As an event organizer, it’s your job to ensure the safety of both your attendees and staff. That means taking reasonable steps to prevent harm from coming to anyone involved in your event and planning for emergencies.
And guess what? The larger your event, the more safety measures you need to put in place.
At Eventbrite, we believe that finding ways to look after your guests and adhering to regulations should always be an essential part of your planning list. That’s why we’ve worked with expert leaders, like The Chertoff Group, on sharing the most effective safety strategies for event organizers.
In this article, we’ll help you along your health and safety journey by covering the main aspects to consider when it comes to event safety. We’ve even provided you with a free downloadable checklist that runs through everything safety-related to event preparation.
8 core event safety management strategies
1. Examine your event’s unique needs
2. Assess the suitability of your venue
3. Build an event health and safety policy
4. Create an emergency event plan
5. Host training sessions for your event staff
6. Develop a weather safety strategy
7. Develop an event security plan
8. Put crowd control measures in place
How should you approach event safety and security?
When it comes to event safety and security, you want to lay a solid foundation by covering the basics first and then tailoring your approach to the unique needs of each event.
The essential safety foundations, such as general security measures and emergency procedures, include the walls, roof, and floor. Then, specific details, like crowd surge control, are tailored on a case-by-case basis, depending on the unique needs of your venue, audience, and activities.
When constructing a safe event space, you want to have a clear understanding of the safety guidelines in your area.
Official safety guidelines include:
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): OSHA’s guidelines include proper hazard communication, emergency action plans, and appropriate use of personal protective equipment.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): ADA mandates that event venues must be accessible to people with disabilities, including providing accessible seating, communication aids, and facilities.
- National Fire Protection Association (NSPA): NFPA standards require event organizers to have clear fire exits, functional fire extinguishers, and well-planned emergency evacuation procedures.
- California Assembly Bill: Bill No. 1775 outlines that employees involved in setting up, operating, or dismantling a live event at a public venue for an entertainment vendor must meet specific training, certification, and workforce requirements. For example, vendor employees must show evidence that they’ve completed either the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health or OSHA’s 10-hour general entertainment safety training.
Your legal safety responsibilities can vary state-by-state, especially for large-scale events like a multiday music festival. For instance, safety laws like crowd management and fire safety look different from California to New York, and permits can differ, too.
Also, remember that laws are constantly changing — and as an event organizer, it’s up to you to keep in the loop. Because the consequences of overlooking event safety protocols can go far beyond a slap on the wrist — especially if they lead to serious harm.
To make the process easier, we recommend signing up for updates from the Federal Register and regularly checking sites like Where in Federal Contracting for any changes that could affect your event.
Just take a look at the Oakland Ghost Ship Warehouse case, back in 2016, where a fire broke out during an underground electronic rave and led to 36 deaths. The venue was warned about the dangers of unsafe conditions and non-compliance with zoning laws. Because of this, the event organizer was found criminally negligent and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Event safety regulations and conducting a ‘risk assessment’
A key component to help build your event safety house is the National Standard guidelines for event safety and security. Developed by the American National Standards Institute, these guidelines provide a benchmark of what’s considered common practice for event organizers.
The ANSI guideline covers the following areas:
- Event safety protocols for temporary structures used for technical production of outdoor entertainment events
- Minimum guidelines for suspending equipment and materials in event rigging, covering design, installation, and operation for both indoor and outdoor setups
Here’s a real-world case study that shows what can go wrong if you don’t consider event safety during the event planning process.
Case study: Planning for the ‘worst case scenario’
In 2021, a tragic crowd surge at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld concert led to 10 deaths.
Although Travis and his event team were cleared of all charges, as the incident was ruled a “tragedy, but not a crime,” it serves as a stark reminder not to take event safety lightly.
The police report revealed:
- Attendees breached secured areas, including the media section, barricade walkways, accessible areas, and platforms with towers, leading to delays in the event staff’s ability to address overcrowding and ensure safety
- There was a lack of crowd compaction monitoring in different zones
- Security personnel weren’t sufficiently trained for a festival environment
- There were problems and delays in the communication of emergency 911 calls
- Event staff neglected to verify the credentials of attendees
- The emergency operations plan (EOP) failed to specify the responsible parties and procedures for halting the event
Since Travis is known for drawing big, rowdy crowds and encouraging gate jumping, he should have considered his audience’s typical behavior during the event’s safety planning process. For instance, stronger crowd control measures and more qualified event security could have helped manage overcrowding in key areas.
