Event Risk Assessment

What an event risk assessment is for

The point of a risk assessment is to make decisions before the event, when changing the plan is cheap. It makes the team name risks out loud, assign someone to each one and agree what will be done if it happens. It also gives your venue, insurer and local authority something concrete to review, if they ask for it.

Keep it proportionate. A small meetup needs a page. A multi-day conference or an outdoor festival needs more detail and may need input from specialists such as safety advisers or medical providers. If you are unsure how much is expected for your event, ask the venue and the local authority early.

Think of risk in groups so nothing is missed: people (attendees, staff, speakers, volunteers), place (the venue, access, weather, crowds), things (equipment, power, technology, suppliers), money (cancellations, payment failures, budget overruns) and reputation (a poor experience, a public mistake, a data problem). Walking through each group with two or three colleagues who see the event from different angles, such as registration, program and venue liaison, turns up risks that one person alone would not list.

Finish with a decision about what you accept. Some low-rated risks are fine to leave with no action, as long as someone has seen them and said so. Write that down in the register, so the reasoning is clear if you are asked about it later.

The steps to run a risk assessment

Follow these steps in order. Most events can complete them in a working session or two:

1. 1

   Describe the event

   Write down the dates, location, expected numbers, audience, activities, suppliers and anything unusual such as VIP guests, alcohol or outdoor areas.

2. 2

   Identify the risks

   Walk through the event from arrival to departure and ask what could go wrong at each point. Include people, place, equipment, weather, money, reputation and information.

3. 3

   Rate likelihood and impact

   Give each risk a score for how likely it is and how serious the effect would be, using the same simple scale for all of them.

4. 4

   Decide on controls

   For each significant risk, decide what you will do to prevent it, reduce it or prepare for it, and by when.

5. 5

   Assign an owner

   Every risk and every control needs one named person responsible, not a team.

6. 6

   Agree the emergency plan

   Write down who does what in an emergency, how people are told, and who talks to emergency services, the venue and the media.

7. 7

   Brief the team

   Walk staff, volunteers and key suppliers through the plan before the event, and make sure they know who to call.

8. 8

   Review and update

   Revisit the register at set points: after major changes, a week before, on the morning of the event and after it.

Rating likelihood and impact

A simple scale is easier to use than a clever one. One common approach is to score likelihood and impact from 1 to 5 and multiply them to get a rating. Whatever scale you choose, define each level in words so two people would score the same risk the same way.

A risk register you can copy

A register keeps everything on one page. The example rows below are examples only, written to show how a row reads. Your real risks depend on your event, your venue and where it takes place, so replace them with your own.

EVENT RISK ASSESSMENT
Event: [Name]   Date(s): [Dates]   Location: [Venue]
Prepared by: [Name]   Date: [Date]   Version: [1]   Next review: [Date]

1. EVENT DESCRIPTION
Expected attendance: [Number]   Audience: [Description]
Activities: [Sessions, exhibits, food, alcohol, outdoor areas, transport]
Special considerations: [VIPs, children, accessibility, late finish]

2. SCORING SCALE
Likelihood 1-5: [Define each level]
Impact 1-5: [Define each level]
Rating = likelihood x impact. Actions required at rating: [Number] and above.

3. RISK REGISTER
Risk: [Description]
Likelihood: [1-5]   Impact: [1-5]   Rating: [Number]
Controls: [What will be done]
Owner: [Name]   Due: [Date]   Status: [Open / Done]
(Repeat for each risk)

4. EMERGENCY PLAN (see outline)
Incident lead: [Name, phone]   Deputy: [Name, phone]
Venue emergency contact: [Name, phone]
Medical and first aid arrangements: [Details agreed with venue]
Evacuation and assembly points: [Details from the venue]
How attendees are told: [Method and who decides]
Media and public statements: [Name]

5. WHO HAS SEEN THIS
Venue: [Name, date]   Insurer: [Name, date]   Local authority (if required): [Name, date]
Team briefed: [Date]

An emergency plan outline

The risk register says what you will try to prevent. The emergency plan says what everyone does when something happens anyway. Keep it short enough that a volunteer could use it under stress, and base the specifics on what your venue and local authority tell you.

• Who is in charge

  Name an incident lead and a deputy for each shift, with phone numbers, and tell the whole team who they are.

• How to raise the alarm

  Decide how staff report an incident, who calls emergency services, and how the venue's own procedures fit in.

• Evacuation and assembly

  Get exits, assembly points and any evacuation procedures from the venue, put them in the briefing and check that staff know them.

• First aid and medical

  Agree what arrangements are needed and in place with the venue and, if required, your local authority and insurer.

• Communicating with attendees

  Decide who can make announcements, by what means, and what the standard messages are.

• Keeping records

  Note times, decisions and people involved in any incident, and report to the venue and your insurer as they require.

Where your event data helps

Eventdex is not a safety or risk management system, and it does not replace the advice of your venue, local authority, insurer or a qualified adviser. What it provides are the attendance records that make several risks easier to manage.

• Know who is expected

  Registration data gives the numbers by ticket type, so crowd and capacity risks are based on facts.

  Event registration software

• A back-up when the network fails

  Eventdex's check-in page describes an offline mode that stores check-ins on the device and syncs when the connection returns, which can help if the network fails at the door. Keep your own back-up list as well.

  Onsite check-in and badge printing

• Plan for crowds

  Crowd risks are covered in more depth in the crowd management guide.

  Crowd management at events