The Risk Management Circle in the Context of Events 1: Introduction
In the dynamic world of event planning, ensuring the safety and success of an event requires meticulous risk management. Whether it’s a small community gathering or a large-scale festival, the potential for unforeseen issues is always present. For event professionals and licensing authorities, understanding and implementing robust risk management strategies is crucial to mitigating risks and ensuring a smooth execution.
The Necessity of Risk Management in Events
Ensuring Attendee Safety: The primary concern in any event is the safety of attendees. Effective risk management helps identify potential hazards and implement measures to prevent accidents, injuries, and other safety issues. This proactive approach not only protects attendees but also enhances their overall experience.
Compliance with Regulations: Licensing authorities require events to comply with various safety and operational standards. Proper risk management ensures that all legal and regulatory requirements are met, reducing the likelihood of legal issues and fines.
Protecting the Brand and Reputation: An event marred by accidents or poor management can significantly damage the reputation of both the event organizers and sponsors. Risk management helps maintain a positive image by preventing incidents that could lead to negative publicity.
Financial Stability: Unforeseen incidents can lead to substantial financial losses, whether through direct costs (such as medical expenses or property damage) or indirect costs (such as lost revenue from decreased attendance). Effective risk management helps control these costs by minimizing the chances of such incidents occurring.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency: By identifying potential risks in advance, event professionals can develop contingency plans that allow for quick and effective responses to any issues that arise. This preparedness ensures smoother operations and less disruption during the event.
Figure 1: The Risk Management Circle
The Risk Management Circle
The risk management circle offers a structured approach to identifying, assessing, managing, and monitoring risks, ensuring that events proceed smoothly despite potential challenges.
A step which often is forgotten or not addressed accordingly is the formulation of objectives or “protection goals” for the event.
Creating the context is the first step in the risk management process, which expresses the objectives of the event. The objectives of an event can take different forms; examples include economic profit, recognition value (e.g. with a specific product), satisfied visitors (who will attend the next event again), a proper event process and a safe event. By formulating these goals, so-called protection goals are defined, which are necessary for determining the boundary risks.
In general, this would mean something like “preserving the physical integrity of the visitor”. However, the protection objective “No injuries to visitors to events” is unlikely to be met and should therefore not be formulated in this way. However, the organiser should think about how many injuries they can tolerate at their event. They can also specify certain types of injuries or illnesses that they will not tolerate at the event.
The first step should therefore be to determine what is to be protected:
- People – who?
- Property – which one?
- Information – what kind?
- Processes – which ones?
- Environment – from what?
- Reputation – why?
Examples of formulated protection goals should be as specific as possible:
- Avoidance of critical densities of people
- Maintaining hazard prevention measures and escape routes for people at risk
- Maintaining the organiser’s communication sovereignty (technical and content-related)
- Technical maintenance of communication infrastructures
- Securing the personnel requirements
- Securing the information chains
The formulation of protection goals determines which risks can still be tolerated at an event. In practice, the threshold risk is more of a “more or less wide corridor” than a “narrow line”. To a certain extent, this can be explained by the fact that the definition of a threshold risk is usually the result of a consensus-building process in which different interests have to be reconciled.
Particularly when classifying what is “acceptable” and what is “acceptable under certain conditions”, other influencing factors such as the level of protection defined by legal requirements, proof or compensation through engineering methods or ultimately the interests of the organiser are important in addition to personal assessment.
The protection goals and the limiting risks to be derived from them are not rigid and generally applicable to all types of events. They must be reformulated for each new event. This is because the protection goals change with every event. This is illustrated by the following example:
1: Risk Identification is the first and perhaps the most crucial phase of the risk management circle. In this phase, potential risks that could impact the event are identified. This process involves a thorough examination of all aspects of the event, from logistics and location to attendees and stakeholders. Common risks in event management include:
- Venue Issues: Availability, suitability, and compliance with safety regulations.
- Weather Conditions: Especially relevant for outdoor events.
- Health and Safety: Ensuring the wellbeing of all participants.
- Technical Failures: Problems with audio-visual equipment, internet connectivity, etc.
- Security Threats: Unauthorised access, crowd control, and emergency response.
- Financial Risks: Budget overruns, funding shortfalls, and unexpected expenses.
Engaging with stakeholders, including vendors, sponsors, and attendees, can provide valuable insights into potential risks. Tools such as brainstorming sessions, checklists, and risk assessment matrices are often used to facilitate this process.
2: Once potential risks are identified, the next phase is the risk assessment. This involves evaluating the likelihood and impact of each identified risk. The goal is to prioritize risks based on their potential effect on the event. This phase typically involves:
- Likelihood Assessment: Estimating the probability of each risk occurring.
- Impact Analysis: Evaluating the potential consequences if the risk materializes.
- Risk Matrix: Creating a matrix that plots the likelihood against the impact to visualize and prioritize risks.
For example, a high-probability, high-impact risk such as severe weather for an outdoor event would be prioritized over a low-probability, low-impact risk like a minor delay in catering.
