Before holding your festival, all risks need to be identified to ensure that they do not occur or to ensure if they do occur all the right procedures are available to counter them.

Internal and External risks 

‘’A good tip - once you have identified as many as you can, think about the impact they could have if something went wrong and the likelihood of that happening. That will help you to prioritize your time and resources and provide a good starting point for your crew to start really delivering on the risk management side of your event’’ 22. 

‘’The consequences of not carrying out the right risk management measures for your event can be catastrophic. But don't stress, if you’ve taken the appropriate steps to identify hazards, assess the risks, prioritized them and put suitable plans in place, you and your crew will be ready to deal with them if they arise’’ 23.

Knowing your risks allow you to get the most relevant insurance for your festival. 

‘’Of course many risks are out of the event organiser's control. In this case it is important that the risk management plan details who is responsible for coordinating the safety of every person should something that is out of the control of the event organiser occur’’ 24.

Types of risks: 

1. Harm to humans: these fall under security risks that could befall your audience, staff and other humans around the festival. We look at the structures inside and around the festivals and also the danger that comes with holding a festival e.g., thief, harassment... while looking at physical harms we also need to look at psychological harms. Have you done all that was needed to ensure your audience leaves with their mental state intact? These security risks also do change according to your audience types, a festival for adults will not have the same security measures as a festival for children. Think of marginal groups as well, physically challenged…

2. Harm to employees: aside from the normal risks for a human there are others specify to employees, over working, over stressed, bad mental working space, bullying, harassment… 

3. Harm to reputation: as well as protecting the audience you need to ensure you protect the image of the festival and those associated with it. If you believe there will be a large of heavily intoxicated individuals you need to have a security system that craters to drunk and blacked out people while also providing an environment where irresponsible drinking is discouraged, that is because you do not want your festival to hold that reputation if your mission to hold a successful music festival. Your partners also do not want to be seen supporting a drunken festival, it can also make them believe you are not invested in your vision. 

4. Harm to location/equipment: where you hold your festival and the equipment you use needs to be protected. Buildings, cars, PA systems, laptops etc. Is security setup to ensure that all the risks that could fall upon said devices are controlled or mitigated. Apart from the physical you need to think of the environment. Ensuring you are controlling or mitigating the harm done to the environment. 

5. Harm to finances: the financial risks of a festival, over budgeting/under budgeting, sources of income/capital. 

6. Harm to success: all the things that could prevent you reaching your goals, not enough lead up time, clashes with other events, financial loss, availability of resources and equipment, legal constrictions.

22. Blerter Team, “10 Safety Risks Every Event Manager Should Plan For,” Blerter, accessed November 4, 2021,  www.blerter.com/blog/the-top-10-safety-risks-every-event-manager-should-plan-for

23.  Blerter 2021. 

24. “Community Event Risk Management - Moreland City Council,” accessed November 4, 2021, www.moreland.vic.gov.au/globalassets/areas/arts-festivalslib-4055/event-permits/community-event-risk-management-template--small-events.pdf

There are risks the event creates, and external risks that the event organiser has little control over but may need to be managed at the event: 

• Event and Production Equipment 

• Crowd Management 

• Children Attending or Participating 

• Transport and Traffic Management 

• Staff and Volunteer Safety 

• Medical Assistance Requirements 

• Unpredictable Weather 

• Potential Fire Hazards 

• Food safety

• Aggressive Behavior

• Surfaces that are not even

These risks can also be asses by making use of the previously mentioned PESTEL tool, and the table below describes the types of risk in further detail:

Political

- Government support (or lack of) 

- Government stance on freedom of expression (some countries frown upon artists that criticize certain aspects of their administration) 

- Festival unintentionally supporting certain causes (mostly in a politically unstable environment festivals need to careful they are not supporting propaganda) 

- Visas

Economical

- Funds to hold festival 

- Financial standing of audience 

- Financial status of the area/village/country/world

Social (crowd control) 

- Accessibility (Entry and exits in the festival and roads leading to the festival i.e. creating traffic) 

- Emergency assembly points 

- Signage 

- Emergency services available (health, fire, victim support units...) 

