Effectively increasing event safety and reducing risks at World Class Events

The Soccer World Cup, the Olympics, the Rugby World Cup: all major events that attract thousands, if not millions of visitors. Although the visitors are only there to have fun, the organisation of these events has a serious job to do: ensuring safety and reducing risks. In a time of increased threats, this job becomes more difficult. However, choosing the right equipment can genuinely make a difference. In this blog, I explain how Heras Mobile can help to select the right equipment for effective event management.

The most important safety risks at events

Events that attract a lot of visitors involve significant safety risks. The task of the organisation is to reduce these risks and ensure a high safety level for their visitors. To guarantee safety, there are two different kinds of things the organisation could do:

1. Effectively manage visitors of the event

When a lot of people gather together in one place, effective management is essential to ensure a high safety level. By guiding people to the location of the event — with the help of fences, concrete blockers or shields — the organisation can control the route people take and therefore reduce conflicts and incidents.

2. Secure the location where the event is held

The organisation of an event can reduce risks by shielding off certain places where visitors are not allowed to go. For example, because a certain place is not suitable for a large group of people or because the organisation needs those spaces in order to host the event effectively (f.e. for technicians or storage). By limiting the places people can go to, you have more control over this large flow of people and therefore over the safety levels.

World Class Events: where millions of people come together

Big, worldwide events which attract over millions of people can be considered World Class Events. Well-known examples are the Olympic Games, the Rugby World Cup or the Soccer World Cup. Since different countries partake in these events, they attract a large number of visitors from all over the world.

An example which illustrates the size of these events, is the Soccer World Cup in Brasil in 2014. The Soccer World Cup can be considered the most important event in the whole world. Every four years, this events attracts the most visitors than any other event worldwide. In Brasil, about one-third of the whole human population attended this event.

When such a large group of people gathers in one place, the right safety measures have to be taken to make sure risks are reduced to a minimum. For the organisation, ensuring safety is an essential but also a difficult job.

Now let's look at the temporary fences for World Class Events. It should contribute to a good infrastructure of people and vehicles. It must provide tangible security by keeping people inside our outside certain areas. But it should also be easy to (un)install; as the event evolves in time, the security question might change as well. Furthermore, the fence should be mobile for the organisation, but in locked position in order for the public not to be able to move it.

Last but not least, the security solution as a whole (such as guards, cameras and fences) should radiate professionalism and maximum security. This often means with big events that we put two lines of fences behind each other. The first fence is firmly secured to the ground and is often anti-climb. The second fence is less secured with accessories, but provides a visible and invisible 'border of security' between areas. Often the guards use the space between the fences to keep an eye on the situation in front of them.

How Heras helps to increase safety and reduce risks at events

Heras Mobile has been a partner of various World Class Events over the last couple of years and has extensive skills in increasing event safety by using high-quality equipment. Through our years of experience — gained by working for events like the Soccer World Cup and the Olympics — we learned exactly how to effectively guide large groups of people and what kind of equipment is needed to effectively ensure safety.

The right type of fence can truly make the difference in ensuring safety at World Class Events. For that reason, Heras has created a high-security fences especially suitable for event management. Our high-security fences are designed to reduce accidents, vandalism and theft. Because of its special sized mesh the fence is impossible to climb by visitors, which helps the organisation to reduce safety risks.

On top of that, our fences are easy to use — they can be handled by only one person — and easy to install and uninstall. This means our fences are extra suitable for event management, since events often need to be build up in only a few days.

Choosing the right equipment for effective event management

Every event is different and requires different safety solutions and event management. Our team looks at every phase and the different challenges each detail brings to the table. Together with the organiser of the event, we then decide to which extent the fencing and security should be present. If this means we need to provide a custom solution – for example a higher fence – we are able to adjust our plan. In Brazil, for example this meant we delivered a 2,5 meter instead of a 2 meter high fence.

Our specialists have years of experience in securing locations by selecting the right type of fence and can answer all your questions. Curious how you could increase safety at your event? Request tailored advice here.