- Whats New |
- The FLA |
- Licensing |
- Safety Certification |
- Spectator Safety |
- FAQs |
- Publications |
Publications
Related / Useful Links
Latest Publication
The information contained in this publication is intended to provide useful guidance, but is not a definitive statement applicable in all circumstances. Independent professional advice should be obtained before taking any action or refraining from taking any action on the basis of this information.
Contents
Annex A Points to consider when preparing a scripted briefing
Annex B Points to consider when conducting a de-briefing
Preface
The Fourth (1997) Edition of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds ("the Green Guide") explains the importance of adopting a procedure for briefing and de-briefing the stewards who play an important role in the safe management of the ground.
This document provides additional practical guidance to safety officers on how to structure their briefing and de-briefing in the light of the Green Guide. It reflects current good practice and draws upon the experience developed over many years by safety officers, primarily at football grounds, and by the police. However, the need for briefing and de-briefing stewards is not unique to football. The advice in this guidance may therefore also be of assistance to those responsible for spectator safety at other sports grounds.
1. Introduction
Those responsible for keeping spectators safe at a sports ground need to adopt an integrated approach. This should address not merely the fabric and layout of the ground but the planning, procedures and personnel required for effective crowd safety management.
A key role is played by the stewards, whatever their provenance, upon whom considerable demands are now placed and whose performance may come under scrutiny at any time. The stewards should therefore not merely be well trained and assessed but fully and professionally briefed on each occasion before they are deployed. Any inquiry into a serious incident would undoubtedly focus on the nature, extent, content and method of this briefing, together with the time and priority given to preparing it.
The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds recommends that one of the factors to be taken into account in assessing the safe capacity of a sports ground is the 'S' (safety management) factor. A local authority may take the adequacy of the pre-event briefing into account when determining this factor
2. General principles
The Green Guide advises that:
"The briefing of stewards forms a necessary component of effective safety management. Arrangements for this will vary according to the number of stewards involved. If the total number does not exceed 50 it may be possible for all stewards to be briefed together, by the safety officer or chief steward. Where there are more than 50 stewards on duty, experience shows that it may be more beneficial to conduct briefing sessions in smaller groups. In such cases the safety officer or chief steward would brief supervisors, who would then brief their individual sections. An accurate record of briefings should be kept. For this reason it is recommended that they are scripted by the safety officer and retained with the post-event summary."
This document provides additional practical guidance, primarily for ground safety officers who are responsible for the organisation and management of stewards and other safety personnel at sports grounds and for following up the lessons learned during or after an event. However, it is also addressed to senior ground management which needs to know how its overall safety policies are being promulgated and implemented.
It applies whether the stewards are directly employed by the ground management, are supplied by an agency or are brought by a visiting club.
3. Objectives
Briefing is not a substitute for proper training and assessment. Rather, it is intended to provide the stewards with whatever specific information and instructions they may require in order to perform their functions to the appropriate standard at that day’s match. Unless this information has been fully explained, absorbed and understood, the safety, comfort and well being of spectators could be adversely affected. Every event, however routine, presents a new challenge and must be addressed with a fresh and open mind.
Safety officers therefore need to have systems and procedures in place to ensure that:
4. Method
As indicated above, the Green Guide envisages two possible briefing procedures. It will be for the safety officer to determine, having regard to the numbers involved and the facilities available, whether it is appropriate to brief everyone at a single central point or whether to adopt a ‘cascade’ style of briefing.
Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. A single briefing ensures that all stewards are given the same message. Furthermore it brings them into contact with the safety officer and senior safety staff and can help them identify with the overall safety management operation. However, it may be more difficult to communicate effectively with a larger group, to ensure that everyone can hear, is paying attention, and has understood correctly. Individual stewards may be deterred from asking questions or raising concerns.
Conversely, a cascaded briefing may be more intimate and personal but there is a risk of inconsistency or gaps in the briefing. Where such a system is adopted, the safety officer might wish to attend the occasional briefing of groups of stewards by their supervisors.
5. Structure and content
Experience has shown that briefing is most effectively conducted using the following widely used structure, known as I.I.M.A.C.
A more detailed list of the points that might be covered under these headings is attached at Annex A.
As indicated in the Green Guide, there are strong arguments for the safety officer preparing and delivering a scripted briefing. This imposes a discipline on the safety officer to prepare thoroughly in advance and reduces the risk of any important matters being forgotten or poorly explained. Such briefings need to be in clear simple language and delivered at a measured pace.
A prepared script ensures that the briefing can proceed if the safety officer is absent or incapacitated. It enables the same message to be delivered to all safety personnel under the cascade briefing system. Moreover, by providing a record of what is said, it may prove invaluable to the ground management in the event of any incident. The briefing script should therefore be retained as part of the post event summary.
