Having seen a lot discussion over how an event was managed and a suggestion to start a thread to cover the sharing of best practice for events, I thought with my background I could provide some advice.

I been working in Health & Safety (H&S), Fire and Environmental roles for 24 years and I am a Charted Safety & Heath Practitioner with associated fire and environmental qualifications. I have been involved in various events up to 200-300 persons.

Original Post 3 Oct 2025 - edited 4 Oct 2024 to add: - The information in my post is for significant events. If you are organising a Splunch/Munch with a post of 'let meet up at...' that's just a gathering for 'friends' the below will probably not apply.

The advice is based on Great Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) event web pages https://www.hse.gov.uk/event-safety/

and event specialised information from The Purple Guide https://www.thepurpleguide.co.uk/

Note: Due to how the UK's legislation is set up HSE advice for Northern Ireland (NI) comes from the HSENI. If you are in another country you will need to check for your local requirements but in general the topic headings below would apply worldwide. There will also be differences between a voluntary event and a commercial event, The HSE's event website explains this.

There are UK event management courses you can do, but I would strongly advise that if you choose to do one, you ensure that it is accredited by a recognised safety body

If you are organising an event you will need to do your due diligence to see what applies to your event.

Event Management Guidance -

My advice is that for any event you confirm the requirements for a commercial or a voluntary event from the HSE, then look at the following headings and decide if they are applicable to your event or not.

If it is a small event not all headings will apply to you and where they do, you probably only need a sentence or two to address the headings, larger events with more people will require more detail.

1) Event describe all the activities and persons involved in the event. This is so you can identify which of the next headings apply your event.

2) Legislation identify the relevant legislation/ Guidance that will apply
As well as H&S/Fire/Environmental legislation, in the UK the is also the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which you event may come under and you should do your due diligence to confirm what the requirements are. In general you may need to consider a Data controller, Data Processor and Data Processing Notice.

3) Planning, Management and Risk assessments
You will need
An Event Management structure
Defined Roles and Responsibilities e.g. for
i. Event Director / Organiser
ii. Runner/Deputy Event Director
iii. Chief Fire Marshal / Fire Marshals
iv. First Aid
v. Traffic Management
vi. Assistants
vii. Catering
viii. Any other roles necessary to run the event.

Definition of where the event will be managed from on the day e.g. an event office

An Event risk assessment covering the significant hazards and controls and a process to ensure these are communicated as appropriate to the Venue Management/Event Team/Stall Holders/Supplies/ attendees etc. ( for attendees, relevant information is often found on joining instructions or tickets)

4) Venue and Site Design - This is where you will have a statement/ floor plan of:

- the access/egress to/from the venue for both general and emergency travel
- Accessibility both for visible and hidden disabilities
- Site Safety Rules (defended from the risk assessment)
- Audience Profile and Capacity / Duration
- Locations of Sanitary /Shower and other Welfare Facilities
- Locations of Waste Management
- Locations of Food/Drink
- Locations of stall holders
- Locations of Safety Items such as Fire Extinguishers/First Aid etc.

5) Resilience activities for Events (Contingency and Emergency Planning) e.g. what happens if the venue suffers an electrical outage/flooding/medical/fire etc. how do you evacuate your crowd profile? how do the emergency services get to the event? How do you cancel an event? Could you event be subject to protesters?

6) Medical Does the employer at your venue have a First Aid Needs Assessment (as required by the UK's first aid at work regulations) will your event be covered by it or do you have to provide your own first aid?

7) Communication You will need a comms plan. This will look at pre-event communication to attendees, suppliers and vendors, communication, on the day (e.g. radios) and after the event communication

8) Transport Management Is your event having parking (do you need parking marshals?) or are you telling attendees to park in other locations. If the latter have you inspected those locations to ensure that they are suitable/safe for the attendees?

