This post is about making you an expert in the DDA, and after reading this post, you’ll be hitting the ground running with a fully integrated and efficient DDA strategy (sounds good right?) that won’t stop you spending the time you need to on all the other (and there are many and various we know!) aspects of event management.  We’ve got a toolkit, we’ve got some pitfalls to avoid, and we’ve got some advice to send you on your way.

Firstly, your toolkit.

1) The original text of the DDA (worth a quick read-through for context)

2) ISAN’s comprehensive toolkit for all your DDA considerations: ‘ISAN Access Toolkit Nov 2009‘

3) If you’re regularly involved with temporary structures then we recommend a copy of Technical Standards for Places of Entertainment, published by the LDSA.  This gives you the technical backup for access structures.  Our office copy is very well-thumbed!

Now, the specifics:

‘Reasonable adjustments’ are what the DDA expects of you, keep that phrase in mind when asking yourself how far you need to go:

• Build a hotlist of venues that take accessibility seriously- a lot of the physical prep will have been done so you don’t have to!  Key things to look out for are a variety of accessways into the building, good lighting, a nearby car park, loop hearing systems, clear signage and disabled toilets.
• Give different ways to book- email, phone, online, textphone if you can!
• If you have bookings, ask your attendees if they have any particular requirements.
• When programming think about whether you need to plan extra time between activities for breaks and/or if people need to move between places
• Make sure there is signposted carparking close to the entrance & give advice on accessible public transport routes
• Ensure that the entrance has either hand-railed steps and a ramp, or that the entranceway is level (yes, we can help you with ramps and handrails!)
• If your attendees or speakers need platforms to stand on, we can build you many configurations, such as

this:

or this:

• Produce written materials at font size 12 or above
• Talk to RNID if you need services such as lip reading or interpreters

If you follow the above 9 steps you’ll be doing very well, and you’ll be doing even better if you read the publications in the toolkit to add more detail when applicable.

Potential Pitfalls:

There’ll be budget implications, of course.  Integrate your planning on disability access early enough so that the budget impact is kept to a minimum.   A longer lead in time can usually mean less cost.

Good luck, and let us know how this posts help you when planning your next event!

If you’re an Event Manager and your events sometimes involve temporary structures, you’ll want to know about the changes going on at the HSE.

It’s about construction within the events industry: temporary structures, stages, temporary seating. In the past entertainments and events have been managed to a certain extent by local authorities. Recently however, the HSE have been noticing how many serious structures the events industry uses (perhaps the Olympics had something to do with that?!) and has determined that the putting together of temporary structures in the events industry can be defined as construction work and so will now fall under their remit.

Here comes the industry gossip… Many are wondering if the HSE will now want to apply the CDM (construction design and management) regulations to the events industry. (historically the CDM regs have specifically excluded some temporary structures such as marquees and similar tents). And we see how this could worry people- the CDM regs are too specific to the construction industry- the job titles and responsibilities are too specific and wouldn’t make sense to anyone working within the events structures without some intensive translation work.

So here’s the good news.

Whilst the HSE have tried to get the scope of the range of temporary structures in existence, after some research they have determined that event work does not fit the scope of CDM and that the work will fall under existing regulations such as work at height regs, workplace regs and the all-encompassing HSAW act.

And here’s the reality: You’ll be seeing the HSE visiting your event site and enforcing safe working during constructions and de-rigs much more in the future. In particular they will look at working at height, MEWPS (mobile elevating work platforms), transport and delivery to and from sites, and the separation of vehicles and pedestrians in working areas.

The jury’s still out on how this will play out. The HSE want there to be a consistent playing field across all local authorities, rather than the wildly different styles of management and degrees of experience that currently exists.  And by levelling the playing field, perhaps everyone’s jobs will be made easier.

Thanks to Mike Herbert from the Event Safety Shop for all his assistance on this topic. A true expert!

Richard got his 15 minutes of fame at the IOEX courtesy of Silverstream.  We thought he did pretty well, considering this was being live streamed to everyone in ExCel!

• The HSE have published a good practice report on temporary demountable structures for the events industry.  You can find it here
• The Events Industry Forum is taking over production of the new Health & Safety events guides.  The hope is that they will produce a much more comprehensive guide to replace the Purple Guide

That’s all for today folks.  We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with a more in-depth report on a Health & Safety topic from one of our experts.

A fun video clip showing quite an amazing tool in the new Ford Focus. For extra fun factor, play ‘spot the Duncan’. He’s the one in the orange jacket, harness, and hard hat.

The first person to spot the close up of Duncan, grinning away, and write it in the comment box below (e.g 1.68 seconds), gets sent a bottle of wine from us….

We’ll be back onto health & safety in temporary structures for our next post, but meanwhile we had to tell you what happened at the Event Production Awards.

As regular readers will remember, we were up for two awards – Best Staging Company of the Year and Best Seating Supplier of the Year.

We felt honoured to be recognised alongside the biggest international players, so we thought it was worth going along for the ride- a black-tie event at the Hilton Park Lane.

With 600 of the industry’s best seated under those fantastic chandeliers amongst the video projections and pyrotechnics, our work on the Bompass and Parr pyramid and the BAC auditorium had their 5 seconds on the big screen as the awards were announced. This time around, that’s as far as we went, but next year the Event Production Awards had better look out!

It was consolation enough to point and laugh at the boys trussed up in their dickie bows. We doubt you’d be able to imagine the sight, so to help you out here’s a rather blurry photo (blame the champagne) of Duncan and new guy Rob about to hit the roulette table – all in aid of Water Aid

Director : Adam Morely
Seen On Screen Fitness & Events Ltd

Joey Foley/Getty Images, Indiana State Fair 2011

The Stand Out Newsletter came out a few days ago, with news of an alert published by The Institute of Structural Engineers.

Stand Out summarise:

“The alert is aimed at those who commission, buy or licence temporary stages and structures. It has been issued in light of recent collapses of temporary stage structures in the USA and in Europe, which have resulted in fatalities and numerous injuries.”

You can download the IStructe document here.

Thanks to Stand Out Magazine for making us aware.

Stand Out Magazine wanted to run a feature on interesting temporary structures and staging in their September issue- and we thought what better example than the boating lake we built for Bompass & Parr on the Selfridges roof.  Not the usual stage hire job, but firmly in the category of temporary structures- and one we enjoyed immensely!

Bompas & Parr were asked to launch the new sweetener, Truvia and did so in their usual fantastical style.   The boating lake was part of a Voyage of Discovery… read more in Stand Out’s feature here.

And there is a great set of pictures, here, although they don’t, for obvious reasons, focus on the steeldeck staging structure that makes it all possible!