Management of Health and Safety Risks at Large Events

Abstract

This chapter details and guides managers and researchers to consider organisational culture, risk management systems, procedures, principles, and processes to manage larger events successively and effectively without any potential tragedies, harms, and risks. It begins with the conceptual understanding of events and how the event organising involves managing health and safety risks. Health and safety management in such situations consists of organised efforts and procedures for identifying workplace hazards and reducing accidents and exposure to harmful situations and substances. The events are organised with different purposesm and each event has a unique blending of durations, seating, management, and people. This is further followed by risk management planning, which assists event organisers in devising and conducting events in the safest possible manner while mitigating losses. HSE England commissioned a study in 2012 and found a range of potential risks and remedies at major events. The main risk identified were design and construction, public health and safety risks, airborne and communicable diseases, non-infectious risk, respiratory diseases, road traffic accident, crowd control, strain on healthcare, workplace violence, fires, etc. Managing a safe event involves planning, assessing risks, precautions measure and corrective and perverting actions, contingency, emergency planning and procedures, effective communications, managing crowd and resources, review, and reflection. The primary legislation covering occupational health and safety in Britain is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which makes employers responsible for the management of health and safety. It sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and to each other. The last section discusses main principles of a H&S risk management policy followed by some case studies.