Event Safety, A Business Perspective

A tragedy, such as happened at the Indiana State Fair, last Saturday night reminds us how very serious promoting an event is.  Once people come into your event venue, they place their safety in your hands.  You must plan well, execute the plan as perfectly as humanly possible, be nimble and able to react quickly in a crisis.  Then you must be able to analyze and apply lessons learned in future promotions.

Some of our recommendations include:

• When planning, contact and take into account local expertise and knowledge from emergency services, venue management and security, area contract security experts when developing the risk matrix.
• Build a good working relationship with an experienced event insurance carrier.  They have a wealth of information based on years of adverse events.
• Always build time to fully conduct safety checks before, during and post event.  Document all deficiencies and assign someone to repair things for example lose or broken stair railings. It's easier to prevent accidents and injuries than to deal with them after the fact.
• Budget for and hire professionals.  Jim La Due at http://jimladueview.blogspot.com offers some insightful analysis of the event Saturday night and offers sensible recommendations. 
• Test communications, review procedures, evaluate and upgrade based on the results, before you open the doors to crowds.  Plan for worst case scenarios such as electricity outages preventing use of the venue PA system during evacuation procedures.  If outdoors, where are safer locations for patrons to take shelter in.
• Key people need to be very competent, cool headed and understand how serious a job it is keeping audiences, staff and entertainers safe.
• Conduct deep background checks on key suppliers such as staging, lighting and sound companies.  Check records of government regulators for histories of violations and lawsuits.  Bad credit may indicate a company in trouble, who might cut corners because of financial pressures.
• Provide people with the right systems and equipment to do the job.
• As soon as possible, after an adverse event, debrief staff.  Keep meticulous records to help analyze what went wrong, document liability, build a better training program for staff, and help make better decisions on future projects. 

Our deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those killed and injured last Saturday.  Concerts, Festivals and special events are supposed to be fun, a moment of respite from our cares and responsibilities.  Although we are always ultimately responsible for our own behavior at events, we must rely on the professionalism of the production companies, police and fire department officials and venue management to make our safety the highest priority over anything else.

My question to you is, do these incidents that have happened this summer, make you feel less safe at outdoor events?  Will it affect your concert going habits?