You should always have a plan in place to help prevent the ‘worst-case scenario’ and how to manage it, ensuring you communicate the plan with your event team.
To help you build your own event safety house with solid foundations and thoughtful details, we’ve put together a list of key considerations.
8 core event safety management strategies
A thorough event safety plan helps to create a safer event space. What’s the secret to building a comprehensive plan that covers the basics while also addressing your specific needs, you ask? Breaking it down — step by step.
Here are eight core event safety management strategies to keep attendees and your team safe and be prepared for unwanted dilemmas.
To help you stay on top of your event safety planning, we’ve created a free downloadable event safety checklist. It covers everything from initial planning to on-the-day checks, so you can make sure all your bases are covered and nothing slips through the cracks.
1. Examine your event’s unique needs
To keep your event safe, think about how your event could impact your attendees’ safety — and this can include their physical data and the safety of their personal data.
Look at areas, like:
- Type of event: Hosting a live, hybrid, or virtual event has unique security requirements. For instance, virtual event security involves investing in end-to-end encryption to safeguard attendee data against online threats.
- Event team size: You need enough staff and volunteers to cover important areas like entrances, exits, and crowd control. If you don’t have enough people, you risk overloading your team, missing crucial safety checks, or being unprepared for emergencies, which can put attendees and your team’s safety at risk.
- Target audience analysis: Understanding the behavior and preferences of your attendees can help you anticipate potential issues and prepare for them. For example, if you’re an event organizer like Hotbox, you might find that your events attract large groups of attendees. Knowing this, you can focus on ensuring you have enough security to prevent overcrowding at the entrance.
Let’s use ORLOVE as an example, and look at some safety considerations they could’ve considered for its Daft Disko party:
- Ticket sale numbers: On their website, Telegram Ballroom specifies that the venue can safely accommodate 625 people. To ensure there’s enough space for everyone, including event staff, bartenders, and performers, ORLOVE might set a cap on ticket sales at around 590 tickets.
- Accessibility: Even though the Telegram Ballroom is listed as handicap accessible, it’s a ‘general admission standing only’ venue. So ORLOVE might need to consider adding some seating options.
Thinking about these details when you’re planning your event will help ensure that you’re covering all your bases. Remember our motto: It’s always better to be event safe than event sorry.
2. Assess the suitability of your venue
Start with a written profile of your event, including all the activities that’ll take place and the estimated audience size and demographics — for example, children, the elderly, or disabled people will have different needs.
Then, visit all of your proposed event venue options and assess their suitability.
Factors to look out for:
- Capacity: Assess whether or not the venue can comfortably accommodate your attendees. Think about whether your guests will be standing or seated, ensure there’s enough space for everyone to move around easily, and identify any potential pinch points where overcrowding might become an issue.
- Access: Look for sufficient access to the event venue for pedestrians and vehicles, if people with disabilities or wheelchairs are able to access the venue, and if there are enough emergency exits.
- Hazards: Consider if there are any existing hazards in the venue, such as overhead electric power lines or buried services that structures could interfere with, if the site is prone to flooding or high winds, and if the ground conditions and topography are appropriate for setting up temporary structures.
- Facilities: Use Google Maps to check the distance from the venue to the nearest hospital and fire station, evaluate nearby public transport options, and see how many restrooms and first aid stations are available on site.
Once you’ve confirmed the suitability of your venue for an inclusive event, draft a site plan indicating where the structures, facilities, fencing lines, entrances, and exits will be. Make the plan available to all contractors, suppliers, and staff working on the event.
If you want to take your event venue safety planning to the next level, we recommend hiring an event safety expert. These experts craft customized safety plans and address the unique needs of your event.
Take the Event Safety Institute, for example. They use advanced simulation analysis technology to pinpoint specific risks and advise you on key aspects like planning effective evacuation routes, managing traffic flow, and figuring out the ideal capacity for your venue.
