Safety and Security, Incident and Emergency Disaster Management Planning template

A STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR STRATEGIC EVENT MANAGEMENT PLANNING

Emergency; Disaster, Event Management Planning.

CONFIDENTIAL

No portion of this document may be used, sold or otherwise reproduced or disseminated for any other purpose as what it was initially intended for, no person has any rights to this document, and it is not considered a public document, no one else will be considered a rightful user. All rights to this document in terms of the Protection of Information Act, 1982 83

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This article is aimed at those who want to arrange a huge event, and need some more than just the basic info on how to and what to do… This article will serve as a practical guide, for those who will concern themselves more with the security, emergency and disaster management aspects of any event.

I have found that by only following a textbook formula one can’t ensure continued safety, and readiness, at any type of event and for a simple reason: in any dynamic situation, performance is fundamentally relative, and becomes absolute at the point where we have no competition. Then, we dance to our own tune, and at our own pace. What am I getting at? With events you have one of every discipline, and each stick to its own. No two entities compete directly, and therefore they don’t have to perform at their peak. In fact, lasting performance of exceptional quality is largely a mental picture, a perception; a statistical anomaly. The simple fact is that no formula can guarantee continued sustainable performance, at least not in a competitive business environment where everything has a life cycle.

So, when you hire a security company, by referral, and they come highly recommended, don’t rest on your laurels either, and just assume they will perform same or better that what was expected. Things change fast; key people resign, owners sell companies, or they just get cheaper labour, or less qualified, especially when their popularity grow, and they become over stretched by the demand. This applies to all your potential service providers, especially in the events industry, those that you will be dealing with during any event need some credit. Credentials are a must then, and referrals say something more, specifically the latest, they say in this industry you are only as good as your very last performance…and it stays true.

The belief that strategic choices only made in the boardroom will directly affect the quality of a business concept, especially at grassroots level, and then the world if it is properly implemented. Where its success equates directly to the results of great planning, especially project or either strategic, is totally flawed.  Any plan is only as good as the first few minutes it was written in, and then immediately implemented.

As more and more time lapse,  between the conception and implementation time frames, then naturally, the more time you put between planning and execution, the more the variables change, and keep changing. Thus, planning never the less remains an indispensible part of  any great endeavor, and an ongoing effort, either way it remains indispensable. The results of planning will only be reflecting the degree of precision and good decision making, and then only how effective it was executed under conditions of ambiguity that tends to change the shape of things in the heat of battle, at the instance where we go over to action, and execution, it is only then that we really see the true factors that impact on our plan, those things just outside our control, only when we hit the ground running, do we feel what we are running on, the grass, or stones for the first time. Change and influences ( both internal as well as external) will always, certainly, be the factors we cannot gauge with perfect certainty, if one thing changes, then everything normally follows on, and then it tends to change the overall plans perspective.

Strategic event management; is described as organised chaos in motion; choice is inevitably an exercise in decision making under conditions of uncertainty, of which the objective is not to find workable solutions only, and to guaranteed success, but rather to improve the odds of making it all the way without serious incidents, accidents, emergencies, and disasters,  through a thoughtful consideration of factors and influences that could mitigate them, or render then nun and void. Strategic event management and planning,  should never just be focused on gain, and rewards, the big compensation. Where event management companies focus only on reward, and rewarding executives for being lucky, and getting an event done, and pulling it off, without having had a fraction of what the law, requires, and otherwise stipulated, then as we all know somehow luck tends to run out at the most crucial point. The people die… Then only do we see the true value and necessity for security, emergency and disaster management and mitigation strategies.  We need something different added to our strategic focus, especially where people in large numbers are concerned.  Then we need a structure, some STANDARD OPPERATING PROCEDURES, for all to see, and follow during EVENTS.

Many countries have legislation in place, however more still doesn’t, that cover events from cradle to grave. Still, even with legislative compliance in place, you can never be sure that every event will comply 100%, and the first place they cut corners is on safety, security, and disaster mitigation. It is still just a bare minimum standard of security.  The very uniqueness and nature of events makes it very unpredictable, even at the best of times. The problem with this is, we deal with people, and aspects like liquor use, drugs, guns, crime, political issues, could be the catalyst for something better and bigger to follow. The other aspects are unseen; adverse weather, exposed electricity, structural failures, fire, arson, gas explosions, lightning, flood water, sinkholes, etc…

Therefore, we need to opt for self organisation and true professionalism…when planning and designing major events…

Firstly we need to familiarise ourselves with the industry and their acronyms.

