Early summer arrived in a mirage of heatwaves, hosepipe bans and thunderstorms, adding an extra layer of concern for charities and voluntary organisations planning their summer events.
The Great British weather is famously fickle, and climate change is making it even more difficult to predict. But that’s just one of the variables that organisers have to contend with when planning and hosting events.
Here we look at some of the common challenges you’ll have to factor into your plans and detail effective strategies to help make sure your event is more ‘summer sizzle’ than ‘damp squib’.
Event planning
Be clear about what you want to achieve. When it comes to event planning it really pays dividends to nail down your goals early and get a clear idea of the exact purpose of the event you are hosting. What type of event is it? Who is your target audience? How many people do you want to attract?
But before you get too excited about visualising the event, make sure you’ve set a budget and know what you can actually afford to spend. Are there any grants available and could you get a sponsor? Maybe you could sell tickets? Being clear on the available funds will let you be realistic when defining the scope and scale of your plans.
Drafting in volunteers is a great way to keep costs in check, but you need to get them on board early to make sure you don’t end up falling short on numbers. It’s also important to have set roles for your volunteers. This will enable you to define their duties and make sure they know exactly what’s expected of them. If your volunteers are clear about their responsibilities, it’ll go a long way towards the smooth running of your event.
In this early planning stage, you should also make time to build up a proper picture of the necessary logistics. Communicating with your local authority will ensure you know what permits, licences and potential restrictions apply to your event. Speaking to third-party suppliers as early as possible will let you secure their availability, agree costs and give you a chance to benefit from their experience of being involved with similar events.
Risk in focus
Slips and trips are the most common type of accident at events, but simple measures such as floor matting, signage and handrails go a long way to keeping people upright and safe. Poor health can strike people down at any time and whether it’s a minor cut or a major heart attack, you need to have first aid provision on site. Equipment failure is another common concern and planning for such eventualities will let you navigate them successfully if something does go wrong.
A robust risk assessment will help you understand what issues are most likely to affect your event and how you can reduce their likelihood and mitigate their potential impact.
Firstly, identify potential hazards. Are there obvious accident hotspots such as steps or slippery paving stones? What about uneven ground or loose cabling? Are pedestrians and vehicles kept apart from each other? Are stage areas cordoned off and is access to any restricted or unsuitable areas blocked? Walking around a proposed venue with a keen eye for potential mishaps will help you visualise where things could go wrong.
Secondly, assess the potential hazards and the measures in place to mitigate their impact. Could more be done to reduce them being a problem and would training help to ensure those on duty during the event can keep people safe?
Who is most likely to be impacted by the various hazards – vulnerable people, children, volunteers? Also categorise the level of risk presented by the hazard – is it low, medium or high? If a feature or activity appears too risky then you can eliminate the risk entirely by doing something else.
Thirdly, document all the risks identified, the steps taken to reduce them and the measures put in place to mitigate their impact should they still occur. Keeping a detailed risk assessment will enable you to refer to it and improve it for future events, as well as help to ensure you have addressed all the potential hazards identified.
Here to help
Would some guidance on the level of detail required to create a robust risk assessment be helpful? At Keegan & Pennykid, we can provide exactly this sort of guidance and offer professional input into the possible steps to mitigate specific hazards. We can also talk through the insurance requirements associated with events and make sure you’ve got the cover needed to protect everyone in attendance.
In addition, we can support you after your event and review any incidents, assess how they were handled and detail where enhanced risk management provision would make future events even better.
And when the weather turns and we head towards firework nights and Christmas fares, having a proven risk management template for these events will help you gets plans in place more quickly.
