It is important to have a designated safety position on site, similar to the construction safety officers on construction sites who help execute and monitor these health and safety activities. In addition to a designated role for safety, it’s important to have project safety boards and required safety postings for the worksite, along with securing the perimeter, delineating hazardous work, and communicating personal protective equipment requirements.
There are unique factors and specific challenges to the live events industry which support the ongoing need to safely and effectively coordinate a multi-employer workplace, comply with WCA and OHSR and ensure due diligence of employers and prime contractors. A helpful resource is Actsafe’s Multi-Employer Due Diligence Checklist. The purpose of the checklist is to aid event organizers, promoters,
venues and employers in coordinating activities to reduce risk through key elements of contractor pre-qualification and management, along with the main pillars of an occupational health and safety program. This checklist also speaks to the importance of designating a prime contractor and ensuring written agreements identify responsibilities for health and safety. It is recommended to consult legal advice to determine your responsibilities for health and safety as a venue, promoter and/or event organizer.
Prime contractors, employers, venues and promoters all play a critical role in ensuring a safe workplace for all workers of a multiemployer worksite.
All of these items are mandatory requirements (i.e., the law). However, we need to remember that the reason they are the law is because they work. They work to make our workplaces and events safer; they work to save lives and prevent accidents by keeping workers safe; and most importantly they work to make sure workers go home to their families at the end of their shift.