In 1999 four major developments exposed event organisers to significant new obligations:
• The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 created a new legal requirement for risk assessments to be completed for everyone involved including workers, crew, performers and audience
• The Access to Justice Act 1999 replaced the previous and much criticised legal aid system, but also created the opportunity for a section of the legal profession and insurance industry to develop into a ‘no win no fee’ system
• The ‘Event Safety Guide’ 2nd edition was published, providing official guidance from which organisers are not expected to deviate
• The ACPO Public Safety Policy 1999 was published – police withdrawing from all but core roles, which forced responsible organisers to employ crowd managers and implement stewarding plans where those roles may previously have been performed by police.
Additional legislation has been introduced since 1999, much of which places demands upon responsible event organisers. Included are the Private Security Industry Act 2001, the Licensing Act 2003, the Traffic Management Act 2004 and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
Added to this mix you have the autonomy of each separate local authority, the fact that safety advisory groups are just that – advisory, and not a legal requirement unless for stadium-based football / rugby, and in today’s climate of austerity, everyone is being forced to cut back on what some might see as ‘spare’ capacity or unnecessary roles; or seek full cost recovery. This coming-together of factors during the last decade has probably created a sense of uncertainty, and some people have probably made it up as they went along, with little co-ordination with other parts of their own organisation or industry.