Introduction

SOP: The Standard operating procedure serves as a uniform tool, to co-ordinate multilateral aspects of a project, to guide the respective role-players in terms of their specific key performance areas, and in terms of legislative and other criteria.  Disciplines can function independently to achieve one goal, in an orderly and systematic manner. It serves as a road map, with predetermined goals and deliverables. In simple terms, it is the basic instruction sets that match, and complement each other when eventually combined, to form a Business Plan, SOP, or Strategic Plan etc.

By Definition, it is the fundamental written instruction sets, which dictate multilateral action between role players in the event of a catastrophe, anomaly of nature or an event that will cause chaos or civil unrest. The focus is on role and function designation, to reduce the reaction time and create efficiency with synergised sets of instructions, for each category of event complimenting each other

»A Standard Operational procedure is the fundamental written instruction sets, which dictate multilateral action between all role players »

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In essence it is estimated that an effective person, well balanced should be spending between, 20 –25% of their time in quadrant one, 65-80% in two, 15% in three and less than 1% in four. Look at the quadrants and then where you are at, does it make sense? Well if you are in a strategic position then you should be stuck in quadrant two activities daily. This will also change your operational focus back to your strategic focus.

Terminology;

“JOC”: Joint Operations Committee – Task, to coordinate all major happenings of the VOC’s – Manned by, key personnel, decision makers, and support services

“VOC’s”: Venue Operations centres – Task to co-ordinate specifics of the venue, catering, transportation, media and any other role or function. – Staffed, by operational supervisors.

“Disaster”: means a progressive or sudden, widespread or localised,

Natural or human-caused occurrence which-

(a) Causes or threatens to cause-

(i)     Death, injury or disease;

(ii)    Damage to property, infrastructure or the environment; or

(iii)   Disruption of the life of a community; and

(b) is of a magnitude that exceeds the ability of those affected by the

Disaster to cope with its effects using only their own resources;

“Disaster management”: means a continuous and integrated multi-sectoral,

Multi-disciplinary process of planning and implementation of measures aimed at-

(a) Preventing or reducing the risk of disasters;

(b) Mitigating the severity or consequences of disasters;

(e) Emergency preparedness;

(d) a rapid and effective response to disasters; and

(e) Post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation;

“Island site”: a venue that is protected with its own contingent of command and control.

“Staging Area”: a demarcated area for emergency vehicles and personnel to assemble

“The Core Command Group” a group tasked with all the functions and responsibilities of setting up the JOC/VOC and the compilation of the Emergency and Disaster plan

“Accreditation desk”: the area where guests get their accreditation done

“Adjudication room” an area where technical and logistical differences and operational problems get reported and solved, all paperwork, MOU’s, policies, SOP’s, copies of contracts, get stored here.

“EDMP”: Emergency and Disaster Management Plan

Legal compliance, we need to look at the relevant legislation; in SOUTH AFRICA for instance we have the following acts;

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, 1996

Disaster Management Act, 2002

National Key Points Act, 1980

Protection of Information Act, 1982 83

Civil Protection Act, 1977

The Regulation of Gatherings Act, 1993

Films and Publications Act 1996

The Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956

The Security Officers Act, 1987

National Road Traffic Act, 1996

-To be updated…

How do we start, and where do we start?

See if the venue you will be in, have any criteria, and ask them if they can assist, always a good idea, they have had many events, and know the place, and its issues best.

Then there might also be very fortunate, where the city council in whose area the venue is vested, might have standardised criteria set for this specific venue. If not go hunting, always a good places to start is at the local Police station, then the Metro Police, and then City Hall, or the city Council. Someone somewhere will have one policy, or a compiled one, and you can just follow their criteria that need to be complied with, here is one such list that exists; look for lists like these.

