Health & Safety matter in events management

Health and Safety is a high-priority area in event organization. Effective health and safety has to be carefully planned, managed and controlled. As the event manager you must consider the health and safety of:

• Everyone working in your organization and at the event 
•    Everyone performing at or taking part in the event 
•   Everyone attending the event 
•  Everyone who may be affected by the event

Note

You also must ensure that everyone who is working on the event understands the importance of the health and safety issues and works together to achieve a safe event for all.

Safety Officer/Co-ordinator

Depending on the size and nature of your event, you may need to appoint a Safety Officer. The basic requirement is that a ‘competent’ person (often the event or production manager) is able to provide access to a good level of health and safety expertise. Competence is usually achieved through a combination of experience and formal health and safety qualifications. Consultants are often used to supplement this expertise. Whoever is responsible should have suitable training and experience to be able to advise on and implement safety procedures.

Health & Safety Policy

Your Health and Safety Policy should set out your organization’s commitment to health and safety. If your organization has more than five employees, it is a legal necessity to have a policy in place already. However, this general policy is likely to be different from one you will produce specifically for the event. The event-specific policy should set out:

o   Who is responsible for health & safety within your organization

o   Who will monitor health & safety at the event

o   Arrangements for each aspect and phase of the event

o    How others should follow and interpret the policy (the Event Safety Memo)

o   Staff training procedures

Subcontractors should provide you with their own policies. These should be checked to ensure there is no conflict with your policy or your event safety memo.

Event Safety Memo

It’s a good approach to produce an Event Safety Memo to be distributed to all those working at the event (preferably at the ‘induction’ or briefing meeting). This memo should give specific and easy-to-follow advice to all employees, volunteers, subcontractors, etc who are working at your event during the build, the live event and the ‘get-out’. It should set out how you, as the Event Management, expect others to conduct themselves while on site or at the venue. It should highlight particular safety aspects they should be aware of such as fire controls, emergency exits, evacuation procedures, incident or emergency codes and procedures, personal protective equipment/clothing required, incident reporting procedures, hazards, etc.

Reporting Procedures

For every aspect of health and safety, you should have a procedure for reporting incidents and occurrences. It should be clear in the Event Safety Memo, how and to whom individual incidents should be reported. Each incident or occurrence should be written down and described in full. Ensure staff and volunteers are well briefed on how to report any incident. Reports will likely take the form of:

·         Accident/Injury

·         Lost/Damaged Property

·         Incident

·         Safety/System Failures

·         Lost Persons

Normal Operating Procedures

If the location in which you stage the event is an existing venue, it is likely that it will have in place Normal Operating Procedures. Ensure you are aware of these and incorporate them into your planning.

Monitoring & Inspections

Continual monitoring of health and safety procedures is essential to ensure they remain effective. Inspections of the event site should take place before, during and after the public are on the premises/site and inspections of operating procedures by event staff and contractors should be a continual process throughout.

Plans and Drawings

In addition to your site or venue plan, if your event features any staging or structural elements, it is likely you will have to provide structural drawings to the local authority, Fire Brigade, etc. If you have subcontracted these elements, the subcontractor will provide you with copies. If the structure has been made specifically for the event ask the original architect or engineer for copies along with the Method Statement for its construction. Wish you hitch free event!!!!