The SGSA (Sports Grounds Safety Authority) is running its first conference, at the Kia Oval at Kennington in south London on Tuesday, March 17. Speakers include Wayne Nash, head of operations at Cardiff FC; and Julia Pendry, head of strategic security and operations at Wembley Stadium, pictured.
Topics include drones and pyrotechnics; crowd behaviour; cricket grounds; and risk based safety certification. As the authority described in its last annual report, risk-based means placing the responsibility for determining how to provide for spectator safety with ground management rather than being prescribed by local authorities. By March 2014, 20 of the 92 Premier and Football League clubs had moved to this approach, and a further 19 planned to do so by 2015.
Other invited speakers are:
Ben Green, England & Wales Cricket Board
Mark Miles, Football Safety Officers Association
Danniela Wurbes, Football Supporters Europe
Football Supporters Federation
David Conn, The Guardian
Joyce Cooke, Level Playing Field
Gordon Roy, Newham Council
Movement Strategies
Brian McNeil, Systechnica; and
Lord Holmes of Richmond.
Visit http://www.safetyatsportsgrounds.org.uk/news/safer-together-conference.
About the SGSA
The Sports Grounds Safety Authority is UK Governmen-funded body that took over the responsibilities of the Football Licensing Authority, which itself dated from 1990 with duties under the Football Spectators Act 1989, after the Hillsborough disaster. The SGSA operates a licensing scheme to regulate the spectator viewing accommodation at Premier and Football League Grounds, Wembley and the Millennium Stadium and regulates the issue and monitoring of Safety Certificates to stadia by councils.
