Event Safety -A Culture of Responsibility

[GER] Christian Alexander Buschhoff

（xEMP and CAB, Berlin, Germany）

Event Safety -A Culture of Responsibility

[GER] Christian Alexander Buschhoff

（xEMP and CAB, Berlin, Germany）

In this paper, the author introduces the concept of events and the importance of safety. And what is emphasized is that guests must set up the safety awareness in the process of the implementation of the safety, to ensure that every guest can move in the area according to their will, and won't produce any risk.

events; safety; culture of responsibility; guests safety

There is no silver bullet when it comes to making an event safe for all participants. Whatever activity place, scale and organization, each kind of events form hidden potential safe and unsafe. To the largest extent, what can reduce the potential risk are: All participants of the events must coordinated, as well as the public management and safety plans. We should realize the danger of possible from the start, analysis the threat, and make the risk assessment. In the process, we must consider the person's right to life, body inviolable rights and the impromptu creative factor exist in events. It is helpful that safety considerations are made aimed at the man himself.

The topic of events safety is one of hot current affairs. For example, during the Football World Cup in 2014, there is a lot of people gathered in public places in Colombia, and the result was that more than eight people were killed. In Germany, it is unthinkable that such a huge accident happened in the public activity, and German society cannot accept such events. How to ensure the safety of events? What is the factor of ensure safety? For the more pressing problems, we cannot answer generalizedly and simply.

(1) Events is a creative process, and it has a direct relationship with person's right to life and body inviolable rights.

(2) The characteristics of the participants‘ behaviour is strong diversified, so we must limit some confusion and uninhibited behavior (such as dancing and jumping). But they should have some free space, such as opera dance party, company celebration, cities and traditional festivals, etc.

Events forms which can be accept by society are more and more diversified, and space is also more and more wide. In the past few decades, social trend of "entertainment" contributed to the phenomenon. Events not only be held in the place which is planned and get the license, but also can occur at many different locations.

It is actually social development process that we expected, and with the consultation process. Although there may be some volatility, it is impossible to turn back.

Safety plans need to achieve a wide range of coordination among all the participants of the events. It not only involves the activities of the organization (including: activities scheme, implementation method, logistics, entertaining banquets, and marketing), but also includes the management work made by multiple functions of professionals and departments and organizations in the field of security (BOS). Therefore, the organizers should appoint a commissioner (such as organization process commissioner or planning coordinator) to coordinate and host the work of all participants.

1 The overall concept of events

People tend to stubbornly insist on a point of view that it is necessary to make safety ensurance plans only when there is a huge number of participants. In fact, there is no basis, because the way of holding events is the basis of implementing security program. If the way of holding events does not bring any danger to participants; Or there was a comprehensive safety plan aiming at this kind of events in the place, then we needn't to make a new security plan. Therefore, it is necessary for us to do judgment, such as feasibility study. The research should be made under the guidance of the overall concept, and under the premise of caring creative factors of events.

The basis of the overall view is person's right to life and body inviolable rights. In the process of planning and implementation of an event, creative factors always play a role in the very great degree. So we must take these two basic power into account, but only make it work in the technical level of events. In the process of evaluation, the following contents can be regarded as basic principles:

We almost cannot reasonably intervent in the field of artistic creation. But it is possible to intervent to the field called " acting area ". In the process that artists transmit the perform content to the third person, to form a relationship between artists and the environment is formed. We cannot rule out the possibility of damaging other people’s basic rights.

Sefety plan should be able to guarantee that the activity doesn't bring threat to public safety and order, and the safety of staff and participants also have to be considered. The requirement and the implementation method of labor safety protection measures must be paid special attention. For the guests, the most important thing is to protect the inviolable right to life and body inviolable rights. Corresponding measures should be formulated to ensure tha the guest won't be affected by external threats. Therefore, each guest must can walking in the audience area at any time under the premise of a free, no danger, no external influence and selfdetermination.

In addition to guaranteing the basic rights as the inviolable right to life and body inviolable rights, the organizers must also ensure public security and public order in the events.

The concept of public order contains all written and unwritten rules. According to the corresponding society and ethics, it is the indispensable premise to abide by the rules for the orderly life when common people are in a particular field.

If a threat was made due to the participants make unexpected behavior, or their behavior interferes with the safety of the "acting area" and order, the organizers have to stop the continue situation, rather than wait for that perpetrators resolve by themelves. In this process, the organizers must ensure public security and order, and should pay attention to that the measures does not destroy the scene order and disrupt the police action. These risks are derived from the behavior of participants, we have to separate it directly from the danger of events. Therefore, participants is not only the objects be threatened, but also the subject who make the threat to public safety and order.

The concept of danger is abstract. It refers to a possibility of making damage due to objective source of danger. Threat is the meeting of dangerous and people (environment, property, etc.)on time and space, and unstoppable "damage" resulted from it.

Threats can also be defined as a kind of the possibility of damage, or damage to health. It doesn't involve its size or the possibility of occurrence. Therefore, this concept should be distinguished clearly with the concept of risk. On the contrary, the risk is often defined as: the impact which was made by unsafe events to achieving goals. Risk is often described as: the impact of an event and its possibility of occurrence. Organizers must be aware of the danger of the events, analyzes its potential threats, and evaluate its risk, for the purpose of selecting and practicing protective measures to prevent or reduce the effects.

2 What kind of activities is "safe"?

However, what is "safety events" exactly? It has been a long time to exploring the answer of this problem in society. We can review the history of establishing order and rules in hundreds years(Starke, Scherer, Buschhoff 2007). In today's international society, peoples in Europe and China have more and more high safety expectations in various events. In this case, the country must meet the expectations. The safety in the objective and subjective perspective may be impaired by a lot of events. Organizers should cooperate with administrative organs and security organizations to deal with this situation. An event can be defined as an open, dynamic and complex system, and the system is composed of a large number of factors. Many situation of microscopic factors determines the macroeconomic situation of the whole system.

