Someone sent me this from JWtalk. A guy on there just posted this regarding changes to the way the JWs volunteer at conventions in Spain and the changes seem fairly major:
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We had a special meeting today called a training session for volunteers. Lots of changes were announced, although I don't know if this is worldwide or just local for Spain.
A country-wide committee has been formed made up by brothers who are experts in safety at work. This committee has two main goals: improving safety and reducing the number of volunteers and the amount of time they spend working and therefore missing the program. They check every venue where conventions or assemblies are to be held and will suggest solutions for all the risky spots they find. They also meet with the authorities and coordinate their efforts with police, civilian service, firemen and the like.
The number of volunteers in Spain will be reduced from 46,000 (mostly cleaning) to around 2,500. Professionals will now take care of risky tasks instead of well-intentioned but untrained volunteers. For example, volunteers will no longer install sound systems in the ceiling or hang monitors or pannels. Those elements will be included in the rental contract. No longer will brothers take care of medical emergencies: The city will provide sanitary professionals and the first aid department will just call them. The same goes for the traffic department: the police will take care of traffic if necessary.
For many years we have prided ourselves to hand back stadiums much cleaner than they were. Everybody was enouraged to participate, you often saw children and students and even first-time visitors cleaning. That is over. Whenever we rent any stadium, we will require the owners to provide the facilities perfectly clean and to clean them after the convention. That way it will not be necessary that thousands of volunteers to spent the whole night before the convention working cleaning the place, or to stay for long after the convention.
A database has been created containing volunteers approved by the bodies of elders, and only they will receive training (as we did today) and will be allowed to work. Congregations will no longer receive an assignment to clean a certain area, but every volunteer will receive his asignment personally. The same applies to all departments. Cleaning tools and products will be available and in case we make some dirt, we can clean it ourselves, as we do at home. Cleaning teams will still check from time to time, but not that often. This new approach has already been tested in some areas and the results were very good.
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I wonder if this is going to carry over into the USA and other countries.