- Potential for crowd pushing 

- Disability access 

- Child protection 

- Children 

- Antisocial or aggressive behaviour 

- Queues (box office, toilet, food,...)

Technological

- Electrical currents 

- Pack up and pack down 

- Tripping hazards

- Equipment affected by weather 

- Lifting equipment

Environmental

- Natural disasters 

- Weather e.g rain, snow, humidity, heat, wind, flowering of plants (allergies) 

- Animals around site e.g bees, wasps

Legal

- Permits

- Visas

Other considerations

- Lifting equipment 

- Personnel managing traffic 

- Personnel managing security

Have a list of all nearby hospitals, clinics, fire houses, police stations, social services agencies… 

How is food being provided, stored and cooked... 

Secondly, ensure you have fire extinguishers easily accessible throughout your event. They may just be the thing that stops a small fire in a kitchen turning into your whole venue going up in smoke. Finally, make sure you advise your local fire service that your event is taking place and let them know the accessibility points for the fire engines; in the “unlikely” event you need to call on them.

22. Blerter Team, “10 Safety Risks Every Event Manager Should Plan For,” Blerter, accessed November 4, 2021,  www.blerter.com/blog/the-top-10-safety-risks-every-event-manager-should-plan-for

23.  Blerter 2021. 

24. “Community Event Risk Management - Moreland City Council,” accessed November 4, 2021, www.moreland.vic.gov.au/globalassets/areas/arts-festivalslib-4055/event-permits/community-event-risk-management-template--small-events.pdf

When planning for mitigating risks at your festival/organisation, you can make use of a table listing your potential risks, their levels of danger, how to cancel/mitigate them, and the resources you need for such mitigation. The template below demonstrates how to start such a table:

Type of risk        Description of risk        Risk level        Hot to cancel/mitigate risk        Resources need

Political                   Risk 1                                      Extreme risk                 Control measure 1

                                     Risk 2...                                   High risk...                      Control measure 2

Economical

Even with careful planning (and best intentions), things can go wrong. Whether it’s a public transportation meltdown or a shortage of food, don’t face the unexpected without a rock solid communication plan. 

Social media is one of the fastest, and broadest, ways to communicate with your attendees. this makes it one fastest, most impactful forms of communications. As for what to say, these three best practices can help you keep your cool when a problem arises: 

1. Respond as soon as you can. If disaster strikes, people will be looking to your social accounts for an explanation. Try to get a message out to attendees quickly — just remember, the information needs to be accurate. 

2. Don’t get defensive. Even if the issue is out of your control, understand where the complaints are coming from. Maintain a professional tone to every response. 

3. Re-evaluate scheduled content. Consider the other content that you had scheduled to post on social. If attendees are upset, it might be better to table that #tbt post you had lined up 25. 

Risk management template The Organic Model of Strategic Planning

25. Ronnie Higgins, “4 Event Risks You Can Easily Avoid,” Eventbrite US Blog, December 4, 2019, https://www.eventbrite.com/blog/4-event-risks-ds00/

Risk management plans need to be reviewed regularly as things can change overnight but the following are major times when they need to be updated: 

• Days before the festival; 

• Daily during festivals;

• End/beginning of year review; 

Documents needed: 

• The initial risk assessment 

• The developed Risk Control Plan 

• An Emergency Management Plan 

• Traffic Management Plan – where applicable 

• Waste Management Plan – where applicable 

• Site safety induction checklists – for staff working on the event or site 

It is important to remember that every event is different and has different resources available. 

The most important part of creating a risk management plan is that you, the event organiser, can reduce possible risks as much as possible and have thought about what you would need to do in the event of an emergency during your event 26.

26. Moreland City Council, “Event Permit,” Moreland City Council (Moreland City Council, June 25, 2021), www.moreland.vic.gov.au/exploring-moreland/events/planning-an-event/event-permit/