9) Working at Height Will any staging or lighting be erected? This will need to be managed

10) Temporary Demountable Structures - Will your event have anything like shipping container offices/portable toilets? That needs managing?

11) Fire Safety - Does the venue you are using have a Fire Risk Assessment? In the UK they should as, it's a legal requirement, unless its a single domestic premises e.g a house (Note the format of the legislation is slightly different for England & Wales/ Scotland / Northern Ireland) Have they provided you with what to do if the fire alarm goes off? Do they require you to do a specific event fire risk assessment?

12) Electrical & Lighting - Is it suitable and sufficient?

13) Barriers and Fencing Are they need needed? Is it suitable and sufficient?

14) Crowd Management - How do you ensure free flow of persons attending and that non-authorised persons do not enter the event? Do you need any specific access/egress routes for those who have accessible needs? Also think about emergency evacuation. Is there suitable signage to indicate routes/toilets etc. for your crowd profile?

15) Special Effects This is probably a significant hazard for Wet and Messy Events and you will need to have appropriate safety controls

16) Amusements - If your having these what are he significant hazards and controls?

17) Waste Management How is your event waste managed? Check Environmental waste requirements for your event.. It its Wet and Messy Event when is the waste going? For the clean up will you be using hazardous chemicals? As these will also have to be managed.

18) Noise are you playing music? Do you or the venue come under the performing rights licensing? Will your event noise cause an issue for the neighbours?

19) Sanitation what's your provision of welfare? Does the venue do regular water testing?

20) Campsites specific planning is needed

21) Information and Welfare - cross reference with comms plan and risk assessment

22) Food, Drink and Water Provisions - whose providing it? Do they need to be licensed?

23) Safeguarding How do you ensure safe/confidentiality of persons attending? Will any of the attendees be particularly vulnerable?

Other areas to consider (taken from the purple guide headings), if its relevant to event:
24) Animal Welfare
25) Fire Works
26) Advisory Groups
27) Crime and Disorder
28) Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (drones)
29) Worker Welfare
30) Coping with Weather
31) Insurance - will the venues insurance cover your event of do you need specific insurance?
32) Accessibility -
33) Adventure Sport Activities
34) Counter Terrorism
35) The Licensing of Events - do you need to apply for a licence? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/entertainment-licensing-changes-under-the-live-music-act
36) Events involving Vehicles
37) Environmental Sustainability
38) Events Around Water
39) Water Provision
40) Recruitment and Management of Volunteers for Outdoor Events

The above information is based on my personal experience as of Oct 2024 and is for information purposes only. I have made every effort to ensure it is current but the information may change over time, and if you are running an event you should seek competent advice to make sure it is current and relevant to your event..

If you have any other advice you would like to share, please add to this thread.

your breakdown is pretty thorough

I think to be honest - WAM or not - running events has a lot of similar best practices, there is actually something crucial I think you missed I'll come onto in a second - but also that in most cases a venue will manage most elements of your guide.

Mind, there has been a Goth scene event recently with dispute over electrics - but that was a venue responsibility not an organiser responsibility

Anyhooo
the important thing I think you missed before I get onto other points

ADULT

Most Splosh/WAM events people on the forum would consider organising are adult in definition and this means a few things.

Firstly, venues don't need specialist licenses for most adult events. They are, however, only permitted to hold 11 in a calendar year with a gap of 30 days between each one.
Having stuff like burlesque is classed as adult, ditto any venues that host fetish nights, and so on

There are stuff they're not allowed to do without a specialist license (mostly around penetration and nudity)

Stuff like a splunch wouldn't count towards the venues adult events, cos they're social in nature - but due to of course being 'for adults' then an organiser would still have a responsibility of ensuring everyone in the group is 18+

Stuff like a play event definitely would count - some venues might argue with their council it doesn't, that's between them and the council. From an organisers perspective you have to be honest with the venue on what it is.

