The Purple Guide to health, safety and welfare at music and other events
“At the National Counter Terrorism Security Office we are focused on keeping people safe through our approaches and projects with partners. We are proud to be supporting this chapter of the Purple Guide and recommend this chapter to all partners and organisations who support us on our mission to counter terrorism.
Collaborative working continues to support our efforts, and is showcased through products on our ProtectUK platform. The guidance in this chapter offers useful and detailed recommendations, considerations and advice that can help save lives” – Head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office.
Introduction
Terrorism is not new to the United Kingdom. Terrorists have targeted events for many years and, in some cases, have been successful in causing death and injury in support of their aims.
This section explains how event organisers and users of the Purple Guide can access support and guidance, and the steps they can take to help make events safer and less attractive targets for terrorism.
The full Purple Guide is available here.
The Events Industry Forum is a not-for-profit organisation made up of event industry trade associations and representative organisations.
Key Points
- Include terrorism, alongside other threats, within the event security risk assessment.
- Understanding the threat to your event helps ensure that protective security measures and mitigations are proportionate, effective and responsive.
- Event organisers should ensure that anyone providing counter-terrorism advice has the appropriate operational competence.
- Effective counter-terrorism planning is achieved when event planning, event management, incident response, safety, security and service are considered together.
Legal responsibilities and risk assessment
Event organisers have a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to provide a safe working environment for employees and a safe environment for people attending their events and attractions.
The risk posed by terrorism should be considered as part of these responsibilities. Good corporate governance requires organisations to consider all relevant threats and implement appropriate measures to manage risk exposure.
It is important to recognise that assessing general event risk is different from assessing security risk. Anyone carrying out these assessments must be competent to do so.
