in order to help ensure a safer shopping experience for all.”
Terry Webb from Innovia Systems, said: “I found the event to be very useful and informative for the retail loss side of the business.”
Paul Churhett of tagging company Cataylst added: “This was a very well organised event that we were very happy to support.”
Louise Kadege, managing director of ORIS Forums said: “We have been holding an annual risk summit where members from across all 10 forums come together for a two day event for the past 5 years, and this year’s event was our biggest yet. Our members are what make Forums so successful, so it was only right that we not only lined up a fantastic agenda but also celebrated with them during the evening of the first day of this two day event.
"This milestone event marked 10 years of achievement where ORIS Forums has not only grown from just 7 members at its first meeting in 2006 to 120 members in 2016, but also engaged at every level of the retail hierarchy – from the Home Office to the Sentencing Council, The Minstry of Justice and MOPAC.
“The Forums have been so successful that we have been asked to sit on the Home Office’s National Retail Crime Steering Group – here’s to the next 10 years!”
