Event Toolkit – June 2015
Risk Assessments
Safety is fundamental to the success of your event. You must understand that as the event
organiser, you will be held liable by law, for the safety of those that are both staff at your event and
attending your event. To make sure your event is safe, you need to identify potential hazards and
decide (with help if you need it) on what precautions you are going to put in place.
All events that take place must comply with relevant safety law. The most relevant for you to look at
are:
 The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
 The Occupiers Liability Act 1957/1984 and its accompanying regulations and standards of safety
So that you are ready for anything that might happen you need to do a risk assessment (a must if
you are hiring Council Land and want to comply with health and safety laws!). This document
identifies any potential hazards at your event and how you will deal with them if they happen. Risk
Assessments are not always large documents, small events may only be a page or so long. Most
important is that they are relevant and contain realistic ways of controlling the risk. A template risk
assessment is below. If you require any assistance in completing your risk assessment then please
contact your event coordinator at the local authority.
Plans should be put in place (as part of the risk assessment process) detailing how you would deal
with an emergency such as personal accidents, crowd disturbance, lost children/vulnerable persons,
bomb scares or adverse weather conditions. (i.e. extreme heat, snow, heavy rain, gales/thunder and
lightning).
The Kent Safety Advisory Group principles are endorsed by the Kent Resilience Forum
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Event Toolkit – June 2015
Risk Rating Matrix
LIKELIHOOD
Multiple
Death
Single
Death
SEVERITY
Major
‘3 day’
Injury
Injury
Minor
Injury
None
10
8
6
4
2
1
Certain
10
100
80
60
40
20
10
Very Likely
8
80
64
48
32
16
8
Probable
6
60
48
36
24
12
6
Possible
4
40
32
24
16
8
4
Unlikely
2
20
16
12
8
4
2
V. Unlikely
1
10
8
6
4
2
1
The numerical scale used is to allow comparisons of the risk levels only. No literal meaning is
implied by the scoring level.
‘Major Injury’ shall be as defined in the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences
Regulations
Key to Shading
48 - 100
High
Level of risk is unacceptable
16 - 40
Medium
Level of risk may be tolerable. Seek to
reduce level of risk.
1 - 12
Low
Level of risk is acceptable
Definitions for Likelihood
Certain
10
Has happened before and is expected to happen on this occasion.
The Kent Safety Advisory Group principles are endorsed by the Kent Resilience Forum
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Event Toolkit – June 2015
Very Likely
8
Has happened before and is very likely to happen on this occasion.
Probable
6
Has been known to occur before and is likely to happen on this occasion.
Possible
4
Has been known to occur and it may happen on this occasion.
Unlikely
2
Has been known to occur before but no reason to suggest that it will happen
on this occasion.
Very Unlikely
1
Has never happened before and there are no reasons to suggest it will happen
on this occasion.
The Kent Safety Advisory Group principles are endorsed by the Kent Resilience Forum
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Event Toolkit – June 2015
General Risk Assessment
Task / activity or premises assessed:
Location:
Name of assessor:
Hazards and Effects
Date of assessment:
Affecting Whom
(staff / visitors /
public / contractors)
Risk
rating
with no
controls
Review Date:
Existing Controls (if any)
Outline of activity/task:
The Kent Safety Advisory Group principles are endorsed by the Kent Resilience Forum
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Residual
risk rating
(With
existing
controls)
Actions required where residual risk is
still too high
Event Toolkit – June 2015
Hazards and Effects
Affecting Whom
(staff / visitors /
public / contractors)
Risk
rating
with no
controls
Existing Controls (if any)
Residual
risk rating
(With
existing
controls)
Actions required where residual risk is
still too high
Signature of Assessor: __________________________________________
Date: ___________________
The Kent Safety Advisory Group principles are endorsed by the Kent Resilience Forum
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Event Toolkit – June 2015
The Kent Safety Advisory Group principles are endorsed by the Kent Resilience Forum
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