Security Concerns You Need To Address When Planning A Public Event
When organizing a public event such as a party, it’s usually necessary to put in place measures to protect the people who will be attending the event. This has become even more important in the recent past, especially in the wake of an increased risk of being faced with a lawsuit. Most people are now more willing to go to court if they end up getting hurt during such events. If you are an event organizer, this might put you out of business. This could be as a result of a huge class action lawsuit against your company, or when you lose your credibility as a trusted firm.
Security concerns should be an integral part of the planning process
This then means that when planning such an event, you should always keep security as a top concern. Remember, there is also a rising incidence of terrorist activity all around the world, and such events are usually targeted since they are usually heavily populated. If you are not sure about how to go about this, you can always consult a security company. There are many that focus on providing security for events, and are usually best suited to this type of use.
The importance of crowd control
Another security issue you might need to tackle is how to keep the crowd in control. There are some environments in which this would be particularly important. For instance, when holding an event where a large number of people will be in attendance and in which alcohol is likely to be consumed in large amounts, it’s common to find that the crowd will become a bit uncontrollable at some point. To avoid this, you may need to think about issues such as installing crowd control barriers around areas such as a performing stage.
When shopping around for such barriers, there are a few characteristics you should always look out for from them including:
• Ease of installation: ideally, such barriers should not be very difficult to put in place. This is especially so when you consider the fact that sometimes, it might be necessary to install part of the barrier during the event, such as when a crowd surges forward and breaks part of it. Having a very complex barrier will only make your work as an organizer more difficult.
• Safety: In addition to that, crowd control barriers also need to be safe as well. Having sharp edges and surfaces that can cut or pierce should particularly be avoided. Remember, when the crowd surges forward against the crowd control barrier, the people who are closest to it might be pressed against it. It is important that they not be harmed by this, lest you end up being blamed for this as well.
• Hardiness: Such barriers tend to be subjected to many different forces, including people pressing against them. Making sure that they are made of a material that can within this is important. It will reduce the cost of getting the barrier, since you will never have to pay for any breakage.
The presence of security personnel
Another very important security-related issue to address during the organization of such an event is making sure that it will be manned by enough security personnel. There are several ways to go about this, including:
• Hiring staff from a local security firm: Rather than having to employ people to provide the security, you could identify a local firm that is known to provide such services, and simply rent the personnel from them. The number of people hired should be proportional to the number of people you expect at the event. Hiring a very small number of security staff for a very large event is likely to be ineffective in case of a security breach such as a riot.
• Getting help from the police: Depending on the jurisdiction in which you stay, you can also get some help from the local police. How you go about this usually depends on your local regulations. In some countries, for instance, you only need to make the application, and then pay a certain fee to have a police presence in the event. In some other areas, you don’t need to pay any fee at all.
The importance of arranging for security during public events is only going to become more important as time goes by. This is because the world population is increasing, and the number of security incidents is also rising proportionally.
However, this does not mean that you have to pay a lot of money to keep such an event secure. By simply following the above protocol, you can keep all your events as safe as possible. It’s also wise to remember that devices such as crowd control barriers might seem innocuous, but they have the potential to keep your event as safe as possible.
