EVENT SAFETY
EVENT SAFETY, PLANNING & ASSURANCE
Planning, build, show day and after-action review, run from a single system built for event safety teams
200+
attendees is all it takes to bring a premises or event into scope of Martyn's Law.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 introduces new duties to prepare for a terrorist attack. Standard tier applies from 200 expected attendees, enhanced tier from 800. Events that have never considered protective security now fall within scope, and safety plans need to reflect it.
Your legal framework
Event safety sits under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Purple Guide, the industry-standard guidance for planning and managing events. HSG195 covers stadia and sports grounds. In Scotland, events also answer to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, with a local Safety Advisory Group reviewing submissions. Martyn's Law adds a new duty for premises and events in scope, regulated by the Security Industry Authority.
The highest-consequence risks
Crowd density and crush
Overcrowding at entry points, in front of stages or along constrained routes is the highest-consequence risk at any event. Purple Guide and Green Guide density bands, backed by an accurate site plan, are the starting point for a defensible capacity figure.
Fire and temporary structures
Marquees, staging, generators and temporary electrics carry fire risk that permanent buildings do not. BS 7909 compliant electrical distribution and a site-specific fire risk assessment are both required.
Adverse weather
High wind, heavy rain and lightning affect temporary structures and outdoor crowds differently to permanent venues. Documented stage-down thresholds and a named decision-maker are essential before the gates open.
Emergency access and egress
Routes for public movement, emergency vehicles and evacuation must be planned, measured and checked for chokepoints before the crowd arrives, not discovered on the day.
Five priorities for event safety
1
Build one Event Safety Plan that stays current from first draft to SAG. A living plan that specialist contributors can complete directly, with a full audit trail, holds up better under review than a document written once and then filed.2
Base capacity on a measured site, not an estimate. Zone areas converted to a defensible number using Purple Guide and Green Guide density bands give a Safety Advisory Group a figure they can trust.3
Run show day from the same plan you wrote. When the operational system on the day matches the approved plan, decisions get faster and the after-action review writes itself.4
Log every incident, declaration and decision in one place. A single time-ordered record, attributed and timestamped, is what a post-event review and an HSE investigation both need.5
Prepare for Martyn's Law now, before it is mandatory. Understanding whether your event falls into scope, and what that means operationally, is far easier before the pressure of enforcement.
Did you know?
Most Event Safety Plans are written once for Safety Advisory Group approval, then set aside. The system used to run the event on the day is usually something else entirely: a radio, a paper log, a WhatsApp thread. SURIS Events, our dedicated platform for event safety planning and operations, closes that gap by making the plan the operational tool and the audit record, all in one system.