Risk Assessment: Event Risk Assessment
There is an absolute legal requirement under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR) to carry out a ‘suitable and sufficient’ risk assessment. This means that it must identify all ‘significant risk’. Significant risks are those which are reasonably foreseeable in terms of probability and severe enough in outcome to warrant consideration i.e. they are more than trivial. Risk assessment is a MANAGEMENT responsibility and all but the simplest risk assessments should be carried out by competent staff who are knowledgeable about the event or the activity in question.
Generally the venue will produce a generic risk assessment for the halls which indicates common hazards and control measures for all events. The organiser should then produce their own specific risk assessment detailing the hazards and controls for that particular event.
Examples of common risks associated with any event or exhibition are as follows:
· Multiple contractors working in a single workplace
· Fall from working at heights and working on a live edge
· Slips, trips and falls on a level surface
· Manual handling – lifting or moving of heavy/awkward loads
· Falls on stairs or escalators
· Injury from electric shock
· Objects falling from height or loads falling from vehicles
· Impact injury from moving vehicles
· Injury form use of work equipment e.g. circular saws
· Hanging wires
· Structural collapse of seating or an exhibition stand
· Outbreak of Legionnaires disease from a water feature
· Food poisoning incident from temporary catering outlet
· Fire and fire related incidents
· Major incident and civil emergency
· Excessive working hours
· Stress
· Alcohol and drug misuse related incidents
Before diving into the detail, however, it is necessary to think about the event in totality. Any event is a combination of three factors as follows:
· The type of event e.g. trade or consumer (for entertainment events the type of entertainer)
· The type of visitor expected and numbers expected
· The venue
This combination will create a risk dynamic which is unique to that event alone. The risk assessment in total should be set in that context.
|
 |
 |