HOWEVER! We are not going to turn back time. COVID Safety will be with us for a while yet.

Hopefully behind the scenes, and hopefully looking more like normal than at the moment, but still very much something that EVERYRONE needs to consider.

So here’s our top tips for staying COVID Secure (NB: this is the Government’s preferred phrasing –not ours!!) when we do return:

1. Understand the Law

The current Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021 includes a requirement for any organiser or manager of a ‘permitted gathering’ to carry out a risk assessment AND that they take all reasonable measures to limit the risk of transmission of coronavirus, taking into account the risk assessment and any guidance issued by the government which is relevant to the gathering.
The general consensus amongst people who are far more experienced in H&S legislation than I am, is that it is VERY unlikely this will be removed when restrictions are lifted.
Organisers and venues also have a duty under the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 to provide a safe working environment for their employees and anyone affected by their work. This definitelywon’t change! Further regulations specific the need to carry out a risk assessment.
Failure to do any of the above could result in fines, prohibition notices and of course, the reputational impact of an event being closed could be catastrophic. In extreme breaches, you could even be prosecuted and imprisoned.

2. Lead from the Top

This is a huge culture change in the way we do things. We are now a high risk industry and, as such, health and safety needs to lead our activity. This will all run much more smoothly if senior management are leading the process. It will impact on budget and decision makers need to play a key part. See point 1 if you need any help convincing people at the top that they need to take this seriously!

3. Start from the Beginning

Keep your event objectives at the front of everything you do and weave your measures into the whole planning process – REINVENT your events and the way you use your space in a COVID Secure way, don’t RECREATE an old event and just stick a mask on it! This is an opportunity to really shake things up and let our creativity fly. The more you can do with event design to reduce risk, the fewer restrictive mitigations will be required on site for your guests.

4. Consult your Stakeholders

You have a legal duty to consult your employees when dealing with Health & Safety. Plus 2 way communication is very important to improving buy in and compliance across the team including clients, staff, suppliers and other key players. Build schedules are key areas for transmission so need to be panned carefully, well ahead of time. Venues and planners MUST work together to create bespoke COVID Secure risk assessments.

5. Know your Enemy!

Make sure you understand how the virus behaves and the 3 ways in which it is transmitted. You can only reduce the risk if you are fully aware of exactly what you are dealing with.Before you start, check UK and local infection and vaccination rates to put your risk assessment into context.

6. Be Methodical

We recommend a recognised health & safety management system of Plan, Do, Check, Act to help focus your activity and ensure consistency across the team and process. ‘Do’ is only 25% of this approach so make sure you invest time in the other stages as it ensures robust, efficient strategy from the outset.
Make sure you are also considering Mental Safety in your assessment.

7. Apply the Guidance

There’s some very industry specific and a wide variety of different guidance which you should refer to when planning your events. There’s the Government issued guidance – plus additional information released by industry bodies. These are all regularly updated but generally without much fanfare so keep your eyes open! You can sign up for our Information Hub to keep up to date on everything: www.brightspaceevents.co.uk/covid-secure-events

8. Plan for Isolation Impact

A sudden and unexpected 10 day isolation for a speaker, key supplier or your event manager could have a serious impact on your event. Make sure you are planning at all times to reduce and mitigate the risk of it happening and also for your Plan B in a worst case scenario.

9. Design your Communications

An absolute cornerstone of any risk assessment should be your communication strategy, who, how, when and what will you need to tell people? This is also a very effective tool to reduce the risk to Mental Safety, tell people in advance what to expect and also what is being done to keep them safe.

10. Invest in Technology

Explore the many and varied solutions that have been developed to help reduce the risk or boost compliance of your event rules. Registration is a particularly good area to introduce technology based alternatives.

Sarah Threfall - Brightspace
Want to learn more? Contact Sarah

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