Showing films - whether this is a film fest, awards, or just one with films on screens in the venue for vibe/atmosphere
Two things to consider - the first is of course that you have permission from the copyright holder(s) to broadcast
The second is... would it pass for a 18, or a R18. If it passes for an 18, no problem apart from of course that access to minors has to be controlled.
If it's a R18 - that includes any form of penetration (blowjobs, PIV, anal) and also excessive genital contact (so someone masturbating in mess) - it used to include erections at all but the ratings on that have softened (pun intended) and apparently erections will now pass for an 18 as long as it's not a major focus point
If it is content that is R18 - then the venue needs a specific license to be able to show this (most swing clubs probably do - adult cinemas definitely do - other independent cinemas/venues might not) if they don't it doesn't mean it can't be shown but again the venue needs to be aware as they can arrange with the council to do this on a one-off basis (for example the Saw reissue is a R18 so cinemas which show it will have permission to show on a one-off basis)

However, again, the venue needs to be aware of the nature of the content you wish to show.

Most venues will help you control access for minors, but you have to make sure something is in place to prevent people coming in unchecked - so working out who is checking tickets/IDs/entry/control is important.
So something like a splunch, the organiser needs to make sure everyone is over 18 (not the bar/venue - especially as some may be happy with minors being on premises providing they're not drinking) something like a play event, film fest, etc etc. then yep - IDs need to be checked before people can gain entry

INSURANCE

most venues are covered for most events, but if you are doing something outside of their normal remit then you may need a discussion to work out what their insurance covers and what you need.

Again, a splunch probably no insurance needed - a 100-person event with gunge tanks and slop pools and so on - venue is gonna point to you if someone slips at injures themselves, or if you get slop in their electrics, or clog their plumbing, etc.

TAX/ACCOUNTS

Again, not really needed at a splunch - but if you're doing anything where there is money changing hands you *may* need to keep accounts and submit to HMRC - even if it runs at a loss, even if you're running out of your own pocket.
You don't need need a Ltd company or an accountant - especially if it's just a one off - but records need to be kept.

Even if it's - ok, well, I'm gonna fund everything to this tune of cash on a one-off basis - absolutely, there'll be no tax to pay - you might go to self assess and HMRC might say "meh, you don't need to" but for example it might be a one off now... but then what you decide to do in the future (even 5, 6, 7 years into the future) is still linked.

Not declaring tax/accounts can lead to fines
But declaring correctly can save you also (you don't NEED an accountant, but sometimes it's worth it for a couple of hundred quid)

VETTING

This is a really hot potato thing - especially for something which is both important, but often - a lot of effort for a handful of people

One big issue is you cannot just go to another event organiser, "hey, can you share your banned/watch list, please?" because (a) GDPR (b) the scenario of someone posing as an organiser to have a look at any banned list for whatever means or gain they stand from it

Likewise, you shouldn't really email another organiser a list of usernames/real names/etc and go "anyone on here of concern?" cos then well, you've just outed a bunch of people.
Shit.

I also wouldn't say that it happens often - but in the NE Kink scene we've recently had two people banned from events attempt to go to others ran by other organisers.

So context applies a bit - but if you're a complete noob to the whole community it's always worth bringing in, or working with, someone who isn't
"Working with" can be just a case of having ongoing dialogue - like you'll know from your ticket lists people that make you go "I know who they are, and who they are and they're all fine" and some that it is worth running past others.
There's no reason to say, "Hey, so this eyemblacksheep - I dunno a lot about him, does he fit a vibe check?" and someone might say, "Nothing of concern I'm aware of", someone might say, "He's an opinionated Northerner, but probably can't ban him for that"

But of course if there was something of concern, known bans, newspaper reports then they could be shared in context.

One thing a little is that there's always potential someone can slip a net and anyone who is going to act up (to any definition of the word) will do it somewhere for the first time - so having confidence/controls to remove someone who makes themselves unwelcome is important

@eyemblacksheep - Thanks for your additions, this shows the importance of working in teams, as those areas you have highlighted, where not at the front of my mind as normally my colleagues deal with them.

