During his time producing concerts, events and performances, Chris Hannam noticed a distinct lack of Health & Safety awareness among crew and contractors in the live music and events industry. After attending a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Site Safety Awareness Course, Chris decided that similar training would benefit personnel in the live music and events industry so he went about writing the first STAGESAFE course - this was to be the first Safety Passport scheme for the industry! STAGESAFE was born! (Chris admits to pinching the name "STAGESAFE" from a now defunct stewarding business).

Chris is an experienced event industry professional with 30 years of experience at events such as Glastonbury and Reading Festivals through to outdoor concerts with the most of the leading orchestras in the UK and in areas as diverse as Production Management, Site Management, Front of House, Stage and Tour Management, staging, lighting, rigging, transport, stewarding and event consultancy. He has tickets to operate forklifts, materials handlers, cherry-pickers and flying carpets, as well as First-Aid, Fire Safety, Food Hygiene, Ladders, Access Tower, Tallescopes, Firework and Pyro certificates in addition to his formal health and safety qualifications. Chris was also a long standing member of the Production Services Association's Council of Management for 12 years – as a result he knows what it's like to actually do the work and understand the kinds of pressure people have to work under in the event industry.

At around the same time the PSA took decisive steps towards a nationally accredited training scheme, embarking on a series of BTEC courses to be produced originally in partnership with Loughborough College. Not only was the STAGESAFE Health & Safety Awareness course endorsed by the PSA, it was actually used as the basis of the Production Technician BTEC Award.

Chris continues to run STAGESAFE and is still dedicated to improving health and safety throughout the entertainment sector and consultancy has now become part of STAGESAFE's core business activity in addition to training. STAGESAFE has a full exclusive range of professionals to call upon for specialist help in areas such as rigging, pyro, crowd safety, noise, work at height, fireworks, electricity, food safety, traffic management, fire and first aid. A full health and safety consultancy service is now offered covering everything from providing event health and safety officers to audits, health and policies, risk assessment, safety management systems and advice to companies, individuals and events. STAGESAFE also offer a service to co-ordinate and make Premises License applications on behalf of clients.

Chris was also been involved with the production of the BSI Code of Practice for Event Stewarding and Crowd Safety (BS 8406:2003) and worked on behalf of the PSA with the UK Crowd Management Association and other industry organisations on the development of a Foundation Degree Course in Crowd Management. In March 2003, and on behalf of the Production Services Association, Chris started discussions with the various organisations to develop a Safety Passport Training Scheme for the event and technical production services industry that has now become an industry standard - Chris continues the original STAGESAFE idea of an industry Safety Passport.

In January 2005 at the Total Production International Awards Chris was awarded the "Unsung Hero Award" in recognition of his work; this award is in memory of the late John Peel OBE.

STAGESAFE celebrated its 10th birthday in 2007.

More recently STAGESAFE proposed a Safety Passport scheme to MUTA, the trade association for the marquee hire industry, the proposal was eagerly welcomed and Stagesafe was commissioned to not only write the course but also deliver it to the staff of MUTA member companies.

STAGESAFE are happy to discuss your health and safety requirements and tailor make a package to suit your particular business or activity.

To find out more, just contact us by clicking here : we're waiting to hear from you. You can be assured of careful attention to your needs.