Risk, safety and compliance

All events must focus on safety for all attendees, workers, contractors and the public at large.

• A Risk Management Plan/Risk Assessment is mandatory and must include control measures and assign responsibility for ensuring they are in place. It needs to be reviewed regularly and each year the document should grow to include risks identified in post-event debriefs as well as new risks as they arise.
• Emergency Management Plans must identify response procedures and contacts.
• Traffic and Crowd Management Plans are required if roads, footpaths or car parks are affected.
• Events must comply with relevant laws, codes and guidelines.
• Fire safety must be considered, especially in parks and during summer.
• Security and crowd control measures must be appropriate to the event’s risk.
• Site inductions may be required for larger or high-risk events.

You can download templates for some of these essential documents at our Event planning resources page.

How to do a Risk Assessment

A good risk assessment isn’t complicated. It must be structured and specific to your event. 

A risk assessment is not about eliminating all risks – that’s impossible. It’s about showing that you understand the foreseeable risks, have taken action to reduce them as far as reasonably practicable, and have systems in place to respond if they occur.

Reflect what's actually happening

Your risk assessment must reflect what is actually happening at your event. It is not a theoretical document or a sales pitch to make your event look safer than it is.

If you include measures that you don't intend to implement, you are creating a false record. That can make things worse than having no plan at all, for these reasons:

• In the event of an incident, investigators, insurers, and (if serious enough) the courts will review your documentation. If they find measures listed in your risk assessment that were not in place, it will be treated as evidence of negligence or even deception.
• Insurers rely on your documents. If your plan says you had a trained first aid post or qualified traffic controllers, but you didn’t, your insurer may refuse cover.
• Investigations often become part of the public domain. A falsified or inaccurate risk assessment can damage your reputation and ours.
• Staff and volunteers rely on your documents. If the risk assessment says one thing but the reality on the ground is different, it can cause delays and mistakes in an emergency.

Golden rule

Only write down control measures that you have genuinely put in place, resourced and communicated to your team. 

If something is aspirational or under discussion, don’t include it until it is confirmed. For example:

• ‘All staff will complete fire warden training before the event.’ (Wrong if you don’t have that training arranged.)
• ‘At least one staff member per area will be briefed in basic fire response procedures and fire extinguishers will be available on site.’ (Right.)