Introduction
When planning a live event, public safety is non-negotiable. That’s why you need a solid Event Safety Plan.
Whether you’re organising a large-scale festival, a corporate gathering, or a civic event, having a robust event safety plan is critical.
This guide will walk you through the essential elements of event safety planning – from risk assessments to emergency response strategies – to help ensure your event runs smoothly and safely.
Free Resource
We have produced a handy resource that you can grab for free.
This is a simple tool that outlines the broad categories of Event Safety Plan contents that we have detailed in this post.
It’ll help you ensure you don’t forget any of the 6 Key Components of an Event Safety Plan.
We are finalising a bigger, more comprehensive resource to go along with this article too.
It will be an Event Safety Plan Sample Contents PDF that will include the complete Contents List for a very comprehensive Event Management Plan.
Check back here or keep an eye on our social media to see when that’s available.
Key components of an event safety plan
A comprehensive event safety plan acts as the operational backbone of any safe event.
It outlines the strategies, actions, and protocols required to safeguard attendees, staff, and infrastructure.
Key components include:
1. Comprehensive Risk Assessment
The foundation of safety planning. It identifies potential hazards and evaluates associated risks to prioritise control measures.
2. Emergency response protocols
Plans for medical incidents, evacuations, and other emergencies ensure swift, effective responses.
3. Communication strategy
Clear internal and external communication channels are vital, particularly under pressure.
4. Event layout design
Designing for safety ensures efficient crowd movement and access for emergency services.
5. Training and staffing
From stewards to suppliers, everyone involved needs clear roles and adequate training.
6. Coordination with agencies
Liaising with local authorities, an Garda Siochana, the fire service, and medical responders enhances operational readiness and compliance.
For an expert overview of these safety fundamentals, visit our event safety services page.
1. Comprehensive risk assessment
Risk assessments are central to understanding and mitigating the unique hazards at your event.
Risk assessing for events is significantly more involved than the traditional risk assessment approach. We deliver a wide range of training courses in which we go into detail on all the elements of risk assessing for events specifically.
Here’s how to conduct one effectively:
-
Identify hazards: Examine all elements – from infrastructure to weather conditions and crowd dynamics.
-
Evaluate and prioritise: Consider the likelihood and severity of each risk.
-
Implement controls: Apply the hierarchy of controls – eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrate, and provide PPE.
-
Be comprehensive: Don’t just employ a standard risk assessment matrix and leave it there. Risk and Congestion Mapping, Ramp Analysis and more should feature. These are established tools and ones we include in pretty much all our courses.
-
Review regularly: Situations evolve. Update your risk assessment as plans progress.
For more insights, check out our article on Safety by Design for Events.
2. Emergency response protocols and procedures
Preparedness is crucial.
While it is true that we can not – and can not be expected to – account for every potential emergency, there is truth in the adage that ‘if it’s predictable, it’s preventable’.
We should be establishing the most likely emergencies that we may have to deal with through our comprehensive risk assessment work.
Your event safety management plan should detail:
-
Evacuation routes: Clear maps and signage to guide safe exits.
-
Medical provision: On-site medics, first aid posts, and ambulance access.
-
Fire safety plans: Equipment, escape routes, and trained personnel.
-
Contingency scenarios: Plan for severe weather, terrorism, crowd surges and more – as identified in your risk assessment process.
Establishing and testing these protocols in advance is essential to reduce panic and improve outcomes during crises.
We test our emergency response protocols nightly on our Wild Lights shows at Dublin Zoo.
In the 8 years we have worked on the Wild Lights shows so far, we’ve tested the emergency response protocols close to 400 times.
3. Communication strategies for ensuring attendee safety
Clear and timely communication can prevent confusion and minimise risk. Best practices include:
-
Pre-event briefings: Ensure all staff understand roles, emergency procedures, and escalation routes.
-
On-site signage: Multilingual, accessible signs for directions, safety info, and exits.
-
PA systems and screens: Use for crowd updates, especially during changes or emergencies.
-
Two-way radios: Ensure coordination among key personnel across zones.
-
Social media and apps: Real-time updates for attendees, especially during inclement weather or schedule changes.
