Managing Risk At Major Events
Introduction
Major events always introduce a higher level of risk. Visitor safety, budget security, and brand reputation are key risk management areas.
A readiness program ensures these risks are managed effectively to ensure the safe, cost-effective, and successful operation of a major live event. A major event readiness program is delivered through an escalating and increasing schedule of assessment, training and exercising during the planning, set-up and operation phases of the event.
Operational Requirements
Understanding operational requirements is critical to prevent conflict of processes and delivery, as all staff understand how the event will be delivered through the organisational structures in place using the plans and procedures that have been developed by specific functional areas, or jointly in the Event Operations Center (EOC). This ensures an event-wide cohesive response.
Staff and stakeholders will receive an understanding of:
- Command, Control, Coordination, and Communications processes
- EOC processes, operational and contingency plans,
- Functional area and EOC contingency plans
- Business-as-usual requirements
- Issues and incident resolution
Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge transfer focuses on how staff gain the knowledge, understand, practice, and develop new processes and plans as a result, and then ensure they are ‘event-ready’.
Knowledge transfer is based on the following principles:
- People must want to learn and have the capacity to learn
- Learning needs accurate information behind it (plans and procedures)
- Learning is structured to build and reinforce knowledge
- Learning is to be short, focused and targeted, to facilitate attendance and understanding
- Where relevant, sessions can be recorded and made available online
Program Schedule
A readiness schedule is broken down into a continuous flow of information, in short, programmed bursts, and spread over the period before the operational phase.
The flow can be changed, compressed, expanded, reorganised or delivered to groups or individuals; it must be entirely flexible. A scheduled program can consist of the following:
- Readiness meetings with individual departments to gain information, encourage and train the development of risk assessments and contingency plans.
- Town Halls can be implemented to mass brief the requirements and common information that must be shared with a wide audience.
- Online presentations can be made available to all for self-study or reference.
- Regular, short and intensive in-person training on EOC operations.
- Regular, short and intensive Tabletop Exercises to discuss (and develop) EOC contingencies.
- Short intensive drills to embed processes and protocols in EOC staff, and short tabletop exercises to socialise and further develop contingencies.
- Validation exercises based on emergency scenarios, together with authorities, to ensure buy-in at the municipal level.