If you are running an event, such as a festival or corporate conference, it’s imperative that you take the necessary steps to provide the required level of security. Part of this work involves conducting a thorough plan well in advance of the event itself. One of the stages of event planning is a site inspection which is a critical step to get right. Stage Security, an event security contract company in Ipswich, discuss how a site inspection can improve your security.
Whether you have your own internal security team or enter an agreement with a security firm, a site inspection is one of the very first tasks that should be performed. You may just require an initial site inspection, but it could also be possible that recurring inspections take place to continuously monitor and evaluate the solutions that have been put in place.
When you are planning for an event, there are a lot of different questions that need to be answered. By the time your event comes around, you should not only know what needs to be done for a smooth operation, but you should also be prepared to deal with any scenario that unexpectedly pops up. Only an inspection of the physical venue can truly provide a clear indication of what is in place and what is lacking.
What Is the Purpose of a Site Inspection?
The most important purpose of a site inspection is that it forms a fundamental aspect of preparing the initial security plan. The results of the inspection should be able to inform the event organisers the best practice on how to achieve a high standard of results in terms of health and safety, risk management, public liability and crowd management. The information from the inspection report should be used to implement effective security solutions. With the site inspection, security specialists will be able to identify any issues that may be involved in hosting an event at the venue and the wider area. This will include discovering any vulnerable areas that need improving to reach the standard of event security expected. Inspectors should also make note of the security elements currently in place and suggest ways of maintaining what currently works as expected.
Factors
It’s important that the site inspectors are professionals in event security. They will use their experience and extensive knowledge to provide a thorough inspection which looks at various factors in order to gain an understanding of the specific situation. One of the things they will look at is the physical layout of the venue. Part of this work will be to analyse the access points including how access is controlled and how they are communicated. It will be a detailed analysis which also looks at lighting, hiding spaces and how visitor access is recorded and monitored.
The use of personnel is an extremely essential factor to consider. The inspectors will identify the level of training offered to employees and judge their ability to carry out emergency procedures. They will explore how employees access the venue and what steps are taken to reduce this access should they resign or if their employment is terminated. The site inspectors will consider the budget that is available and use all the information collected to suggest cost-effective security solutions that will enable a fun and safe event.
Steps
When you begin working with a security firm, one of the major components of the partnership will be a security audit. A security audit will be carried out to identify the strengths and weaknesses that are currently in place and how to address those issues when moving forward. One of the first aspects of a security audit, as detailed above, is a site inspection. To find out more about what a security audit involves, view the security audit guide by Stage Security.
