Getting back together means getting back to basics

Following the UK’s successful vaccinations programme and subsequent withdrawal of Covid-19 restrictions, face-to-face events of all sizes are back on the agenda. Stephen Thomas, health and safety business partner at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), has some top tips for event organisers on getting ‘back to basics’ to ensure sensible and proportionate risk management

Know your limits
There are many interested parties when it comes to managing event safety, including the organiser, venue owner, contractors, Safety Advisory Groups (SAGs) and, if certain criteria are met such as serving alcohol, local councils granting Temporary Events Notices (TENs).
    
However, meeting organisers retain prime responsibility for the health and safety of workers, members of the public and contractors working at the event. The organising team should be clear about health and safety roles and responsibilities, while also ensuring co-operation and co-ordination of work activities on site before, during and after the event.
    
To manage the risks of an event effectively, organisers need to ask themselves whether they have sufficient knowledge and skills in health and safety - if not, it is time to upskill, recruit or bring in external support.

Event support and resources
There are numerous event safety resources but organisers should be careful to utilise authoritative sources such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Events Industry Forum (EIF). HSE, for instance, has a microsite covering event safety basics from the point of view of organisers, site owners, contractors and workers, while the EIF publishes its Purple Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Music and Other Events, which is produced in consultation with HSE.
    
Consultants can be used to support the organiser with risk assessment, planning and training. However, it is important to establish that they are competent. Check whether the consultant is registered on the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR), is a Chartered Member of IOSH (CMIOSH), has relevant experience in the type of event planned and can provide references from organisers of previous events they’ve supported.

Risk assessment
Risk assessment is the tool by which we identify hazards (something with the potential to cause harm), assess the risks (how likely and how severe that harm may be) and decide on proportionate control measures to address those risks. Sensible risk management should be applied: a small, low-risk event such as a fête at a village hall warrants a lesser level of control than a large higher risk event, such as a musical festival.
    
Assessments should ideally be carried out afresh for each event but where an organiser uses a template or a previous assessment as a starting point, they should be reviewed to ensure they are still suitable and sufficient. For example, running an outdoor winter event will be substantially different to one at the height of summer, due to weather conditions and the necessary facilities and equipment.
    
Even after an assessment has been completed for the event, it should be reviewed following any incidents or significant changes; for example, changes to the intrinsic nature of the event or updates made to relevant event industry guidance.

The Safety Plan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Once the risks have been addressed in the assessment, this can then be used to inform a Safety Plan for the event. The plan should cover the control measures identified in the assessment, as well as considering factors such as the scale and nature of the event, the number and type of attendees it is likely to attract, and when and where it will be held.
    
The plan should also be used to determine the resources and facilities that are required, including first aid and medical assistance, stewards required for crowd management, eating and drinking facilities, toilet and washing facilities, and parking.
    
Foreseeable emergencies must also be planned for. Depending on the nature of the event, such emergencies could include fire, accidents, terrorism, inclement weather (such as high winds and flooding - and even heatwaves), food poisoning and disease outbreaks. Relevant stakeholders such as the venue owner, contractors, emergency services, employees and local SAGs should be involved in this planning, with emergency roles and responsibilities clearly outlined. Where possible, the plan should be tested in advance of the event, as a ‘table-top’ run through, for example.
    
It is also good practice to have a post-event debrief with the stakeholders so that lessons, both good and bad, can be learned and incorporated into the planning for further events.

Managing contractors
When it comes to using contractors, there is more to appointing them than simply going with the lowest cost - event organisers need to exercise a reasonable level of due diligence to ensure that the contractor is competent to carry out its work safely.
    
Take outdoor marquees, for example. Although seemingly innocuous, they are classified as a temporary demountable structure and it is therefore essential that organisers ask the contractor to demonstrate they understand and will manage the risks from erecting and dismantling as well as use. There will also need to be weather monitoring and emergency plans in case of high winds.
    
Further due diligence checks for contractors would include asking for evidence of training for their workers (preferably to a standard recognised within their industry) and whether they can provide evidence from previous work, such as risk assessment/method statements (RAMS) that show they can work safely.
    
HSE maintains a register of convictions and notices that can be used to check whether a contractor has been subject to enforcement action or prosecution. Online reviews may also be a useful indicator of how a contractor operates.
    
While contractors are working at the event venue, it is important that they are supervised to make sure they are carrying out work safely and if not, they should be challenged.

Do we still need to worry about Covid-19?
Covid-19 certainly hasn’t gone away but is more manageable at a society level; there is certainly a push towards living with Covid-19 risk rather than taking great pains to avoid it, all of which is in line with the Government’s Response Plan ‘Living with Covid-19’.
    
Event organisers need to ask themselves if Covid-19 poses a greater risk at the event than perhaps other communicable diseases, such as flu or norovirus. For instance, if the expected demographic of event attendees is considered to be at higher risk from Covid-19 (that is; older people, people with health conditions and pregnant people), then it may be wise to implement a higher level of communicable disease controls. This might include increased cleaning regimes, access to sanitiser and reviewing the ventilation of indoor areas.
    
Reputational risk is also a consideration. For example, if an outbreak is linked to an event then it could be fertile ground for negative portrayal in social media and local (or even national) press.
    
Finally, there is still the possibility of Covid-19 ‘spikes’ during the colder months, when people spend more time indoors, with a commensurate increase in local infection rates. This could then result in local or national restrictions being imposed, along with changes to Covid-19 guidance.
    
Thankfully, Covid-19 has now largely become just another factor you need to take account of in the risk assessment of an event. The rest is down to sensible, proportionate risk management and being careful to address the things that could cause real harm. It may not be rocket science but it’s critical to keeping people safe and healthy… and, therefore, to the success, or otherwise, of your event.