Your post did highlight the fact in my notes when I was putting together the post, I wrote that I needed to state the difference between a Splunch/Munch and a more formal event, but I left it out of the post. I have edited mine to state:

'Original Post 3 Oct 2025 - edited 4 Oct 2024 to add: - The information in my post is for significant events. If you are organising a Splunch/Munch with a post of 'let meet up at...' that's just a gathering for 'friends' the below will probably not apply.'

So that's my typo error, and thank you for helping me spot Id left it out. Hence also asking people to add to the thread, as I'm not prefect! (despite what my late Mum used to say!) In fact, I believe I am just clever enough to know how stupid I am!


I trust it was solved amicably - General advice is that in the UK in typical commercial locations require a fixed wiring test every five years. Higher-risk properties and installations require 3-yearly inspections (e.g. industrial manufacturing and spa hotels or leisure centres) or even 1-yearly inspections for higher risk locations (medical, swimming pools, saunas, etc.). If you are using a venue for a significant event, you would be advise to confirm the fixed electrical testing is in date

If there are portable items e.g. things with a plug, inspection and testing regime is set by the employer. If you are bringing your own electrical items into an event, they should be at least visually inspected prior to plugging in and connfiemed with the venue that you are OK to do this.

See https://www.hse.gov.uk/electricity/index.htm or consult a competent electrician for further advice

Lets keep the advice coming!

STAFFING/VOLUNTEERS

Most staffing requirements will be handled by the venue, they will responsible for things like first aiders and fire controls etc - but it is important to be transparent about both expected numbers and pre-sale etc because they have to staff accordingly.

They MAY provide security or someone doing ticket checks, but they may not. They may charge you extra for this, or they may not.
They may insist on using security, and you paying them for it rather than providing your own

Anything they're not providing you need to staff for (either volunteers, crew members, or paid helpers etc)

(though anyone employed by the venue is their insurance, anyone employed by you, including on a voluntary role, is on yours)

What you need for the event depends on the event - again, a splunch - one host should suffice (co host if you like) and event where you might need people to usher, check tickets, host, clean up, etc. you need to work out

Short answer - no - but now regardless of what the venue may claim : organisers/promoters have shifted their stuff elsewhere and one of the sound crews refused bookings there

TIMINGS

Most venues will have a 'get in' time and a 'get out' time as part of your booking and can charge you extra to get in early or if you overrun

As well as the time needed for the event - factor in set up times and breakdown/load out times

add contingency to both cos something can and will go wrong

CLEAN UP

Have a plan to clean up any people or venue in the event of any form of messy play

Swing clubs often are popular here as they tend to have a shower room - but obviously you might want to play somewhere *other* than the shower room.

Incentives for folk to help out are often appreciated - but having a plan is easier than folk standing around unable to do much

PROMOTION

It's probably wise to post about and promote your event in multiple places (this isn't mandatory, a meet for "UMD Forum Members" only needs to be on the forum, though, may exclude folk on a sabbatical who are still considered 'members') however this does increase your workloads considerably

Any updates or things that needs to be communicated needs to be done over all channels - otherwise you massively miss people not getting information or conflicting info going out

QUESTIONS/INTERACTIONS

One main driver here is folk will ask a lot of questions and there may also be folk who are... less positive about your event than others
So questions, you do need to find time to look and respond. It is also kinda important not to get drawn into negative discourse but at the same time people would want reassurances
I'm old and I've seen plenty of times - sometimes if folk will look at something negatively and say nothing and if lots of people do the same you wonder why no one is there. Sometimes people will say stuff from these thoughts and if it's not addressed then others who had these thoughts will still feel the same.
But if you can respond and address it then actually some folk who might have felt negative and said nothing now feel more positive

And if everyone is only saying good things; that's awesome but do assess what you're missing and don't get carried away.