Strong communication is a pillar of every effective event safety management plan.
Traditionally there has been reticence to provide audiences with real-time information – and not just in events. That has been changing in recent years, thankfully.
4. Event layout design
A smart layout is more than aesthetic – it’s about safety.
Thoughtful design ensures efficient crowd flow and rapid emergency access. Input from Crowd and Event Safety specialists early on in the design of the event site is critical.
Key considerations:
-
Clear pathways: Avoid congestion with well-marked routes for pedestrians and vehicles.
-
Emergency exits: Adequately signposted, well-lit, and accessible at all times.
-
Segmentation: Divide large spaces to control crowd density and allow for zoned evacuations.
-
Ingress and egress: Plan for peak arrival and departure times, especially for large scale public events.
Effective layout design balances operational needs with the attendee experience, contributing significantly to a safe and enjoyable event.
It is during this layout work that capacity planning is generally undertaken. This is a key deliverable for Crowd Safety professionals like us here in Safe Events Global.
Crowd and Event Safety professionals should decide your capacities on your events – be that us or some of our competitors. It is not something that untrained and / or inexperienced people should do.
5. Training staff and volunteers on event safety measures
No safety plan is effective without a trained team to implement it.
I am known for saying that ‘Crowd and event safety can only ever be so much of a science. It will always rely on good people on the ground’
Consider the following:
-
Pre-event safety training: Cover evacuation procedures, hazard identification, and role-specific actions.
-
First aid certification: Especially for team leads or zone managers.
-
Crowd management skills: Teach calm, assertive control and how to de-escalate situations.
-
Testing: It’s important to ensure the information is being heard and understood. The most effective way to do this is through testing. This can be done in a multitude of ways and not just Tabletop Exercises. Simulating emergency scenarios to build confidence and readiness.
At Safe Events Global, we provide tailored training programmes to help event teams meet the highest safety standards. Contact us to find out more.
6. Coordination with agencies and statutory stakeholders
Effective event safety planning requires more than internal preparation – it demands seamless collaboration with external authorities.
These stakeholders often include local councils, An Garda Siochana, the fire service, ambulance providers, licensing bodies and more.
Coordinating with these agencies ensures your event meets regulatory expectations and benefits from collective preparedness.
Key steps include:
-
Early engagement: Reach out to statutory stakeholders at the earliest planning stages to incorporate their input and avoid delays.
-
Consider them as partners: When working in the UK, we get to participate in SAG meetings, which can be extremely helpful. These don’t happen everywhere. That is not to say we can’t draw value from the statutory agencies though. Provide documentation such as your event safety plan, risk assessments, and layout maps and engage with them as partners to help you refine and improve things.
-
Define roles and responsibilities: Clearly outline the responsibilities of each agency during the event, especially for emergency scenarios.
-
Plan integration: Ensure external services such as emergency medical response and traffic management plans are aligned with your internal protocols.
-
Documentation and compliance: Maintain a clear paper trail of all communications, approvals, and agreed safety measures.
Collaboration with public authorities adds robustness to your event safety management plan and builds trust with attendees, local communities, and the media – especially for high-profile or politically sensitive events.
Conclusion
In summary, these are the broad categorisations of the content that should be in your Event Safety Plan:
- Comprehensive risk assessment
- Emergency response protocols
- Communication strategy
- Event layout design
- Training and staffing
- Coordination with agencies
The detail you need in your Event Safety Management Plan in order for it to be effective all falls within these broad categories.
Your Free Event Safety Plan Sample Contents PDF
If you want more detail on how to structure your Event Safety Plan, we are creating a document for that.
This Sample Contents is one we use in many of our event safety plans and, as such, is proven. It is proven with respect to statutory agencies approving it for large-scale events as well as being proven to help us deliver events safely and successfully.
Not all Event Safety Management Plans are exactly the same. Some of ours differ, for many reasons. This Contents List is designed to help you approach your safe event planning but it is not us saying ‘this is the definitive contents list for every single event.
That would be silly of us to do that.
The Event Safety Plan Sample Contents PDF will be published here once ready.
Do grab the free resource up above in the article – the Key Components of an Event Safety Plan 1-pager.