Thursday 24 April 2014

The Event Safety Guide - GET A COPY!!

This week I received in the mail a copy of The Event Safety Guide: A Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Live Entertainment Events in the United States.

It is unfortunate that they included the words "United States" in the title because this guide could be used in any country with appropriate changes to referenced standards and regulations. It is, bar none, the most comprehensive book on event risk management that I have ever seen.

The Event Safety Alliance (ESA) published the book. The alliance was born after several high-profile disasters (e.g. the Indiana State Fair stage collapse in 2011) threatened the reputation of the industry, causing concerned industry professionals to get together. The result was not only the formation of the ESA, but also this ground-breaking publication.



With everything you need to know all in one place, the guide contains 39 chapters (and 354 pages) on all areas of event risk, from medical and first aid to food, rigging, special effects, and on and on. These are not just simple checklists or references to other publications, but detailed explanations of what to watch out for in each specific area. It is the accumulation of years of experience from event professionals.

Since standards and guidelines such as this are only voluntary, there is not yet any mandatory requirement for event producers and managers to follow it. However, as an industry, it would be my strong suggestion that lobbying begin to turn it into a regulation.

You can purchase the guide for $49.95 USD in hard copy or electronic format from the ESA web site at http://eventsafetyalliance.org.

Well done ESA!!