Topics that you will have to cover when having a large gathering at …(these are typical aspects you should consider…)

1. The application, must be received 14 days prior the event, and be signed by legal persons of the organisation, or body.
2. We require your operational plan 7 days prior the event, plus your  disaster management plan, a SWOT analysis and a list of all suppliers, their contact detail, a event program with times, and responsible persons. All the members of the JOC and LOC co-ordinators will attend a row call session prior the gates opening.
3. Do not exceed the grounds capacity, we require a terrain layout plan, plus deployment plan – where will you park what, and erect what?
4. No go and restricted areas, areas that you would like to have sealed off.
5. Illumination (lights) after 5 pm? – is it in place, we require lights after five, and if not how will you go about getting it in place.
6. Piro –techniques – (Fireworks) will you be using any?
7. Accreditation of attendees –how will this be done and what form will it take.
8. Noise control – live bands, and PA systems, must be tested – no live events after 12;00 pm.
9. Backup power generators, will be required, should the power fail – battery backups for PC’s.
10. Catering – hot/cold foods preparation – will require health certification –copies of health certificates and registration with relevant authority, no informal catering, and one fire extinguisher per caterer or food stall.
11. Parking arrangements for / VIP’s, and staff / vendors. Parking guards to facilitate proper parking layout, in rows.
12. Liquor act – do you comply?
13. Carry inns’ – what will be authorized and what wont?
14. Medical tents and staff requirements, – for every 4000 – you need one ambulance manned by one AEA and one BAC (not first aid), and one paramedic (ALS or CCA) for every 0- 6000, must be able to supply their HPCSA numbers, + first aiders, and allergenic medicines, and anti histamine + ice and liquids to be available in the medical room, if it is a sports event we require two ambulances, and minimum two physiotherapists.
15. Structures, stages, branding, banners – will require structural certificates / engineers certificates
16. Ingress and egress control of vehicles, how will this be done from the main road – VIP requires
17. Public transport arrangements / parking for busses and taxis as well as drop off, and pick up points, as well as a responsible person on each bus, and taxi, with a roster of people on that vehicle.
18. Public toilets additional – ratio is one toilet for every 250 people, plus cleaners. Continued cleaning during event, as well as toilet paper must be supplied.
19. Security Guards / car guards/ marshals – who will be appointed, and how will they be recognised, distributed– you will need a minimum of 24 qualified guards, registered with the security board.
20. Fire prevention, your evacuation plan, fire extinguishers at all gas/ fire braais – only 5kg (18kg) gas per stand for certification by fire department, décor –fire retardant materials, candles, liquid paraffin food heaters. , plus fire extinguishers for the parking areas
21. Ticket sales? – coinage, security  of cash– at vendors, gate– how will the cash be protected, and transported
22. Gas collection point for additional gas/ for certification by fire department
23. Bad weather/ what then scenario’s – for big events shelter will have to be erected against the sun and rain
24. Access control in/out of VIP section – what is the criterion.
25. Additional communication systems, public address system, and hand radios– do you have your own.
26. Additional Signage – will you be erecting any?
27. Power points and water points, who will be setting them up, we require electrical certification.
28. Terrain survey, potential risks, and or hazards – what have you found and identified?
29. Staging area – a specific area for medical vehicles and police, with enough open access to the field and venue and the service gates. Helicopter landing zone – a dedicated spot for helicopter landings
30. VIP parking, and entrances / exits – will anyone be treated as a VIP, and who are they?
31. Protection barrier from stage / tent / structure, how will you safeguard any structure?
32. Handicap parking / drop off and pick up point – facilitation – who will assist, and where will they be.
33. Public liability insurance, considerations, – do you have, and how much?
34. Identification of children – everyone must carry id tags, with name, surname, school, and medical aid details, plus parents contact detail and allergies, chronic medicine, etc.
35. Deliveries to the event/ before or during? – What can we expect and at which gate.
36. What time will the stage / tents / structures be in place? Rigged up and  broken down = event programme for logistics
37. We require an Evacuation plan, and dedicated assigned co-ordinators with loudhailers to perform such function with.
38. Communication grid, flow diagram of responsible people, and contractors (copy to METRO POLICE), caterers, etc. and their contact numbers call signs – (via short wave hand radios, minimum 15 radios with chargers and extra batteries
39. Protocol announcements of emergency and disaster evacuation plan, at opening of event.
40. Event manager, and or his deputy will be in the JOC at all times, they will keep the record of all events as they transpire and are remedied,  they will be at the JOC when it opens and need to stay behind until last person leaves the stadium.
41. Service suppliers and technical assistance list of suppliers phone numbers.
42. Cash payments of service providers and staff, where, when and how – what is your security arrangements?
43. JOC /specific site location / equipment required / radio’s, telephone, fax and email – an area where you co-ordinate all aspects of the event from – keep log of events as they happen, must be manned from start to finish by senior representatives and the convener or his deputy. The head convener must be available to the JOC on short notice, and must remain on terrain at all times, no one in the JOC or VOC/ LOC (local organising committee) may consume any alcohol, and must have their own transportation.
44. People climbing on the structures, precautions need to be put in place to stop this
45. Position with vendors, and how they will be regulated.
46. Payment for POLICE AND METRO POLICE officer will be charged at $00 per hour per officer

