Quite some time ago when I was freelancing for another event company, I was helping out with this guy on a challenge of running a long way. The route had been pre-planned so in theory my job was simple. The weather had got nasty, poor visibility, lots of traffic – it’s at these times I realise that being near a road is way more dangerous than being on a mountain. With a friend we went to check out the following day’s route and realised there was a quiet lane running parallel to the busy single carriage way – more pleasant and away from those nasty metal boxes that trundle down the wet roads at 70mph. We put the route change to the boss whose reply haunts me today. “Don’t worry, it’s safe, we have risk assessed it”.
To be brutally honest the whole affair would have been safer if they had not bothered with the Risk Assessments. What bugs me the most is they really are a useful tool in event management and here they were used to tick boxes and placate those who asked. Before I go much further, I should add that Health and Safety is more than Risk Assessments or event plans, for me it’s a culture of asking questions, making conscious decisions and doing the right thing. The risk assessment is a tool to prompt you to ask yourself a question.
- What’s the risk? “Running out of coffee”
- Is it serious? “Hell yeh!”
- What should you do about it? “Buy more coffee.”
Often it’s done in an office or at home – but the same assessment could happen when you are on the start line of an event, dread the thought it may not even be documented but NEVER be afraid to ask the questions.
For me it is a really important process to go through before the event – if need be, during it and sometimes ask yourself post event was our assessment of risk right? It’s all too easy to say “no one could have predicted that; we did the best we could; they signed up for this” but really, if you are afraid of those questions, best find another job. So, if you are planning an event, ask the questions: what risks are there; are you happy with them; if not, what you should do about it. And share this with your crew.
These few paragraphs hardly do this subject justice but perhaps paint a picture of where I am at. But before I sign this off there is one thing that I do find disturbing. In the Race Director forums, you will often see quips about “you must do this because the law says XYZ” (which it usually doesn’t and is usually very vague), and if someone dies you could find yourself in court having justify what you did. Woooo hang on there. My motivation to do the right thing is so that people don’t get hurt or dread the thought of death. Not what I may have to say in court. I am not motivated by any threat of legal action; I am motivated to look after those who enter my events. If your motivation is a big stick then dare I say you will end up being that person like at the start of the post, filling in documents to placate people, not make your event a safer place to be.
!! “The Law” published best practice and advice from official bodies cannot be cast aside as irrelevant. The sad fact is that some events don’t meet these standards and as such rather than exceeding these they do need a stick to ensure that they don’t put participants into situations of unacceptable risk. The worry is those who think they are doing enough when they are not!
Over the years I’ve often been asked for advice on putting on events, 15 years later I still doubt if I am that person because I’m still learning. In this time of stillness, I thought why not post my random thoughts and let others judge.
The context is I have put on in excess of 150 events over 15 years – most have been in the 2-300 participant scale of things with some topping out at over a 1000. Putting on an event for 5000 runners is a different beast and my experience whilst interesting may not be relevant.
It will be an occasional post – I’m keen to hear other people’s thoughts so please do comment.
First published on Facebook – 12 January 2021