3. Build an event health and safety policy
To make sure you comply with the ANSI Board of Standards Review and consider any factors that could pose a risk to your staff and attendees, we recommend creating a health and safety checklist.
Write down all possible risks to event safety and who could be affected — attendees, crew, the public, or the venue itself — and how you’ll mitigate and manage each risk. Place extra focus on your most severe risks and prioritize them to reduce the risk to an acceptable level.
Hazards to account for:
- Trip or equipment hazards: Look to see if there are any cables or guy ropes that people could trip over, if there’s any glass that people could bump into, or if attendees could come into contact with generators or other electrical equipment.
- Crowd management hazards: Assess whether overcrowding, aggressive or drunken behavior, or high-traffic roads or parking areas may impact your event attendees’ safety.
- Crew hazards: Consider how you’ll protect your event staff from potential issues like lifting and carrying injuries, long working hours, or exposure to harsh weather conditions.
- First aid hazards: Decide on ways people could injure themselves at your event, and put safety measures in place for each incident. For example, what could you do to help an attendee who suffered a heart attack?
- Environmental hazards: Account for potential issues like ensuring you properly clean the venue after your event to avoid damage, managing trash or debris to prevent harm to wildlife, and addressing any contamination from spillages.
- Fire hazards: Implement measures to follow smoking laws in your area, ensure fire extinguishers are readily available, and establish clear fire escape routes and evacuation procedures.
- Catering hazards: Look into whether the ovens or hot water dispensers used by your catering staff could pose a risk, and set up a plan for handling food allergies and storing hot food and drinks.
- Terrorism and security: Safeguard against security threats by allowing only ticket-holders to enter, conducting thorough bag checks, and employing professional security personnel.
- Child protection hazards: If you’re hosting a child-friendly event, consider potential risks like children becoming lost, and whether staff need to be background-checked.
To help you identify every potential risk and ensure you’re not missing any crucial details, we recommend collaborating with your team during the risk assessment. They might spot issues that aren’t immediately obvious to you.
It’s also helpful to work closely with your suppliers on safety management for events.
Ask to see risk assessments and method statements from caterers, marquee providers, and AV companies, and, where appropriate, involve local authorities and emergency services to ensure all potential risks are covered.
4. Create an emergency event plan
It’s essential to plan for situations requiring urgent action, from a fire to a stage collapsing or terrorist incident — even bad weather can create an emergency.
Things to consider when developing procedures include:
- Raising the alarm: Specify the exact communication methods you’ll use to notify staff and volunteers of an emergency, such as loudspeakers, code words, or handheld radios.
- Summoning and liaising with emergency services: Identify a designated point of contact who will coordinate with emergency services. Define how you’ll support their efforts, such as providing site access and necessary information.
- Crowd management and evacuation: Develop strategies for safely guiding attendees away from danger. Include specific plans to assist individuals with limited mobility and ensure that children are accounted for during evacuation.
- Traffic management: Plan how emergency vehicles will access the site and how to manage regular traffic in an emergency. Ensure there are clear routes for emergency vehicles and procedures to manage vehicle exits.
- Providing first aid: Assess the need for first aid stations and medical supplies. Ensure trained first aid personnel are available to address injuries and health issues on-site.
- Handling casualties: Organize clear vehicle spacing for ambulances to access the event with ease in the event of a casualty.
- Security: Develop protocols for raising the alarm about a security threat to your event staff and methods for quickly alerting security personnel and attendees.
Make sure your emergency procedure is clear and easy for everyone involved in the event to follow. To make this happen, write out the procedure in detail and share it with anyone involved in your event, including venue managers and any event sponsors you may have.
5. Host training sessions for your event staff
At Eventbrite, we believe that training your staff on event safety is paramount so everyone knows who to report to and what actions to take.
Make sure to train your event staff in areas, such as:
- First aid training: Enroll all staff in a first aid certification class. This will equip them with the skills to manage simple injuries, perform CPR, and handle medical emergencies efficiently.
- Staying calm under pressure: Implement stress management techniques by hosting workshops or seminars. Look into emergency response courses offered by organizations like FEMA to help staff manage stress during high-pressure situations.
