“Controlled” Chaos
How working with Animals Shaped My Views on Event Safety
Just about every young child learns the common phrase “Safety First”. We live by it as kids, looking both ways before crossing the street, holding hands with mom or dad in the mall, etc. We forget it as rowdy know-it-all teens, and try our best to relearn it as adults. How does this idea of “Safety First” fade away and leave our minds when it comes to events? Is there a sense of “Someone else will handle it”? Is there a universal mentality of “I’ll know what to do if something arises”? (On a side note, has that ever worked?)
I’ll fully admit to not going through a rowdy teen phase, but that’s mostly because I was heavily focused on working with horses. Safety is the number one focus when working with horses and animals in general. “Safety First” was burned into my mind every moment of every day. It became so ingrained that it is now a way of life, and has greatly impacted the way I run events. Safety should also be a key consideration in all events. However, event safety is something that is so frequently tucked away, with bare minimums implemented, or the thought that “the facility or other unknown party will deal with that.” This is where event communication, and ultimately event safety, breaks down and things go wrong.
Event safety is something that should NEVER be “poo-pooed”. Events are serious situations that can garner and pull massive attention, create unique circumstances, and lead to some incredible ripple effect happenings. A great example is a loose pin/bolt on a truss, in the right situations such as heavy winds or a large piece of equipment hitting a brace, it can lead to structure collapse, which can lead to serious injuries or even death. When it comes to events I have the same key thoughts I have when preparing to go riding. Before getting on the horse, my main thoughts are:
Come prepared
Do my best to understand the situation
Communicate needed items with the proper people: “it’s important that someone knows where you are”
And no matter how much training, I STILL wear my helmet. Because no matter how much I plan, there is always a chance something could happen. Wearing that helmet is a way of planning and preparing for the unexpected.
Do the same for events. While planning and preparing for your event:
Come Prepared/Prepare for what you can: Are you ready for something to arrive late, or for a staff member to come up ill before getting onsite? Have you prepared for every potential you can?
Do you understand the situation and what is going on in the city/region? Is there civil unrest, a storm, or even parade?
Communicate with your team all pertinent information to ensure each person knows what their role is in the event of an anomaly arising. It’s important to get your team of decision makers on the same page when it comes to safety and communication.
And still, no matter how confident you may be, always prepare for the unknown or remain prepped and ready to address whatever comes your way.
I’ll cut to the chase, the big item I hope to instill in this inaugural blog is safety preparedness; doing what you can to help keep any situation safe, well, and enjoyable. Keep yourself and your team ready for everything you can. Just like a riding helmet, event safety is there for the “just in case”, and hopefully you never have to use it.
Being prepared is not the easiest thing, but it sure as hell is easier to handle than catastrophic disaster that could be avoided.