3: Risk mitigation involves developing strategies to reduce or eliminate the impact of prioritized risks. Mitigation strategies can be proactive (preventing the risk from occurring) or reactive (minimizing the impact if the risk does occur). Key mitigation techniques include:
- Avoidance: Changing plans to eliminate the risk (e.g., choosing an indoor venue to avoid weather risks).
- Reduction: Implementing measures to reduce the likelihood or impact (e.g., having backup generators for power outages).
- Transfer: Shifting the risk to another party (e.g., purchasing insurance or outsourcing certain services).
- Acceptance: Acknowledging the risk and preparing to deal with it (e.g., having contingency plans in place).
Effective risk mitigation requires collaboration and communication among all stakeholders to ensure that everyone is aware of the plans and their roles.
4: The final phase, risk monitoring and review, involves continuously overseeing the identified risks and the effectiveness of mitigation measures throughout the event lifecycle. This phase ensures that any new risks are identified and addressed promptly and that the event remains adaptable to changing circumstances. Key activities in this phase include:
- Regular check-ins: Holding regular meetings with the event team to review risk status.
- Monitoring tools: Utilizing tools and technologies to track real-time data related to identified risks (e.g., weather apps, security systems).
- Feedback loop: Gathering feedback from stakeholders and adjusting plans as necessary.
- Post-event analysis: Conducting a thorough review after the event to evaluate the effectiveness of the risk management process and document lessons learned for future events.
In the dynamic and often unpredictable world of event planning, the Risk Management Circle provides a comprehensive framework for anticipating, evaluating, managing, and monitoring risks. By systematically addressing potential threats, event organizers can enhance their ability to deliver successful and memorable events, ensuring that both the experience and the safety of all participants are upheld. Through diligent application of the risk management circle, events can not only survive potential disruptions but thrive in the face of them.
Resources
Below, you’ll find a list of resources specifically focused on risk management in the context of event planning:
1. Risk Management for Events (2nd Edition) by Julia Rutherford Silvers and William O’Toole (2021). Provides a comprehensive guide to risk management tailored for the events industry, covering various types of events and the specific risks associated with them. https://www.routledge.com/Risk-Management-for-Events/Silvers-OToole/p/book/9780367260644
2. Events Management: An Introduction (4th Edition) by Glenn A. J. Bowdin et al. (2024). Offers a systematic guide to organizing successful events, including a dedicated section on risk management. https://www.routledge.com/Events-Management/Bowdin-Allen-Harris-Jago-OToole-McDonnell/p/book/9780367491840
3. Events Feasibility and Development: From Strategy to Operations (2nd Edition) by William O’Toole (2021). Focuses on the feasibility and development stages of event planning with in-depth coverage of risk assessment and management strategies. https://www.routledge.com/Events-Feasibility-and-Development-From-Strategy-to-Operations/OToole/p/book/9781032000879
4. ISO 31000:2018 – Risk Management Guidelines. Provides a framework for risk management that can be applied to event planning to ensure comprehensive risk assessment and mitigation. (www.iso.org/iso-31000-risk-management.html)
Resources in German
- https://basigo.vfsg.org/index.php?title=Sicherheitsbausteine/Sicherheitsbeurteilung/Risikobeurteilung
- https://www.orghandbuch.de/Webs/OHB/DE/OrganisationshandbuchNEU/3_managementansaetze_u_instrumente/3_10_Risikomanagement/risikomanagement-node.html
- https://www.risknet.de/themen/risknews-listenansicht/
Resources in English
- https://www.theirm.org/events/
- https://www.ferma.eu/about-ferma/
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370590007_Risk_Management_In_an_Overview_of_Literature_Review
- https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/43639912/Event_Risk_Management_and_Safety_5B1_5D-libre.pdf?1457740239=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DEvent_Risk_Management_and_Safety.pdf&Expires=1724777593&Signature=djPdFDZxmksaMek~sNldEuf4Q6UpzqSESvnuv~KbL-hRgH3ElwMbpNgiODABmWA3llwUYav4lCpZsI5ZwS4SFmqrJrHKvnkh6QqKjWAHtOmZKx6JE0Q~svrCIqgwzAqC1Vy1hqhwAmH9fUHXerpiVzM6qoMbUjmTX5wqosPk7FNuX-OaI~SoMzeB8IqwNE0fZC6Fb0uagrPFNBh-LskMxWr7GBtY4FVYb90ne8Zt2H-sgp2ec07vm5xe88ADJXZ1QfQetb6-ck1topJUQKUXd8T5j6C17r~i1Wrs~~l5xgZpI7ipnUiZvpekQUBnlXA3W5rdjOAvEukGp~8ASpW-IQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23750472.2021.1928538
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369328194_RISK_MANAGEMENT_FOR_SPORTING_EVENTS
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382369816_Basics_of_Risk_Mitigation
Social Media:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyridley/
- https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/risk-and-management/
- https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/risk-safety-security-sciences-6887255779594907648/
