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Event organisers have a duty of care for the safety of the staff, attendees and suppliers of their event as well as the general public. A safe event is also critical to ensure your attendees have a positive experience and enjoy the event. As the organiser, you are responsible for ensuring that overall safety is maintained so people setting up, taking down and attending the event, both staff and customers, are not exposed to unreasonable risks.
Good planning and organisation are a crucial part of delivering a safe and enjoyable event. For many events, following a basic set of principles will be enough. However, the level of detail in your planning should be proportionate to the scale of the event and degree of risk.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay's Torchlight Procession
© VisitScotland/Kenny Lam
The Health and Safety Executive has a dedicated section on their website to help event organisers run events safely. This is an excellent resource with:
As the event organiser you are required to ensure that you have the correct licences, permissions and insurances in place to hold your event safely and responsibly.
Although it’s not a legal requirement, many venue owners and event partners make it conditional for support that event organisers hold Public Liability Insurance. This is just in case an incident does occur at their event, resulting in a claim being made against them. Public liability insurance is a good idea if you would be unable to afford the costs of compensating a member of the public if they were to accidentally injure themselves, or damage property, at your event.
Every event is different and depending on where you are holding yours, you should contact the relevant teams within the host Local Authority area for the relevant guidance and licensing requirements.
This process can take time so it’s advisable to make contact at the earliest opportunity to avoid any risk to your event going ahead. Some of the main licences often required at events include:
If you intend to have a raised structure (staging, viewing platform, stand or similar) as part of your event, you will need to apply for a permit in accordance with Section 89 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.
It is also important for organisers of outdoor events to liaise with any relevant land managers. Under some circumstances organisers must specifically ask for land managers’ permission. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code provides guidance to indicate when this is needed.
All events which welcome the public, must ensure that they have Public Liability Insurance cover. You should also check that you are properly and appropriately insured with employers’ liability insurance and should consider your options around specialist event insurance.
Police at 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships
© 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships
Police Scotland is the national police force for Scotland and can support you in your responsibilities to ensure public safety. Overall responsibility for the health and safety of an event lies with the event organiser and you should ensure that you are very clear about your responsibility for your events, whether licensed or unlicensed, and that your plans and risk management processes reflect this.
Event organisers, landowners, and local authorities are asked to notify Police Scotland about their planned event(s) at the earliest opportunity in the planning process so that they can support your planning. From there it can be established if any and what level of police support is needed, and if there will be a cost.
Police Scotland should be notified of your event as early as possible using a notification form which can be requested by email; please email the relevant Emergency, Event and Resilience Planning Unit for your area requesting the Form 107-001.
For events in the west of Scotland email OSDEventsWest@scotland.pnn.police.uk.
For events in the rest of Scotland email OSDEvents@scotland.police.uk.
Find out more about Police Scotland's services and work in events.
There are circumstances where Police Scotland will seek to recover the costs associated with their support for an event. Event organisers should raise this with their Police Scotland contact at the earliest opportunity and budget accordingly.
Cost recovery is based on two important principles:
When the organiser’s plans are made known, the event will be checked against a series of criteria to see how much the provision of police services will cost. This assessment will indicate full or no cost recovery.
Generally, the more commercial an event is, the more likely it will be to attract full cost recovery. Purely charitable or community events are less likely to be charged for but, in some cases, charitable events are arranged on a commercial basis, and this would be considered in the overall charge assessment.
Police Scotland provide further detail on costs for their services.
The organiser of a march or parade must formally notify the relevant local authority and Police Scotland of their intentions at least 28 days before the date of their march/parade.
Scottish Government provide more detailed guidance and information on parades and marches and how to work with local authorities on these.
ProtectUK is a ground-breaking partnership bringing together the knowledge of policing, the private sector and public sector to counter terrorism. It is the official source of free counter terrorism protective security and preparedness advice, guidance and learning for venues and public spaces across the United Kingdom to better inform businesses and the public on the threat of, and the best practices to mitigate against, terrorism.
ProtectUK is a central hub for counter terrorism and security advice provides:
Fireworks at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
© VisitScotland/Kenny Lam
Depending on the scale of your event, and where it takes place, you may be required to take part in a Safety Advisory Group (SAG) process. SAGs are usually co-ordinated by a Local Authority (LA) and are made up of representatives from the LA, emergency services, other relevant bodies and the event organiser.
SAGs (or similar multi-agency meetings) provide an important forum for discussing and advising on public safety at an event. They aim to help organisers with the planning and management of an event and encourage cooperation and coordination between all relevant agencies – they can be a great way of accessing specialist advice, guidance and support.
Not all Local Authorities in Scotland operate a formal SAG process, however it is your responsibility as the event organiser to contact your relevant local authority to find out more about their processes and to participate in the relevant process if required.
More general information on SAGs can be found here: Safety Advisory Group (SAG) - HSE
The Purple Guide is published by the Events Industry Forum with support from the Health and Safety Executive.
It is designed to provide guidance for event organisers, suppliers, local authorities and others involved in the outdoor events industry specifically. The guide has been written by experts drawn from across the industry and is designed to help event organisers manage health and safety, particularly at large-scale music festivals and similar events.
There is a subscription fee of £25 plus VAT for 12 months access to the Purple Guide. Subscribers receive notification of any new chapters and updates as they are completed together with regular e-bulletins to keep them up-to-date with the work of the Events Industry Forum.
The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (known as the Green Guide) offers specific safety advice to events organisers staging events in stadia and sports grounds. It provides expert advice and information on:
The Green Guide is available for purchase in either print or digital copies for a one-off cost of £95. Find more information on sgsa.org.uk.
If you are organising an event on or near water, you must consider the specific additional health and safety considerations.
Water Safety Scotland has useful information and guidance about staying safe in and around Scotland’s waters.
Find out more about Water Safety Scotland.
Water Safety Scotland actively seek partners to help raise public awareness of Scotland’s three step water safety code, which you may wish to consider promoting to your audiences – especially if your event takes place nearby or on water.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution provides helpful advice and tips across a range of water-related pursuits and have a range of toolkits and digital assets available around water safety.
Find out more about the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
