Stuck for advice on the nuts and bolts of organising your event? The Purple Guide, updated last year with an on-line format, is an invaluable guide, says Jim Winship, TESA director and one of the compilers. It takes users through the different elements involved in organising an event, most of which are applicable whether it is a small music event, a rally or a country show.
Whether you are organising a major concert or a local festival, anticipating all the intricacies of planning an event can be a minefi eld both in terms of making sure that everything happens correctly, and on time, and also that your event stays within the law.
It was to help event organisers in this that the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), together with the industry, got their heads together in the early 1990s to produce the original Purple Guide (or ‘HSG195 - A Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Music and Similar Events’ to give it its full title). Providing guidance on everything from health and safety legislation to toilet requirements, the Guide quickly became established as the principle reference source for events both in the UK and in many places overseas.
Last year, after protracted negotiations, the Events Industry Forum (an informal industry group) published a new updated version of the Guide with the support of the HSE.
Developed with the help of industry experts and regulators, the new ‘Purple Guide’ is intended to provide organisers with the key information they need to make informed decisions but without being prescriptive.
Comprising 24 chapters, with others in the pipeline, the Guide takes users through the diff erent elements involved in organising an event, most of which are applicable whether it is a small music event, a rally or a country show. Starting with the principles of health and safety legislation, each chapter covers a different area from venue design and transport to waste management and special effects.
Intended to provide guidance to good practice and the law, the Purple Guide does not tell organisers what to do but instead each chapter aims to highlight the issues they need to consider in planning, including the potential risks that should be taken into account. Where appropriate it also points organisers to other sources of information.
While most specialist suppliers to events should have a detailed understanding of legislation and the principles of good practice in their industry, the Purple Guide provides event organisers with some of the issues they should consider in their procurement and management of suppliers.
The Purple Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Music and Other Events is an on-line publication and is available to download at www.thepurpleguide.co.uk. There is an annual subscription of £25, which includes receiving all up-dates and new chapters as they are published.
EIF Limited, which has been set up specifi cally to publish the Guide, is a not for profit company and all monies raised in excess of costs will be invested back in support of the industry.