Environment can also be referred to the "environment system". It has certain influence on activities, and can embody the dangerous sources, for example, when someone held festival party on the highway, the road car is hazards. Also, an event can be regarded as the source of the dangers to the environment, such as the huge noise brought by the outdoor concerts. From the outside, the system is in chaos; And from the inside, the whole is under the rule, because the system itself does not appear obstacles, and the system didn't interfere with the environment. In order to avoiding interference with the system and other things for the system itself, we must to survy and research the possible threat and interference.

3 Event system and its environment

Activities can be defined as an open, dynamic system; Safety concept can be divided into different dimensions, and these dimensions can evaluate from the perspective of the participants and administrative organs. If we reflect for a moment that events are difficult to encapsulate in definitions and the concept of safety can be considered on a number of different levels and from the perspectives of groups that include the organiser, the event-going public and health and safety authorities and organisations, we might well consider it beyond our powers to come up with a catch-all solution to the challenge of mounting accident-proof events. Every event format contains an element of risk. Setting out the areas of safety and risk using a limited number of risk-assessment methods does not improve an event’s ability to pass off without incident.

The fact remains, however, that countless events are held without anything going wrong. What did they do right? Are events that are subject only to a theoretical, sometimes purely legal, assessment automatically safer? In answering the question “Can any event be risk-free?” we have to look at what happens on the ground, at events which are repeatedly held safely. This is not simply about the success or failure of a large-scale event or festival; we are more concerned with the question of how to depict a spectrum of events -ranging from small-scale gatherings in local halls and temporary happenings in public spaces to large assemblages of people at traditional venues - that provides practicable and comprehensible pointers in how to mount safe events.

On-site practices are informed by the prophylactic approach reflected in the proverb: "Prevention is better than cure!"

4 Prevention as the basis for event safety

This approach to practical measures should not distract us from the fact that the proverb does not take account of unknown quantities that trigger events that jeopardise the safety of the public.

The proverb merely sets out the broad approach usually adopted subconsciously by the various parties; it is designed not to produce infallibility but to minimise uncertainty. This is achieved through talks and consultations that ascertain the measures to be taken to neutralise risk. It is a preventive process that reveals to the parties concerned the options open to them. The measures also become apparent in the course of focusing on an event and considering the practices normally followed in the organization of that event. In considering the safety of an event from the preventive angle, we attempt to reduce the likelihood of undesirable things happening in the future. From an analytical stance prevention can be defined as an effort in the present to prevent or correct a situation in the future. While, strictly speaking, prevention involves“only the exclusion of one future eventuality”, practical preventive strategies often include an attempt to bring about a future state or situation. The strategy aimed at producing a safe event is thus built on a preventive strategy aimed at precluding problems that do not yet exist.

This results in ten questions that have to be answered from a variety of perspectives:

Question 1 What does the event want to achieve?

Question 2 Who bears the financial risk?

Question 3 Are the areas of responsibility clear?

Question 4 Has a feasibility study been carried out for the event?

Question 5 Who is in a position to affect the event, and how?

Question 6 What dangers are associated with the event?

Question 7 What public conduct and comportment might accompany the event?

Question 8 Who takes decisions relating to the event?

Question 9 What information is available on the event?

Question 10 In what way have the various parties prepared for the event?

The convert thinking process plays a decisive role for the safety events. The process is guided by the above 10 questions, and must depend on the the safety director who is from operate organization and administrative organ.

In addition, we should abandon the event evaluation system in past. The potential threat not only embodies in the number of participants. Similarly, we also should abandon a request often propose: The comparable events is the only evaluation index. For the above reasons, it is not helpful to to assess the security situation in an event successfully, but counterproductive.

Finally, a head person of the progress should be appionted to research safety issues of events from beginning to end, to supervise the implementation of safety measures on the scene, and to organize the summary after the events.

Christian Alexander Buschhoff：

CEO of xEMP(extra Entertainment Media Publishing) and CAB Dienstleistungen(an office for technical consulting for events). For many years, Christian A. Buschhoff works in entertainment, event, theater and TV- business. He is the master for event technology and works as a planner, adviser and technical leader for events with any scale in Germany and Foreign countries. He collected on this way many important and useful experiences with the rules, regulations and best practices. Christian A. Buschhoff works as a teaching assignment at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences for event safety. In 2004, the publishing house xEMP, with technical literature for the event industry, was founded by Chr. A. Buschhoff with his partner Harald Scherer.

Appendix: Experts Group Event Saftey

A collaboration between the Institute of Rescue Engineering and Civil Protection (IRG) at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and the xEMP publishing house (extra Entertainment Media Publishing) led to the setting up of the Experts Group Event Saftey, which has since been studying the issue of visitor safety at events. Its findings and definitions are designed to assist the authorities and organizers in their work and supplement existing safety documents.

The experts group is made up of representatives from interest groups, non-police risk-prevention organisations, the fire service, event organisers and venue operators. Experts and guests were invited, and continue to be invited, to take part in discussions on individual topics. The task force is supported by a committee made up of other institutions and individuals.

The draft of a code of safety procedures was first presented in March 2012 and has now been revised. During the study of the proposals attention shifted from a single, unitary solution to a generalised, preventive approach. The strict demarcation between individual areas of responsibility remains in place, creating a clear structure for all parties involved.

Copies of the code of safety procedures are available free of charge, which allows events to be planned according to a set of unified principles, making events more transparent for all concerned. We welcome any feedback on this document and would be grateful if you would pass on any experience that you and your colleagues have had so that we can incorporate it into future editions.

（编辑 薛云霞）