In 2003 when I first started researching and writing about the Live Event Industry I was startled to find only a few textbooks that focussed effectively, in any depth, on Health and Safety Management for the Live Production Industry. In 2009 I am pleased to have re-discovered the best of these publications by a long way, ‘Health and Safety Management in the Live Music and Events Industry’, by one of the world’s leading industry experts, Chris Hannam from ‘Stagesafe’, as the eagerly awaited second edition is published.

Over a decade since the Event Safety Guide also known as the Purple Guide or Pop Code, and endless discussions by the various trade bodies and conferences, we still as an industry seem to deal with Health and Safety Management in an almost haphazard fashion. Consequently, as almost always happens we wait for incidents to occur before we change things (reactive as opposed to proactive). Self-regulation has always been a real issue and unfortunately this year we have two senior production personnel in court on H&S charges. We therefore all need to fully understand our obligations under the Law and how to manage people and systems, to maximise safety for everyone, both back of house and front. There is a real problem with generically trained H&S personnel; event safety managers who do not have the correct mix of knowledge, experience and training; and event licensing or live production personnel who fall short in their responsibilities and skillset, when dealing with safety measures.

Chris Hannam’s book is therefore an essential text for anyone that works within the Live Production Industry and should be the standard guide for promotion via our trade bodies. It dovetails effortlessly into the Purple Guide and sits effectively alongside the long awaited Safety Passport Scheme run under the Production Services Association. Chris is a leading provider of the scheme in the UK, initially introduced the idea of Safety Passports to the PSA, and subsequently developed the course as part of a safety passport working group.

With well thought out and easy to understand sections on Risk Assessment and Safety Method Statements, Effective Health and Safety Policy, Selection of Personnel, Crowd Management, Communications, Performance Management, Environmental Safety to name but a few, as well as comprehensive chapters on all of the legal frameworks for Machinery, Fire Safety, Work Equipment, Employers Liability, Occupiers Liability, Accident Reporting and RIDDOR, PPE, Working at Height, LOLER, Special Effects, Temporary Structures, First Aid, Traffic Management, COSHH, Working Time Regulations and many more, this text covers all of the HSE and non-HSE publications in a well-managed and logical handbook. Used on its own or preferably in conjunction with the Purple Guide and the Safety Passport Scheme it is a sound basis for any member of industry personnel to understand the structure of how to maximise live event safety.

I thoroughly recommend Chris Hannam’s book, ‘Health and Safety Management in the Live Music and Events Industry’.

John-Paul Greenock, April 2009

Second Edition, May 2009
£25.95
476pp
Paper cover
ISBN 978 1904031 30 7

For full details and to order your copy, click here now!