Small Event Safety Management

event safety management comments on why it's important, what you need to consider and a case study

Why is Event Safety Management Important?

It’s easy to get swept up into a project management whirlwind when organising an event, that’s why planning event safety management at an early stage is a great move.

Diligent health and safety planning has a positive effect on the success of any event, covering varied areas of management, from crowds to fire safety and more.

Get one of these areas wrong, however, and your event may not run as smoothly as you intend. This remains true whether you’re running a huge outdoor festival or a small community gathering. Where there are crowds of people (no matter the size), high spirits, and alcohol, trouble is often not far away.

event safety management, the reason remains the same whether big event or small

Your aim is to be prepared, and to ensure that your event will run smoothly by:

  • minimising risk;
  • preventing accidents and injuries, and reducing harm, and;
  • having the ability, resources and competency to oversee the event and respond quickly should an incident occur.

How Do You Manage An Event Safely?

Events vary considerably.

Venues, for a start, should be risk assessed individually based on their unique risks. Big and small venues, indoor and outdoor spaces, pop up places, and other, more unusual venues, such as boats and caves, all of them require unique management.

Crowds require different strategies to manage depending on their size and the area you have to work with, potentially requiring special signage, barriers, and wardens.

However, there are general risks that can be present in any and all venues. General risks to consider are equipment, contractor management, catering (food hygiene), welfare and general facilities, fire safety, COSHH, and vehicle management, to name a few.

Then, when the event is in full swing, there is the need to perform fire safety and health and safety checks throughout.

event safety management considerations

To give you a starting point, the HSE provides a good overview of the things you should consider when planning event safety management. You can find a list of safety topics here.

If you are unsure of the correct course of action, it’s always best to seek competent advice. Please do feel free to contact our family-run team of consultants with any queries you might have and we would be happy to help.

Harbury Beer Festival 2018 – A Case Study

event safety management - Harbury Beer Festival, pouring a glass

We had our own taste of event safety management recently.

As a keen supporter of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), ADL Associates’ Managing Director, Adrian Lee, was pleased to cover all safety matters (and help behind the bar!) at this year’s Harbury Beer Festival.

For two boozy summer days this quaint village beer festival houses over 50 casks of beer, serves all day food, and fills up with tightly packed crowds of beer enthusiasts who are there to do just one thing – celebrate real ale! This involves sampling the wares in large quantities until very merry!

Adrian’s role as fire marshal, first aider and competent person was to ensure all risks were assessed and made safe before opening.

Then, for the duration of the event, he performed hourly checks for fire safety and health and safety, which allowed the control of any hazards that inevitably pop up (such as obstructed walkways).

As first aider, he was on site at all times to provide first aid assistance should it be needed.

A few of the more significant areas of risk at the festival were:

  • the need for controlled access to bar areas for children;
  • general food hygiene;
  • facilities (especially storage areas);
  • COSHH (due to large quantities of fermented alcohol on site);
  • fire safety considerations (also taking into account large quantities of highly flammable substances on site);
  • temperature control, and;
  • crowd management, paying particular attention to alcohol consumption.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly, and there was nothing more untoward to deal with than a temperamental cooling machine. The crowds proved to be very well behaved!