What is Event Safety?
Event safety is the practice of ensuring that anyone who works at or visits your event remains safe during the time that they are present at your event.
The above definition is a very quick and simple one that answers the question in under fifty words. I can and will within this article give you a more involved answer but as starting points go this is mine.
Why do I need Event Safety?
As an event organiser ultimately the final legal responsibility for health and safety at your event rests with you. To ensure that your event is safe you will need to
- Develop a Safety Plan
- Carry our risk assessments
- Have Contingency and Major Incident plans
- and more besides.
Depending on any requirements placed on you by your local Safety Advisory Group there may be other paperwork that is required.
Some of the paperwork and requirements can be daunting to an organiser. It can also be time consuming especially when you are wanting to focus on other elements of the planning of your event.
This is where an Event Safety Manager can come in and help. An Event Safety Manager needs to be a competent person. They will be able to complete the planning and paperwork on your behalf. They will also help you with staying the right side of all of your legal requirements.
When should I engage with an Event Safety Manager?
My brief answer to this is at the earliest possible opportunity. This is because it then gives the best opportunity to provide ways to bring your plans and vision for your event into reality in the safest way possible.
As an Event Safety Manager, I hate having to say no to a client (or a potential one). However, there are times when it is necessary. I would rather say “yes but”. I can then follow it up with a discussion around risks and controls and we can get to a place where we can deliver your plan or vision.
The discussion on risks and controls and the drawing up the plans and risk assessments can take time. It may have an impact on other areas of your event and event budget.
It may be that once we have worked out suitable controls that the cost is such that you may choose to not go ahead with it at this time. Alternatively, you may scale the plan back. This could then leave a hole in your event programming. If it is close to the date of your event there may not be an opportunity to fill this hole. This then provides a challenge to you as the event organiser.
Through early engagement we can seek to mitigate the risk of such a hole. We can also explore all options to make it happen.
What is a competent person?
A competent person is somebody that through there training, experience and qualifications can provide informed guidance to you.
Using myself as an example. I hold qualifications in both Health and Safety and spectator safety management. I also have over twenty-three years of experience working in event safety.
As such when you engage with me, I can draw upon all of this in providing you with competent advice about the safety at your event.
So, to summarise. Event Safety is the practice of ensuring that anyone who works at or visits your event remains safe during the time that they are present at your event. As an event organiser you are ultimately responsible for safety at your event. However, you can appoint a competent person such as an Event Safety Manager to advise, guide and assist you in discharging your duties and responsibilities.
