Making sure your event is safe and the public are protected is vital when delivering an event in community spaces. However, it can feel a little scary if you’ve not done it before.

To bust some of the myths, we asked Suzy Somerville, Head of Production at New Vic Theatre and experienced production manager to share her process with Artsbank.

So you want to put on an event?  You’ve found a venue, developed the programme of activities, started the marketing and now you need to sort the Health and Safety side of things. A lot of people find this area concerning and confusing, so here are some of my helpful hints.

This follows a PLAN DO CHECK ACT process:

PLAN – make a list – aka your “Risk Assessment”

1. Make a list of everything that is going to happen as part of your event e.g. rehearsals, setting up technical equipment, selling tickets, audience in the space; performing in the space, the ‘get out’, returning and recycling set etc.
2. Go through this list, think about and write down any hazards that need to be taken into account e.g.: rehearsals – is it warm enough?; is there drinking water?; are there suitable toilet facilities?; are there trip hazards?; what is the fire fighting provision?; who is the first aider etc?
3. Then, think about how you will control these hazards and make things safer e.g.: putting signage up for trip hazards; holding staff inductions; ensuring people wear hard hats etc.
4. Once you have completed this process for each step of your event you have produced a risk assessment!

There are no rules about how risk assessments should look but normally the data is stored in a table form so it is easy to view (see the downloads section of Artsbank to find a template).

DO the things on the list

On the great list you have made there are lots of things that now need actioning – e.g. signage, briefings, buying hard hats etc. Decide who is going to do these tasks and give them a deadline on when to do it.  And then, check that it’s happened.

It can be a good idea to include on your risk assessment who is going to action the task and when it will be checked.

Share the Information:

Regular catch ups with the team are really important to make sure everyone is aware of hazards and what is being done to keep things safe.  These can take place as often as you think appropriate and should always take place if something has changed. In a theatre setting these might be: on the first day of rehearsals; on the first day on site; every morning on site; before the fit up starts and before the get out starts.

Make sure the risk assessment is available for everyone to read

Nominate the point of contact:

Decide who is taking responsibility for Health and Safety and then make sure everyone working on site knows who they should talk to if they have concerns or need to report an accident etc.

CHECK 

Nominate team members who can check to see that the plan is being followed during the event.  They are not the Health and Safety police – sometimes information can be easily misunderstood or forgotten.

ACT

What if something goes wrong?

Firstly, stay calm. Then:

• If you have completed the risk assessment stage and briefed everyone in the team on the actions to take in the event of an incident then: follow the plan.
• Deal with the incident calmly and quickly.
• If necessary stop your event and in the worst case scenario send everyone home (you should have protocols pre-planned for these types of scenarios).
• Once the incident is under control write a report of what happened and the details of who was involved.
• Get any other witnesses to write their reports as close in time to the incident happening.  Take lots of photos and videos.
• Then think about who (if anyone) you need to report it to. If it is a serious medical accident it may need to be reported to the Health and Executive under the rules of RIDDOR https://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/ If it is a criminal act you will need to call the police. If it is a fire incident you have probably already called the fire service.  Think about if it is something you should make your licensing authority aware of too.
• Is there likely to be an insurance claim?  Then notify your insurance company.
• Make sure you have copies of all the relevant paperwork: the risk assessments, signed forms to confirm safety information was briefed and all the witness reports.
• It is always good practice to review the incident after the fact: was there anything that could have been done to prevent it?  What can you learn for next time?  This is the ACT part of the plan – learn from mistakes and make amendments to the PLAN for next time!

Health & Safety and The Law

The Health and Safety at Work Act is a piece of legislation that states what responsibilities employers have to employees and what responsibilities employees have.  The person taking responsibility does not need any formal qualification to fill this role but should be able to demonstrate they are “competent”.  If you have the time there is fantastic H&S advice on everything from using a ladder to using tools – all you need to do is follow the HSE guidance and all will be fine.

Licensing

Safety for audience members in public spaces is overseen by the Local Authority responsible for licensing your area.  If an event is taking place in a space that is not normally used for events the Local Authority may want to carry out an inspection to ensure the space is safe for audience members. There are a lot of regulations that performance spaces must comply with too – these are all summed up in this handy guide complied by the Association of British Theatre technicians.

What next

There may be a stage when you need more expert help: for example if you are building a venue from scratch with complex seating and staging; if the event is involving something you don’t feel competent in assessing (e.g. fire/firearms/pyrotechnics, etc) or if there is equipment being used that you don’t know very well or have an understanding of (e.g. fork lifts, cranes, telihandlers, etc).

If this is the case it is probably time to bring someone else on board to take responsibility for the Health and Safety of your event.  It is worth remembering at planning stages to budget for this role.

Written by

Suzy Somerville

Head of Production, New Vic Theatre