The safety officer must ensure that briefings are always sufficiently detailed to cover all the necessary points but are not so overloaded with information that this cannot be absorbed or retained. The main issues should be explicitly summarised at the end of the briefing session. In order to assess whether the briefing has been properly understood by each steward, the supervisors should periodically question their stewards on its contents, for instance by asking them to identify and repeat the key points.
In addition, the ground management should provide each of the stewards with a safety handbook and, where appropriate, aide memoir cards to remind them of their role and responsibilities and of the standard spectator care and ground safety procedures. The stewards should also be encouraged to make written notes of any matters relating to the particular event.
6. Location
In ideal circumstances, briefing would take place in a dedicated room with sufficient seating for all those attending. This would facilitate the use of visual aids. However, at most sports grounds such a facility cannot be provided. Since it is undesirable to try briefing a large standing group, the most sensible option is for the safety officer to use the seated spectator accommodation. Where large numbers are involved, it may also be helpful to seat them in their respective groups so that briefing on a specific point can more easily be targeted.
Outdoor briefings are, however, potentially vulnerable to distractions such as noise over the public address system or from other staff in the vicinity. Care is needed to ensure that the briefing is clearly audible.
7. Timing
A number of factors may affect the timing of briefings. Some staff, such as car park attendants, will need to start work early and may thus require briefing before the others have arrived. In every case, however, the safety officer will need to allow sufficient time for the briefing and deployment of the stewards before the spectators are admitted to the ground. This in turn will determine when they should report for duty. No stewards, whatever their provenance, should be deployed without first having been fully briefed.
8. De-briefing
On de-briefing the Green Guide advises that:
"A debrief of stewards is also necessary to ensure that any incidents or problems are referred to the safety officer for follow up action. The arrangements for the de-briefing will vary according to the number of stewards involved. As part of the de-briefing procedure, incident forms should be completed by stewards and handed to the supervisor, chief steward or safety officer."
It is not always understood that debriefing is not an end in itself but an essential ingredient of the safety management system. It is the means by which the safety officer can assess the effectiveness of the safety management operation and discover whether their perception of the event is shared by the other safety personnel. For the system to work, however, the safety officer, along with senior management, must be committed to listening and responding to any reasonable comments or criticism. Otherwise, complacency may set in and necessary lessons may not be learned until it is too late.
Procedures are therefore needed to ensure that information is shared, recorded and acted upon by the ground management after every event and not merely when there has been some incident or mishap. In particular these should:
Methods whereby this information may be communicated to the ground management include:
· de-briefing the stewards en masse;
· de-briefing the stewards sector by sector;
· the submission of incident reports;
· the match log;
· questionnaires to staff;
· other reports;
· correspondence from the public;
· inter-agency meetings.
The safety officer will need to assess which of the above methods will best ensure that the necessary information is shared. In most instances it is likely that a combination of methods will be necessary.
The points to consider when conducting a de-briefing are detailed at Annex B. Although the de-briefing will primarily be concerned with spectator safety it would be sensible use the opportunity to receive feedback on any health and safety issue.
Any issue raised at a de-briefing should be recorded and a record kept of the follow up action taken.
9. Feedback from other agencies
The safety officer should positively encourage feedback from the local authority, police, fire and ambulance services and the first aid agency when these have been present at the event. Their comments should also be recorded and followed up as appropriate.
Where the local authority has established a Safety Advisory Group, this can provide a forum for feedback about any incidents or problems to the sports ground senior management. Where there is no such group, the ground management should consider meeting any agencies who are involved at the sports ground at least once a year (normally at the end of the "season"). This meeting should be used to evaluate any lessons that have been learned and to plan ahead.
Annex A
POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN PREPARING A SCRIPTED BRIEFING
Information
Intention
Method
Administration
Communications
Annex B
POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN CONDUCTING A DE-BRIEFING
The de-briefing should cover any incident or other matter actually or potentially affecting the safety, comfort or well being of spectators. This should include, but not be limited to:
Other FLA Publications
The publications listed below are available for downloading from the FLA web site www.flaweb.org.uk Alternatively copies may be purchased from the FLA.
Guidance notes for drawing up a safety
| Policy for spectators | Priced £5 including p&p. |
| Safety certification | Priced £5 including p&p. |
| Contingency planning | Priced £5 including p&p. |
| Exercise planning | Priced £5 including p&p. |
The above guidance documents contain the distillation of good practise, experience and knowledge gained over many years by the Football Licensing Authority. Although primarily aimed at football the advice complements that contained in the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds and is therefore equally relevant to any other sports grounds to which the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975 and the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act apply.
If you wish to purchase any of the above publications please write, enclosing a cheque made payable to the Football Licensing Authority, to :-
Football Licensing Authority
27 Harcourt House
19 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0PL
Copyright © The Football Licensing Authority 2008
