Event safety
As the event organiser it is your responsibility to ensure the event is safe for all who visit and work there.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have lots of useful information on their website regarding running events safely. Visit the HSE website (opens in new window) for information about managing crowds, street parties, temporary demountable structures, basic health and safety guidance and more.
Certain things you may wish to consider are:
Safety Advisory Group
Depending on the size and nature of your event, we may invite you to attend a meeting with the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) to discuss your event plan in more detail.
It’s usually for those events that are for 2,000 or more, are new events, or involve elements that are deemed high risk.
You should have an Event Safety Management Plan (ESMP, at least in draft form) and send it to eventplanning@mansfield.gov.uk two weeks before attending the SAG meeting so that it can be discussed and appropriate advice can be given.
The group aims to help you in the planning process and promotes good practise in safety and welfare planning for events. It provides free professional advice on the suitability of event management plans and involves multi-agency support from the likes of:
- Environmental Health
- Health and Safety
- Building Control
- Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue
- Nottinghamshire Police
- East Midlands Ambulance Service
- Highways.
The SAG will advise you on whether your plans are appropriate. They may ask for more information, or ask you to change or add information in your plan to improve safety at your event.
In the unlikely event that the SAG considers that your event may be unsafe, and that advice provided by the group is not being followed, the chair may withdraw the support of the group for your event.
Although the SAG itself does not have the power to prevent an event taking place, individual members of the group may have powers to require event organisers to comply with their legal obligations.
The withdrawal of the support of the SAG and its members may also affect your insurance policy. This is a very unusual course of action and would only be taken if all other avenues for improving safety management to an acceptable level have been exhausted.
First aid / medical provision
We recommend a first aid presence at any size event. You can get information and quotes from the likes of Red Cross, St Johns Ambulance and East Midlands Ambulance Service.
Have a look at the EMAS guidance on medical cover for events document (opens in new window).
Here are some useful links:
- East Midlands Ambulance Service event planning guidance (opens in new window)
- St John Ambulance Service booking form (opens in new window)
Security
Mansfield District Council and partners advise you to have a security presence at your event to deal with any antisocial behaviour, lost children/vulnerable adults, assisting with emergency procedures etc. An ideal ratio is approximately one security guard/steward per 100 attendees, but this will depend on the nature of each event. This ratio is based on advice from a professional security contractor.
For example, for a low risk family fun day without alcohol for up to 1,000 people, a safe number of security guards/stewards would be six. You should consider using a reputable security company who have SIA badged members of staff.
At Mansfield District Council events, the safety of our visitors is of the utmost importance so expect to see security, community wardens and Police presence throughout the day. The teams are on hand to offer friendly advice and information to keep visitors safe and will keep a close eye on crowds to help people if needed. So if you ever see something suspicious, trust your instincts and alert a member of the security team, who will be more than happy to investigate. There will be CCTV coverage and lots of other measures going on behind the scenes to help make visitors feel safe too.
Lost/ Found child/ vulnerable person policy
We recommend you have a lost/ found child/ vulnerable adult procedure in place and that all your staff, volunteers, security, first aid etc review this, find the recommended form at the bottom of this list (opens in a new window).
Road safety
If your event is on a public highway, you will need to apply for a Temporary Traffic Road Order (TTRO) from Nottinghamshire County Council, which can cost around £500 to £1,000 depending on the level of disruption to the highway involved.
Find out more about applying for a TTRO on the Nottinghamshire County Council website (opens in new window).
Please be aware that TTRO’s may take 3 months to be approved by Nottinghamshire County Council.
Something to bear in mind is that you may also need to book an experienced traffic management company to deal with road closures, which can come at a high cost.