Springing into Summer with Crowd Safety Partnerships
By Doug Bruce, Creative Safety Inc
Have you ever felt that working with public safety and other authorities in your jurisdiction is a daunting task?
Springtime is one of my favorite parts of the year because all of your planning for summer events starts to come together. Spring usually means collaboration with other stakeholders, including public safety or local authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs). Spring is often a time for planning workshops with local authorities or engaging in tabletop exercises for summer festivals. This can be intimidating if you don’t have solid relationships or have a tricky permit application to submit. The opportunity to collaborate and communicate with public safety is an incredibly important aspect of producing any event. For this month’s article, ESA asked me to write a few words on crowd safety and its intersection with public safety.
Successfully producing events often means collaborating with public safety, whether that’s your community council, city authorities, fire marshal, local law enforcement, etc. Beginning the communication process for a new event, or staying engaged often within the event planning cycle, is essential for successful public safety relationships. Much of event safety comes down to communication. It’s not just about getting the permit but making sure that all the stakeholders are at the table and that each understands what is planned, what is needed, and that there’s an opportunity for discourse or questions.
As a “student of the ESA,” I like to ask questions of other professionals who do things well. Dan Farren has been in public safety for over two decades as part of his city’s Office of Special Events and serves as a Fire Marshal. Dan reminds us, "Effective communication is the best way to become better partners for a safe and successful event. Start the process early. Have planning meetings, openly share event information, and establish realistic expectations." As Dan says, sharing information is essential, but perhaps establishing where roles and responsibilities lie is equally important. Rule out assumptions, as each event is different and may require adjustments. Some events don’t require public safety support at all, whereas others require a lot more, such as the multi-day deployment of precious resources.
Event cycles can vary as widely as the types of events we put on. Some are festivals or conferences that happen once a year, whereas others may be a season of football games or stadium events. Drew Pittman, the Associate Athletics Director overseeing Event Management and Facilities for Baylor University, has a strong working relationship with public safety. Drew explains, “Great planning requires proactive communications with all of our event partners. Specifically, our approach with public safety influences so much of what we do, from perimeter setups to crowd management to our budget.” In his stadium command center during a home football game, one could meet a range of stakeholders, from campus partners to state and federal authorities.
At the end of the day, we are all in this business to produce safe events and make sure that we keep getting to do so. Attendees having a great experience is also essential and often an important metric of success. Drew said further, “Establishing communication early and often helps us work collaboratively to ensure our common goal of safety and security for the public can be met while also ensuring success with guest experience.” Dan went on to echo the same sentiment and remind us that “event organizers and the AHJ have the same goal: to have a great successful event while providing a safe environment for all in attendance.”
So while I’m sure that anyone reading the ESA newsletter is probably the willingly converted and likes to maintain good relationships with your public safety partners, my call to action for you is that if you haven’t picked up the phone to check in or perhaps set up that after-action debrief meeting you’ve been putting off, now is the time to spring to it.