Ensuring Crowd Safety at Major Events

Organising an event that's likely to gather large crowds? Your priority should always be human safety. Make sure you consider this crucial factor in every decision you make. Don't jeopardise human lives, your event and reputation by making ill judgments. Plan ahead using common sense and keeping in mind the following tips.

Venue Safety

If you're not qualified in events management, your safest bet is to select a professional venue with experience in catering for large groups, and professionals on hand to deal with licensing and carrying out safety procedures.

While it may be tempting to just throw a party or a festival in an abandoned field, it's really not as simple as you'd think. You'll need to go through a long process of obtaining official authorisation. The venue and entire event will be assessed to ensure safety is taken care of. Staff checks will also be made to evaluate professionalism and skills.

Basic factors to look out for in any venue are dead ends, steep slopes, uneven surfaces, many routes leading into one and slippery areas. These could all impinge on people's safety by blocking escape routes or making them inaccessible, or causing massive pile-ups, in which people could potentially be crushed to death.

Consider the amount of restrooms in the venue and whether there are enough for the amount of people expected to turn up.

Staff Required

You never know what kind of people might show up at your event and how individuals will interact with each other. Therefore you need to provide security staff who know how to tackle fights and disperse riots. They can also help control crowds by removing persons whose behaviour is limiting other attendees' enjoyment of the event. Consider security checks at the door before letting people into the venue.

First aiders or fully qualified medical staff are a legal requirement. Make sure your team of organisers is educated in performing first aid. A great team-building activity is to attend a course together.

Don't forget general staff like ticket controllers, cleaners and bar staff. They need to be fully informed about the details of the event so they can do the best job possible and contribute to success. Select them early on in the organising process and train them well.

Temperature and Hydration

Make sure water is readily available at numerous points throughout the venue to avoid participants getting dehydrated.

Air-conditioning and other temperature control devices are vital in ensuring crowds don't get overheated and people don't start fainting or suffering from other health problems. Always check with the venue if they have the appropriate equipment or whether they rely on rented temperature control mechanisms, in which case costs will most likely have to be covered by the organisers.

Harvey McEwan writes to offer information and advice on a variety of areas, from technology to holiday destinations. Read through Harvey's other articles here to find out more.

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The Importance of Teaching Children Gun Safety

Nine times out of ten when you hear about a child shooting another child the story will go something like this: the child will have been playing with a weapon that was left within their reach. The child will be a child that was not raised around guns and have more than likely never touched a gun in their life. Their entire knowledge of these weapons will be what they have seen in the movies and on television. So they do not comprehend the real damage that these weapons are capable of inflicting. Their curiosity causes them to pick up the weapon and they accidentally shoot themselves or someone else.

If the child in question had been taught what a gun could really do to a person they would more than likely never have played with the weapons? Children are naturally curious and they see these items on the television. They need to see these items in real life and they need to be taught all of the things they can do to remain safe around a gun.

Children should be taught where the safety is located on a gun and how to tell if the safety is on or off. Many accidents happen because the person thought the safety was on. They should be taught that you never pick up a gun without checking the safety and ascertaining what position it is in.

Children need to be taught that an unloaded weapon is the most dangerous weapon of all. Many lives are taken every year because the person that was holding the gun assumed that the gun was not loaded. They should be taught to treat every gun as if it were fully loaded, even if they were the ones that removed the shells from the gun.

Children should be taught that the most important part of gun safety is that you never point a weapon at anyone that you do not intend to kill. You never point a gun at a friend when you are playing because a gun is not a toy it is a deadly weapon. You have to teach children what power these weapons have and that they have to respect that power.

Children need to know that on television people can get shot and jump right up in thirty minutes. They need to know that in real life when people get shot they probably will never get back up again.

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Travel Safety for Canadians

The best way to have a safe trip when you're traveling to unfamiliar places is to do your research first. Canadian government resources can help with your travel planning.

Before you decide on a travel destination, it's a good idea to check the Travel Reports page from Foreign Affairs Canada. The Travel Reports list lets you look up travel conditions in more than 180 countries around the world. The travel information reports for individual countries cover general conditions, such as crime levels, and types of crime, regulations, information on the local Canadian embassy and emergency assistance, health conditions and entry requirements.

Where appropriate the Travel Reports include Travel Warnings highlighting conditions in countries the department considers unsafe for Canadians.

You'll also be able to read information on current issues of interest to Canadians living or traveling abroad, including upcoming elections, natural disasters and avian influenza.

The Public Health Agency of Canada provides health information for Canadian travelers. The Well on Your Way travel booklet is a good starting point to develop the questions you should ask your doctor before you travel, and includes information on immunizations. For more specific information, check with one of the travel medicine clinics across Canada.

View the original article here

Travel Safety for Canadians

The best way to have a safe trip when you're traveling to unfamiliar places is to do your research first. Canadian government resources can help with your travel planning.

Before you decide on a travel destination, it's a good idea to check the Travel Reports page from Foreign Affairs Canada. The Travel Reports list lets you look up travel conditions in more than 180 countries around the world. The travel information reports for individual countries cover general conditions, such as crime levels, and types of crime, regulations, information on the local Canadian embassy and emergency assistance, health conditions and entry requirements.

Where appropriate the Travel Reports include Travel Warnings highlighting conditions in countries the department considers unsafe for Canadians.

You'll also be able to read information on current issues of interest to Canadians living or traveling abroad, including upcoming elections, natural disasters and avian influenza.

The Public Health Agency of Canada provides health information for Canadian travelers. The Well on Your Way travel booklet is a good starting point to develop the questions you should ask your doctor before you travel, and includes information on immunizations. For more specific information, check with one of the travel medicine clinics across Canada.

View the original article here

Travel Safety for Canadians

The best way to have a safe trip when you're traveling to unfamiliar places is to do your research first. Canadian government resources can help with your travel planning.

Before you decide on a travel destination, it's a good idea to check the Travel Reports page from Foreign Affairs Canada. The Travel Reports list lets you look up travel conditions in more than 180 countries around the world. The travel information reports for individual countries cover general conditions, such as crime levels, and types of crime, regulations, information on the local Canadian embassy and emergency assistance, health conditions and entry requirements.

Where appropriate the Travel Reports include Travel Warnings highlighting conditions in countries the department considers unsafe for Canadians.

You'll also be able to read information on current issues of interest to Canadians living or traveling abroad, including upcoming elections, natural disasters and avian influenza.

The Public Health Agency of Canada provides health information for Canadian travelers. The Well on Your Way travel booklet is a good starting point to develop the questions you should ask your doctor before you travel, and includes information on immunizations. For more specific information, check with one of the travel medicine clinics across Canada.

View the original article here