Event safety and risk management

You need to ensure your event meets requirements around health and safety and food safety. You also need to carry out risk assessments.

Your event must be planned and delivered to meet all relevant health and safety legislation. 

You will have prime responsibility for the health and safety of:

• your workers
• members of the public - your audience or crowd
• contractors working for you at the event

Ask yourself:

• Do I have enough knowledge about health and safety to organise work appropriately?
• Have I thought through and implemented good health and safety procedures and checks?

You have a legal duty to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments for all your working and operational practices, including your build and break periods.

The format of a risk assessment can and does vary but should include:

• the job or activity being assessed, and how it could cause harm to employees, the public and anyone else who may be affected by your operations
• the hazard
• the risk and likelihood of an incident occurring
• control measures that you can put in place
• who is responsible for monitoring these controls

A risk assessment is a dynamic document and should be updated as the planning evolves and the hazards change. 

If your event will include food, you should take steps to ensure food safety guidelines are met. The Food Standards Agency website has lots of helpful information.

Find our more about food safety rules in North Somerset including our food safety guide for businesses.