Summer is when a hotel or holiday park earns its year. It is also when everything runs hotter and faster, with more guests, more staff and facilities in near-constant use. A little preparation before the rush takes the pressure off once it arrives.
Think of this as a structured walk round your site a few weeks before peak, asking one simple question: what changes when we are full? Work through the sections below, tick off what is sorted, and note what still needs doing.
Staffing and supervision
- Map your busy weeks against your rota and be honest about where you are thin. Quiet corners at handover time are where problems start.
- Make sure every shift has someone clearly in charge who knows the emergency arrangements.
- Give new starters more than a welcome and a locker. A good induction matters, but on its own it is not enough. Back it with training on the actual jobs they will do, real supervision while they find their feet, and a genuine check that they have understood and can follow what you have shown them.
Young and inexperienced workers
Summer brings new faces, often teenagers in their first job. Because they have less experience and less awareness of what can go wrong, they need a bit more care than an old hand.
- Have a proper think about the risks before a young person starts, not after their first shift.
- Check whether higher-risk tasks or equipment are suitable for them, considering their experience, maturity, training and the supervision available.
- Supervise them more closely, and check they can remember and act on what they have been told.
- Where someone is on work experience, keep the parents or the school in the loop.
Fire and emergency arrangements
Because you have people sleeping on site, fire is your highest-consequence risk, and a busier building is a good reason to look again.
- Re-read your fire risk assessment and bring it up to date for summer numbers and any layout changes.
- Test alarms and emergency lighting in line with your testing arrangements. Check extinguishers are correctly located, unobstructed, undamaged and within their required maintenance programme.
- Walk every escape route. Nothing propped open, blocked or chained that should not be.
- Make sure seasonal staff know the evacuation plan and where the assembly point is.
Pools and play areas
- Check supervision levels are right for busy days, along with water treatment, testing records and depth signage.
- Inspect play equipment for wear, sharp edges and worn safety surfacing, and write the check down.
Food temperature control
A hot kitchen at full tilt is where temperature control slips.
- Keep relevant chilled food at 8°C or below, normally setting refrigeration controls to maintain 5°C or colder, and keep hot-held food at 63°C or above.
- Check fridge, freezer and hot-hold probes are working and reading true.
- Make sure someone is actually recording temperatures during service, not catching up at the end of the day.
Heat, shade and drinking water
- Make drinking water easy to get to for guests and staff, and free for anyone working outdoors.
- Offer shade at pools, play areas and queues.
- Keep an eye on staff in hot roles like the kitchen and the grounds, ease break patterns on hot days, and know the signs of heat getting to someone.
Barbecues and temporary outdoor activities
- Site barbecues and fire pits well away from tents, awnings and buildings, with a way of putting them out close by.
- Watch disposable barbecues and hot ash, which start fires long after guests have wandered off.
- Have a proper look at bouncy castles, entertainers and one-off events, and check any hired-in operator carries their own insurance and paperwork.
Traffic and overflow parking
- Keep people and vehicles apart on arrival days, when both are at their peak.
- Mark out overflow parking clearly and keep emergency routes open at all times.
- Set a low site speed limit and stick to it, and think about reversing near pitches and play areas.
Waste and pest control
- Step up bin collections before you are overwhelmed, not after.
- Store waste away from buildings and closed against gulls, rats and insects, which all turn up faster in warm weather.
- Check your pest control visits are booked through the season.
Contractors finishing before you open
- Make sure any refurbishment or grounds work is genuinely finished and safe before guests arrive.
- Ask contractors for their method statements and proof they are competent and insured.
- Bring little-used outlets and water systems back into use in accordance with the site's Legionella risk assessment and written control scheme. Where the required restart procedure is unclear, obtain advice from a competent water hygiene specialist.
First aid and recording incidents
- Review your first-aid needs assessment against peak staffing, operating hours, site layout and foreseeable risks. Make sure the level of personnel, equipment and facilities identified by that assessment is available whenever people are at work, including evenings and weekends.
- Restock first-aid kits and make sure staff can access them throughout operating hours.
- Keep the accident book current, and know which serious incidents have to be reported to the authorities, so one is handled properly on the day rather than weeks later.
Step up your checks in the peak weeks
None of this is one-and-done. In your busiest weeks, do your routine checks more often. A daily walk-round of pools, play areas, fire routes and waste, plus a quick look at yesterday's temperature and incident records, catches the small things before they grow.
Where TSP Safety comes in
Most of this is manageable once it is written down and someone owns it. If you would rather not build the list yourself, a Health and Safety Audit gives you a clear picture of your site before the crowds arrive, and we can hand you a pre-season checklist tailored to your hotel or park so your team knows exactly what to check and when. If summer is nearly on you, get in touch and we will start with the areas that carry the most risk first.
