Live issues

Revision of the Event safety guide HS(G)195 ‘A guide to health, safety and welfare at music and similar events’

HSG 195, The Event Safety Guide requires updating to reflect legislative changes and improvements in industry practices. HSE, in collaboration with the event industry and other key stakeholders will soon be in a position to start work on the production of new material for the guide.

The plan is for the revised guide to have a greater focus on risk assessment and management of health and safety.  The revision will also provide an opportunity to improve the existing format by the addition of case studies, practical information on risk management and changes to the structure of the guide to make it even easier to use.

HSE is committed to leading, funding and publishing the revised guide in collaboration with the industry. A prerequisite for HSE leadership on the revision is that the guide is brought into line with HSE’s publications strategy which, as you might expect, requires a focus on issues covered by the Health and Safety at Work etc. 1974 and subsidiary legislation. 

The revised guide will be based around key health and safety topics such as management of health & safety, work at heights, transport management, welfare for workers and crowd management. Each topic based chapter would then give details of what the law requires and how to comply with it. Examples/case studies of good and bad practise will be used to illustrate how to do things well and what can go wrong.

We have a core group of industry representatives and regulators on the project steering group which will be chaired By HSE. Currently chapter working groups are being finalised. If you wish to be considered as a working group practitioner please contact Adrian Tinson, the project coordinator Adrian.Tinson@hse.gsi.gov.uk. Alternatively, as an interested party, you can register your interest separately via the Event Industry Forum website. Registration will allow you to comment on material as it is being drafted. Comments will be fed back to chapter chairs.

The Event Safety Guide (HSG 195): Medical, Ambulance and first aid management

With changes in legislation and practices over time, it is inevitable that some areas of guidance will become out of date. We are currently engaged in a market research exercise as part of the process of revising and updating the Guide. However we’ve recently been asked whether we could clarify the position of paramedics and ambulance technicians.

We are aware that the Guide defines paramedics as members of NHS ambulance services registered with the Institute of Health Care and Development (IHCD) while this has now been replaced by the Health Professions Council (HPC).

The Event Safety Guide is guidance and you can comply with the law and good practice in others way if you wish. This includes areas where the guide has become outdated and new legislation or guidance is available that can be used to help you comply with the law.

There is no legal requirement on event organisers to use only NHS providers of medical cover, and HSE would have no objections to provision by a private contractor of paramedics registered with the HPC.

Similarly we would have no objection to the provision of ambulance technicians by private contractors as long as they were suitably qualified and equipped, etc.

We will keep the web site up to date with information on the revision and updating of the Guide.

Maximum age: Clarification

In the guide it suggests that persons providing first aid, ambulance or medical services should 'not [be] over 65 years old’.  However subsequent legislation including the Age Discrimination Act (2006) conflict with this earlier guidance.

The suitability of individuals for roles should be defined by an overall assessment of their competence and not based only upon age or other discriminatory factors. The age related guidance in this publication will be updated in any subsequent revision of the guide.

Fairground ride failure

On Friday 5 May 2006, an incident occurred in the West Midlands when a car became detached from an Orbiter ride. Two passengers sustained injuries. HSE is currently investigating the cause of the incident, and in due course, a report will be available on the From experience section of this website.

Theme park death

On Wednesday 10 May 06, an employee died whilst at work at a theme park near Milton Keynes. HSE is currently investigating the incident, and in due course a report will be available on the From experience section of this website.

New guidelines for off-road motorcycle facilities

The HSE welcomes and supports the manner in which the Auto-Cycle Union has worked in partnership with operators and others to produce the 'Best Practice Guidelines' for off-road facilities and venues and for those who operate and manage any location where non-competitive motorcycle activities take place. The guidance is designed to ensure that those who operate and manage such facilities can focus on the need for competence in the management of safety in their facilities, based on the implementation of sensible control measures following thorough risk assessment of the activities that take place. HSE recognises that those who operate motorcycling facilities are best placed to identify and make safe these facilities by working with those who use the facilities, other operators and industry associations. The HSE commends these guidelines and hopes that they will assist the industry to improve standards of safety based on assessment of risk of the venues and the activities that take place there. This is an important step for the industry in ensuring that the safety standards they set are maintained and improved, and the image and credibility of the activity is upheld.

The guidance can be seen by following the link below:

• ACU off-road facility guidelines [PDF 420kb]

Inspecting bouncy castles and other inflatables

HSE has recently been asked to comment on inspection schemes for play inflatables, more usually called bouncy castles or bouncy slides.

Currently, HSE supports the work of two inspection schemes, namely ADIPS and PIPA. Both of these are independent voluntary schemes, funded and run by industry members. While compliance can be achieved using other equally effective means, HSE is content that when an operator or other dutyholder has their inflatable devices examined by an inspector who is registered with either of these schemes, they will normally have done enough to comply with the relevant part of their duties under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The fundamental precept that underpins both schemes is that they require the examination of an amusement device to be carried out by an independently accredited and registered examiner, who can only be registered when they have provided the registration body with evidence of their competence. In addition, the PIPA scheme requires that anyone who wishes to inspect devices as part of the scheme be verified as competent by the Register of Play Inspectors International. It does not automatically follow that because someone has been involved in the business of hiring inflatable amusement devices for a number of years, they can be considered as competent to carry out a thorough examination of a device.

HSE cannot support schemes that risk encouraging any reduction in the high standards of inspection currently achieved, as this would lead to confusion for both enforcing authorities and members of the public.

The new Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (SI 1643)

The Regulations came into force on 6 April 2006, with a two year transitional period for the music and entertainment industry until 6 April 2008.

• Find out more about the new regulations

Development of an updated system of classifying and evaluating amusement ride containment systems

Passenger safety on many modern amusement rides depends to a large extent on the performance of the containment/restraint system in holding the passenger in place and preventing ejection.

• Find out more about this research