Our new Inspector

Effective safety management

Spectator safety

Sightlines

Introducing Sue Storey our new SGSA Inspector

Sue Storey joins the SGSA as our new Inspector covering football clubs in the Humberside, North-East, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and East Anglia areas as well as leading on any cricket related work.

She comes with 20 years experience as a senior local authority manager from Nottinghamshire County Council including 11 years in the sports ground safety area.

During this time she was Chair of the SAG for Nottinghamshire sports grounds and was a member of the national cricket working group.

Sue can be contacted on:

Telephone: 01159 455612

Mobile: 07714602036

E-mail: sue.storey@sgsamail.org.uk

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Implementing effective safety management at sports grounds – Stewarding part 3

The role of the safety officer is well defined in the Green Guide but what does it actually mean?

Each sports ground has a different management structure, with a range of roles undertaking many different duties.  There is however one constant, the Safety Officer.

The Safety Officer heads up the event day safety management team, which provides for the reasonable safety of everyone attending the event. 

It is important to remember that the competency of the Safety Officer and his team will be a factor when the local authority determine the ‘S’ factor of the sports ground and when considering safety plans for other events that may be licensed at a ground.

In order to meet the many demands of this difficult and complex role, it is important that the Safety Officer possesses the right skills and competencies.  So what skills should the Safety Officer possess?   

• The Green Guide recommends that as a minimum he/she should have, or be working towards, a level 4 spectator safety qualification;

• The ability  to quickly assess and deal with developing situations in a calm manner, with the ability to communicate clearly to staff;

• The ability to interact effectively with external agencies, including the local authority, police and other emergency services; and

• On event days have the authority to make immediate decisions on spectator safety without having to refer to senior management, board members or event organisers.

More detailed information is given in the Green Guide in sections 3.11 and 3.12  and in Safety Management  in sections 2.4 – 2.6.

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Who is responsible for spectator safety?

There should never be any question that ground management are responsible for the safety of spectators at their grounds. However, the traditional style of safety certificate, in which a local authority sets out pages of detailed terms and conditions with which ground management are required to comply, can perhaps blur just who is responsible for spectator safety.

At the end of 2010 the SGSA published guidance on the safety certification of sports grounds which promoted a new more risk based approach designed to bring safety certificates more into line with the modern approach to public safety. 

Under this new approach the safety certificate becomes a comparatively short document which requires the holder to:

• undertake appropriate risk assessments;

• produce an operations manual; and

• comply with the policies plans and procedures set out in the operations manual.

Requiring the holder to set out how he will provide for the safety of spectators reinforces where the responsibility for safety lies.

In addition to the guidance on safety certification the SGSA has also published Safety Management which seeks to build on the advice in the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds to assist ground management develop an operations manual.

While the new approach to safety certification has already been adopted, or is in the process of being adopted, at 41 football grounds the approach is equally suitable to any type of sports ground.

It is already in place at Ascot Racecourse and Lancashire County Cricket Club and will be used at the Olympic Stadium.

An example of the new style safety certificate is available on the SGSA web site.

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Sightlines

           
The provision of improved or new spectator accommodation will be a major investment for any sports ground and if the development is to be a success it is important that spectators have a clear unrestricted view of the action.

Viewing standards are affected by three factors:

• the distance between the spectator and the playing/activity area;

• restrictions to the view i.e. roof supports, barriers, advertising hoardings etc

• the quality of sightlines.

While the first two factors are easily understood, how to measure the quality of sightlines may be less so.

The quality of sightlines is determined by the ability to see over the heads of spectators in front to a pre-determined point of focus. Because it is important for spectators at football or rugby to be able to see the nearest touchline this would be taken as the point of focus.

For athletics it would be the outside lane of the running track and for other sports the boundary of the area of activity.

The quality of a sightline is normally expressed as a “C” value. The recommended “C” value varies according to the sport but generally higher “C” values provide better views of the sport.

More detailed advice on how to calculate “C” values is given in Section 12.3 of the Green Guide and the European Standard BS EN 13200:2003 Spectator Facilities Part 1: Layout Criteria for Spectator Viewing Area

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Finally, from the Chief Executive’s desk

January seems to have flown by in a blur of activity. On 10th January we held the first Board meeting of the year, with a very useful discussion about how the Board and Executive could work together to develop our role and understanding in relation to other sports as well as football.

The Board is small but perfectly formed, and comprises a wide range of skills and experience to draw upon. We’re hoping to hold the next Board meeting in March at a sports ground, as part of getting out and about and learning on the job, so if you have any suggestions for a good location that would help us to build our knowledge and meet new stakeholders please let us know.

This month also saw an Inspectors meeting at HQ, to discuss a range of technical and topical issues relating to sports grounds safety. We welcomed our newest Inspector, Sue Storey, who brings with her a strong reputation and excellent credentials in this area, and who certainly adds to the rich mix of experience within the SGSA team.

In addition to our core work, some of our activity this month has had an international focus, as we’re preparing for visits from delegates from Brazil and Russia. Our international colleagues are keen to learn more about Sports Grounds Safety in the UK ahead of major events such as the World Cup and Olympics, and we’re looking forward to the visits and the opportunity to exchange information.

The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide) has long been used around the world as a source of advice on safety management and design at sports grounds, but as the Sports Grounds Safety Authority we have new opportunities to advise and collaborate at an international level, which we’re keen to make the most of.  

Ruth Shaw

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