Work through this planning checklist with the venue’s competent safety team. It draws on professional guidance from the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on crowd risk and emergency planning. Confirm local approvals and requirements with the relevant responsible parties.
Assess movement across the site
HSE identifies crowd hazards during arrival, movement and departure, and calls for assessing venue suitability and safe capacity. Follow the journey from transport drop-off to registration, halls and exit. For arrival routes beyond the venue, use our checklist on Gulf event infrastructure. Put expected queues, busy attractions and emergency access on the same plan.
For the planning record, distinguish total visits across the event from people simultaneously in a zone. Ask the venue team to confirm safe capacities and the layout it has approved.
Monitor numbers and distribution
HSE’s monitoring guidance covers both overall numbers and local crowd distribution, using methods such as counting and staff observation. Assign a person to each observation point, with a reporting channel and agreed escalation actions. Test any sensor with the supplier and specify who reviews an alert.
Plan disruptions before opening
Use a scenario exercise to review a busy entrance, unavailable registration system or weather disruption. Decide who can pause entry, where waiting people will be directed and what information staff will give. Agree access arrangements for people who need assistance. Confirm medical response and emergency-vehicle routes with the responsible teams.
For outdoor areas, ask the safety team to define site-specific weather monitoring, shelter, water arrangements and the conditions for changing or stopping an activity.
Rehearse communication and decisions
HSE’s emergency guidance recommends clear responsibilities, planned public communication and testing of communication systems. Rehearse the decision to stop, the instruction staff receive, the message visitors hear and the conditions for resuming. Include a communication route that does not depend on every visitor downloading an app.
Record lessons and corrections
After a drill or incident, log decisions, communication failures and corrective actions with owners. Verify changes before the next opening. Test any app or digital screen as part of a full drill of the plan.
