Events Are Easy...

The Power of Risk Management

Risk management is a powerful tool in all aspects of events management. It helps us make good decisions and protects every single person and company who is associated with the event. Managing risk does not mean that you must be entirely risk averse. Rather, it enables you to take on challenging situations and daring concepts in all aspects of your business.

Within events there are operational, financial, and reputational risks to plan for, along with the risks to personal health and safety, which is why you must build risk management into your event planning and decision-making processes from day one. To demystify the terminology, think about risk management providing reassurance that you have identified what could go wrong, worked out how bad it will be if it does go wrong, and developed mitigating actions to deal with what could go wrong. This could mean changing the plan or not doing the event at all. An effective risk assessment document captures an ongoing set of actions. It is important to review your plan regularly as external conditions can affect any event.

In the worst-case scenario it could be significant issues which would result in major financial losses, or an accident resulting in serious injury or death. It may be smaller risks which affect the event on the day with less serious consequences. You may find that some members of your team find risk assessment frightening, but you need to reassure them that they are conducted for the health of the people and the success of the business or the event.

A bit of healthy doom thinking will be seen as negative by some; however, you are doing this to make sure your plans are effective and safe. Events are time limited, so the harder you try to find what could go wrong and mitigate against it, the more likely you are to have a smooth and successful live event phase.

You should consider whether you have the right tools and resources to take on the event you are planning:

 Do you have the right people with the skills that you need?

 Is there sufficient time to plan and deliver the event to a high standard?

 Are your decisions putting you or the company at financial risk?

 Is there any risk to the reputation of anyone involved in the event?

 Is the venue safe and accessible

If you give careful thought to all the potential risks, it can help you to find solutions which are better than your initial idea, along with 'Plan B' arrangements and backup plans.

Health and Safety

It is easy to fall into the trap of seeing risk management as a nuisance sent by the gods of Health and Safety to create paperwork and get in the way, but effective risk management will have a positive impact on every aspect of the work that you do. There is a widespread tendency to see health and safety risk assessments as only a form filling exercise, but you are creating a document which holds a list of mitigating actions which need to be referred to and reviewed throughout the event cycle.

Managing risk for the health and safety of everyone involved in your event is crucial. Events can be dangerous without proper planning and reputable contractors. You need to be thorough and detailed when you are assessing the risks, and most importantly you need to ensure that you are taking action to reduce the risks you identify.

You need to conduct a risk assessment for any activity where someone could potentially get hurt or injured, and you need to ensure that the event is safe and accessible for anyone with protected characteristics. You may have some aspects of this built into the daily running of the business, which means that you do not have to do anything extra, although it is advisable to use this as a starting point to compile a specific document for the event. Build your risk assessment documents from the very beginning of the process. There are some very standard risk categories which you will always need to consider, such as slips, trips and falls, safe manual handling, working at height, electrical safety, fire safety, and evacuation, use of chemicals, allergens, and dietary, safeguarding, lone working, travelling away from home, terrorism, adverse weather conditions, driving for work.

If you can identify these risks and where they are likely to occur as you are planning the event, then you can raise questions with suppliers at the outset and ensure that they are providing you all the paperwork you need. In your own risk assessment document, you should refer to any mitigations which you and the people you are working with can control, and any actions and behaviours which you are expecting from other people working on the event.

If you are contracting a company to build, rig or undertake labour or manual work such as electrical installation, or installation of equipment, exhibition, or event build work, you should be requesting:

 Evidence of appropriate training and certification

 A risk assessment for the works

 A method statement detailing how the works will be undertaken

 Evidence of public liability insurance

 Evidence of an employer's liability insurance

 Professional indemnity insurance (Recommended when you take advice from a supplier which has a direct impact on the way you manage the event)

If in doubt, take advice from a health and safety professional in your company or contact the appropriate regulatory body. In some cases, you may need to take legal advice.

It is normal practice for an employer to have an incident reporting book to record accidents and near misses. Your own employer will need to do this, as will any other contractor or venue who is involved in the delivery of your event. If you are not sure how to proceed, it is essential to take advice while you are planning the event. If an accident does occur, on some occasions a decision is required as to which organisation is required to undertake formal reporting, but where there is doubt all parties should collect as much information as possible to review what happened, and to take any necessary action to prevent a further incident taking place.

Accidents and incidents will happen from time to time, but good risk management will help you to mitigate those risks before they arise. If you see unsafe practice, it is right to call it out straight away, by either asking the person directly to stop what they are doing, or if you are not sure go to the manager of the company or service responsible for the individual in question. If you are in charge of the event and the people working on it, it is better to call stop and find out the action was actually safe than it is to watch an accident happen and wish you had said something.

First aid and medical emergencies

People will have accidents or become unwell at events from time to time. The likelihood of accidents happening, and the severity of the outcome will vary from event to event. Access to first aid on site can save lives and therefore it is an important mitigation in your risk assessment and planning.

In the UK, there is no pre-defined number of first aiders required for an event, however you have a duty of care to everyone working on or attending the event. Venues will usually have first aid provision on site. The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 (GOV.UK 2011) details the legal requirements for employers, alongside the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (UK Government 1974) and The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (UK Government 1999). There is no specific law regarding first aid for event attendees, however the Health and Safety Executive give strong recommendations in outlining your duties when managing an event.

The level of cover will vary depending on the nature of the business so it is important that you have a conversation about this early on as you may be required to provide first aid staffing yourself. You may wish to increase any existing cover by training your own team or hiring in a third-party service such as St John Ambulance. If you are organising first aid in house, you should take professional advice to ensure that the staffing level is sufficient, and that you have a plan in place to obtain and maintain first aid kits, including the appropriate stocks of resources.

You are responsible for the safety of everyone who works at your event from the moment they arrive on site, so take care to ensure that there is always an appropriate level of first aid cover. This is of particular importance when any potentially dangerous work is being undertaken such as set building or rigging. If you are working with third party contractors and suppliers, you should have a conversation about their approach to first aid. In most instances, suppliers who are undertaking high risk work will provide staff who are first aid trained as part of their own duty of care, however this should always be discussed and never left to chance.

For outside and large-scale events, it is essential to have a full medical plan that sits alongside the risk assessment which includes first aid, and details of where that provision is coming from. It should also note the location of the nearest accident and emergency unit and a reporting procedure for incidents and treatments. You will also need an operational and communications plan which details roles, responsibilities, and actions to take in the event of emergencies and major incidents. When your event involves a significant number of people or the risk...