The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) is running four briefing sessions across the country on the latest edition of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide).
Ken Scott, Head of Inspectorate, and SGSA inspectors Rick Riding and Geoff Galilee will take safety officers and others interested into the latest, 2018, sixth edition of the Guide, the changes since the fifth edition, and how the guidance could be applied. All sessions will run from 10.30am to 3pm. Refreshments and lunch will be provided.
Topics include how to determine the safe capacity, and medical provision and planning. To reflect changed risks and new knowledge, one newly-developed idea is of the ‘Zone Ex’, or external zone, the public domain beyond the actual stadium, also known as the ‘last mile’, that may take in a railway station and bus stops and routes, that while not the stadium’s responsibility may need to be monitored for effects on spectators moving to and from the ground.
Briefly, the Green Guide suggests that stadium managers think in terms of zones, for example for where crowds might be evacuated to. Going from the centre – the actual playing area; where spectators view; concourses for hospitality; the ‘outer circulation area’; a zone beyond the actual perimeter of the sporting arena; and the Zone Ex.
The cost of the event is £35 and bookings can be made online, for:
Friday, 1 – DW Stadium, Loire Drive, Robin Park Wigan, WN5 0UZ – already fully booked.
Wednesday 6 – Villa Park, Birmingham B6 6HE.
Monday 11 – London Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 2ST.
Tuesday 12 – Ashton Gate, Bristol City FC, pictured.
The new Green Guide was featured in the December 2018 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
Ken Scott is also due to speak at 9.45am on the Green Guide, on Tuesday March 5, day one at the ‘crowded places’ part of the conferences in the Security & Counter Terror Expo (SCTX) at London Olympia. The two-day SCTX opens at 9am on March 5. Visit https://www.counterterrorexpo.com.
