By Wayne Middleton, Global Vice President Risk
Safety and security are essential elements to successful events and must be prioritized as part of an event risk management plan. While these concepts might sound simple, they are often used incorrectly or misinterpreted by venues and event organizers as being one in the same.
To help you avoid any misunderstanding and ensure you deliver successful events, this article will define safety and security and explain their different applications at events. Learn about the importance of a ‘steady state,’ the ‘all hazards’ approach to risk management and why the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ISO 31000:2018 is considered a best practice approach to event risk management.
Differences Between Event Safety and Event Security
While the terms safety and security are often considered interchangeable, they are related, but are different areas of risk and need to be treated as such. The simplest way to understand safety and security is to review their definitions.
According to the Collins Dictionary, safety is the state of being safe from harm or danger whereas security refers to all the measures that are taken to protect a place or to ensure that only people with permission to enter it or leave it.
Taking these definitions into consideration, let’s look at the difference between safety and security in terms of their application to event risk management:
Event safety
Event safety is achieved through the limitation and mitigation of avoidable accidents (i.e. crowd crush, trip hazards, dangerous goods, occupational health and safety) by the implementation of effective risk management activities (i.e., elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative and personal protective equipment), to achieve an acceptable level of risk — otherwise known as a ‘steady state.’ The source of an unsafe condition can be deliberate or accidental.
Event security
Event security is the process of mitigating potential threats (i.e., terrorism, crowd violence, criminal acts etc.) by the implementation of effective event risk management activities (i.e., deterrence, detection, delay, response and recovery) to maintain a ‘steady state’ and allow the event to continue as planned. A security threat involves a deliberate threat actor.
The Significance of Event Security for Event Safety
While safety and security are distinct disciplines, they are deeply interconnected in practice. Effective event security directly supports event safety by reducing the likelihood that deliberate threats escalate into broader hazards affecting attendees, staff and operations.
Events are dynamic environments. Large crowds, high energy, and temporary infrastructure create complexity that must be carefully managed. When security measures are thoughtfully planned and properly executed, they help preserve the stable conditions necessary for safety controls to remain effective.
Creating a Controlled Environment
Security measures such as credential checks, perimeter controls, and monitored access points help maintain a controlled environment. By regulating who enters and exits the venue, organizers reduce the risk of disruptive or malicious activity that could destabilize operations.
A well-managed perimeter supports safer crowd flow, clearer emergency access routes and more predictable event conditions, all of which contribute to maintaining a steady state.
Supporting Crowd Management
Security teams play a vital role in observing crowd behavior and identifying early warning signs of tension, overcrowding, or unsafe movement patterns. While crowd crushes and trip hazards may fall under safety risk categories, security personnel are often the first to detect conditions that could evolve into safety incidents.
Proactive monitoring, visible presence, and clear communication channels allow event teams to intervene before minor issues become major disruptions.
Enabling Effective Emergency Response
In the event of an emergency, security personnel are frequently among the first responders on site. Their ability to assess situations quickly, coordinate with event operations teams, and support evacuation procedures can significantly influence outcomes.
Security planning that integrates communication protocols, incident reporting systems and defined response roles strengthens the overall resilience of the event. When security and safety teams collaborate, response efforts are more cohesive and efficient.
Protecting the Attendee Experience
Beyond physical protection, strong security measures contribute to attendee confidence. When attendees feel secure, they are more likely to engage fully in the event experience. Conversely, visible gaps in security can undermine trust and negatively impact perception, regardless of how well other elements of the event are executed.
Ultimately, event security does more than deter deliberate threats. It reinforces the operational foundation required to maintain safety, sustain a steady state and deliver successful events. When integrated into a broader event risk management plan, security becomes a proactive enabler of safer, more resilient event environments.
Why “Steady State” is the Key to Successful Event Delivery
A “steady state” is an event risk management term used to describe a scenario where the conditions of the event are:
- Safe: Effective risk management activities have been implemented and are working to limit and mitigate hazards that represent an undue risk of injury to the public.
- Secure: Effective risk management activities have been implemented and are working to protect individuals from deliberate attacks from threat actors.
While safety and security do work together to achieve a “steady state,” they are different domains and have separate stakeholders and risk mitigation methods. Additionally, their professional operators have qualifications that differ from security and their impact can have legal implications.
As indicated in the diagram below, according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, safety and security are basic human needs. If we translate this into an event setting, achieving a ‘steady state’ by mitigating safety and security hazards and addressing physiological and social needs can be more important than the content of the event itself — after all, it does not matter how great the entertainment or service level is, if a person feels unsafe. This can define their customer experience at the event.
Pro Tip: Safety and Security Are Equally Important
Security is often perceived to be of greater importance than safety because of the emotional response that security risks elicit. For example, a death due to murder can be considered by the broader community as worse than a death in a car crash, even though, in many countries, road fatalities are far more common than homicides. In an event or public venue setting, public injuries from slip, trip and fall hazards are typically the most common incidents and often dominate liability insurance claims so they should be given more attention.
The Importance of an “All Hazards” Approach
Health and safety laws in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK) impose strict duties on venue operators and event organizers to apply reasonably practicable measures to manage the health safety risk to staff, contractors as well as the public. However, in the United States and Canada, under relevant occupational safety and health laws, employers are only responsible for their workers and not members of the public. This significantly impacts the motivation of venues and event organizers to adopt effective event risk management practices.
Given the health and safety legislation in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, the evolution of risk management as a discipline has helped some venues and events make better risk-based decisions. This has included an “all hazards” approach to risk management, where anything of significance that could affect the success of the event is considered a potential risk. In these regions, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ISO 31000:2018 is recognized as the industry standard for a best practice approach to event risk management. It ensures the consistent monitoring and improvement of risk management policies and procedures to mitigate safety and security risks, as well other risks that threaten to success of the event.
Safety and Security Starts With a Risk Management Plan
Every event has different goals and objectives. However, the safety and security of people at your event must be the highest priority. To truly ensure safety and security, event organizations should have a risk management plan. By establishing these objectives when challenged by difficult decisions, determining their impact and likelihood of occurrence, it can help event organizers prioritize decisions that align with the overall goals and objectives of the event.
Risk Manager by Momentus Technologies is a risk assessment software to help venue and event stakeholders manage risks. Discover how you can leverage our purpose-built solution as part of our venue and event management software to improve event risk management at your venue.
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