- Communication techniques: Make sure your staff knows exactly how to communicate in emergencies by using clear scripts and setting up regular update protocols. To boost your training, check out the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication course from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Make sure to host these training sessions regularly so your team is up to date on any new regulations and always feel as prepared as they can possibly be.
6. Develop a weather safety strategy
Whether you’re organizing an event in the middle of summer or bracing for a ‘once-in-a-lifetime storm,’ weather should always be a key consideration in your event safety planning. Otherwise, you risk facing some serious safety issues, significant financial losses and even damaging your event’s reputation.
Some of the key recommendations in the ANSI weather safety preparedness guide, include:
- On-site monitoring: Implement a reliable system for real-time weather monitoring and forecasts, such as using weather apps, NOAA Weather Radio, or dedicated meteorological services
- Organizational structure security: Regularly check the stability and safety of all event structures, such as tents, stages, and barriers, to ensure they can withstand extreme weather conditions
- Safety planning: Create and document clear procedures for responding to severe weather, including evacuation routes, shelter locations, and communication methods
Additionally, include a cancellation policy in your terms and conditions. That way, if weather conditions become too severe to safely continue, you can cancel the event with a protocol to follow.
7. Develop an event security plan
One of the key elements of an event safety strategy is creating a solid event security plan. Why? Because security affects the safety of your entire event. From the team at the entrance to the staff roaming the event floor, you need to make sure everyone is alert and ready to handle anything that comes up.
You’ll want to focus on:
- Number of security guards: Determine the number of security guards you need based on the venue size, expected crowd, and specific risks tied to your event. For instance, if you’re hosting a concert for 1,000 people at a large venue, you might need 10 guards (one guard for every 100 attendees).
- Training and Briefing: Ensure all security staff are well-trained and familiar with the event layout, emergency procedures, and their specific duties.
- Scanning and detection: Set up scanning and detection systems at your entry points to check for prohibited items and ensure staff screen everyone before they enter the event.
One of the best ways to manage security at the door is by using Eventbrite’s organizer app. It lets you keep track of who’s checked in, manage QR codes for secure access, and get real-time updates on the number of people on-site.
Use Eventbrite’s organizer app today
8. Put crowd control measures in place
While any event presents health and safety challenges, the scale of your event directly influences potential risks; the bigger the crowd, the higher the impact on crowd safety.
One potentially dangerous threat at a big event is a crowd surge.
Attendees tend to move when things change. That could be a headline act coming on, a gig starting, or even a sudden change in weather. Whatever the reason, the crowd suddenly reacts, and the more people there are, the greater the effect.
Crowd surges work like a wave; the danger is that people get swept along beyond their control. Once a surge starts, it can be hard to stop. So preventing crowds from surging forward involves careful planning and thorough risk assessment.
Steps to take in preventing crowd surges include:
- Entrance and exits: Assess whether or not you have enough security personnel for the size of the crowd if the entrance and exit points are clearly marked. Additionally, check that staff have a separate entrance and that all entry and exit points are free from obstructions.
- Separating crowds: Make sure you have event barriers that prevent people from being in certain places that are strong enough to prevent surges and that standing-room-only areas are sectioned off from walkways between sections that security staff can use.
- Security staff: Consider whether you have enough security staff and if they’re properly trained to deal with large crowds.
- Crowd spotters: Assign a small portion of your event staff to be ‘spotters’ who are positioned to identify crush points and crowd build-up and can alert event performers of a potential threat.
- Emergency planning: Ensure that in the case of an emergency, you have a protocol to halt the event and communicate the exit plan to the crowd without causing even more crowding.
Taking steps to ensure your staff are on board with your safety plan and know what trigger points to watch for will help keep everyone safe.
The next step for nailing health and safety for events
The event safety tips above aren’t exhaustive, but they’ll help kickstart your health and safety planning.
Remember: Before hosting any live event, it’s vital to stay current and comply with the latest government guidance.
Identifying and understanding how to implement health and safety measures is vital to event planning. As a responsible event organizer, you must find solutions to potential hazards.
The next step in your event safety journey is to download our comprehensive checklist. Already done that? Awesome! We’ve got even more valuable information for you in our safety playbook.
