AIF to highlight structural and stage safety with conference

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) is to host a Structural and Crowd Safety Conference to look at outdoor structures, emergency planning procedures, climate issues and the resulting safety implications.

The conference, which will take place at the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre from 11.30am until 6.30pm on February 3, will feature a range of presentations and panel sessions from Chris Kemp, International Centre for Crowd Management and Safety Studies (ICCMSS) /Bucks University; Simon James, The Event Safety Shop; Andy Yates, Webb Yates Engineers; Roger Barrett, Star Events Group; Richard Bryan, Bearded Theory Festival and Rudi Enos, Special Structures Lab.

Two panels and two presentations comprise the day and will look at footage of the Pukkelpop and Indiana State Fair stage collapses plus the European response to climate issues and resulting structural safety implications. A Structural Safety at Outdoor Events Panel will cover how to make structures safe at outdoor events, what to look for when booking them and strategy for handling adverse weather conditions.

Loud Sound’s Jim King (pictured) and Paul Cook, Live Nation, will also take part in the day’s discussions.

Ben Turner, co-founder and deputy chair, AIF commented: “AIF feels that not just hired experts, but the festival owners themselves need to understand the reasons for an increase in these incidents. It is important that the key stakeholders and the industry at large have a clearer understanding of this critically important aspect of putting on live events. From the initial response to this seminar it is also clear that this is a feeling shared by many in the industry.”

The afternoon panel sessions are free to attend. If you wish to attend the entire event, click here.