Now you can start

The Disaster Management planning process rolls out in phases; the first phase: Define the physical attributes of the venue/ s, and legal criteria involved. As well as costs and contracts that might be applicable, and lastly insurance and responsibility for service delivery…

As qualifying questions, never assume anything about anything…

I.E additional charges might apply for high mast lights at stadiums, no vehicles on the field, soccer pitch for instance, lead times, before and after the date, some charge for, or don’t give any lead time, to setup or break down…

Make sure the venue does not cater for parallel events, two event on the same premises on the same date and time, using all of the same resources; parking areas, kitchens, lifts, toilets, electricity, water, etc…

When you have made sure that you are comfortable with all aspects, and the t the venue contemplated will be fit, and then jump to it.

Step one; The initial key criteria areas, needs to be identified first, before coming up with any action item list or moving on towards compiling an Emergency & Disaster Management Plan (EDMP).

Things like; the organizer, promoters, contractors, and government role-players and everyone involved in the staging or organizing of any event are required by law to comply with the National Occupational Health and Safety Act.

These stipulations should then first be researched, to make sure you have enough money available to host a huge, large or small event, scale and magnitude have impact on everything, and implications on events, the bigger the more legal compliance, and the tighter and stricter the criteria will be applied.  Your systems need to be put in place. So bigger is not always better… Start with the local town council to find out what they require. Especially in terms of health, safety, fire, and their codes, by-laws, and security requirements, as well as certification etc, by having a role-player meeting.

At this meeting we start by selling the Concept; its Attributes, its supportingPerception and Systems = CAPS

We need to do a thorough CAPS assessment of the venue/s: A CAPS assessment signals all the ingredients of any strategy, any SOP is a strategy; CAPS refers to the basic principles that should be incorporated into any event strategy, and that of any strategic plan; to make it comprehendible.

DRAFTING THE SOP with the help of PRINCIPALS.

CAPS: Concepts, Attributes, Perceptions, and Systems.

Your initial recognisance should cover the following aspects: as questions for clarity on;

• The capacity and suitability of venue for the envisaged project
• Will it comply, or fall within the ambit of all the relevant acts -, and all its stipulations, requirements and criteria.
• Venue history;
• Venue fires,
• Venue structural failure,
• Venue problems with traffic etc.
• Security & Crime tendencies – special requirements, risk assessments, assessment of the immediate surrounding area, dams, rivers, reservoirs, electrical instillations, sewerage farms, Slaughterhouse
• Secure and designed vs. temporary parking etc…
• Is their any Disaster Management Plan, in place or not?
• Health act and related issues, do they comply?
• Fire prevention and related issues
• The communication grid and radio’s, telecommunication, It networks… will they function, Civil Aviation act restrictions, and or interference
• The requirements for a JOC, VOC, does the venue have a facility suitable.
• Traffic impact analysis and parking flow management survey.
• Identifying – additional – Emergency exits
• Identifying “Staging areas” – for emergency personnel, vehicles and landing zones
• Contingencies, in place, review of all evacuation protocols
• Medical staff, Doctors and Paramedics requirements
• Terrain layout plans, building plans, water and sewage lines, electrical installations, capacity and potential hazards. Gas power kitchens and other potential dangers.
• Service, repair and maintenance issues at the venue make sure they sign such a service level agreement; – Things that work perfectly well now could be totally broken tomorrow, whose responsibility will it be to repair it to its original condition… before your event? Escalators, lifts, lights, toilets, etc…They are all prone to break. Then the cutting of grass, and pruning of trees, cleaning etc…as well evacuation clause; this clause stipulate e the time that you may enter the venue, and every one, and thing will be out of your way. No night before party tables, and chars, and tents, and litter etc…
• Does the available infrastructure cater for enough; of what you will need, and how much will additional cost, and will it be available; toilets, parking, seating, kitchens, water etc.

Read much more here; full article