One more month left until 2010 arrives. This leaves us all feeling really excited and positive, especially after an exceptionally busy year for the team at Alliance Safety Management.

We were really pleased to see our Local Organising Committee (LOC) chief executive, Danny Jordaan, saying that the LOC wants to “carve the real event experience outside the stadiums,” because Alliance is already involved in developing training programmes for early January for small businesses in the industry who will be involved in 2010 but not necessarily at the stadiums.

But this letter to the industry is not about 2010. It’s us looking back on 2009 from a safety and disaster management perspective for events and companies who operate in the business tourism industry.

Alliance Safety Management was formed in March 2009 when we secured the company from Thebe Safety Management. In excess of 40 years of safety, production and facilities expertise has placed this exceptionally strong team inside most of the country’s top exhibitions and event organisers’ offices.

During what can best be described as a mega hectic year, we provided safety and disaster management planning for in excess of 70 events across the country and welcomed on board four new companies who have taken health and safety at every event they do to a new level. We have impressed peers from India and Glasgow and were recently recommended by Montecasino as a specialist in our field.

This is not a responsibility the team takes lightly. On a serious note, there is a reason we do this. Things do happen. The two incidents which come to mind this year are the fire at a venue in Tshwane which resulted in property loss and the stampede for t-shirts at an event in KZN which resulted in loss of life. We remain firmly grounded in the responsibility placed continually at our door. There will always be a demand for this type of service, as the growing number of service providers indicates. It is however imperative that organisers and companies check the service provider’s track record and background, level of expertise, experience and methodology in terms of approaching risk assessments and inspections.

Alliance provides venue safety and disaster management services to the Coca-Cola dome in Johannesburg and offers its services to all of the dome’s clients, 90% of which opt for Alliance as part of their team.

The company has developed a sound Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act system for contractors in the events industry and offers safety services to technical service providers such as Gearhouse South Africa, Scan Display, In2Structures and Inhouse Venue Technical Management.

Alliance also provides safety and disaster management services to event organisers throughout the country.

Our objective is to create uniform best practices, even though we remember some interesting moments where the legislation or the implementation thereof has been unclear.

There are still the sceptics who ask: ‘So why not just do it yourself? If you are an organiser, do you have to present your event to the city? Doesn’t the venue do this? Can the event be shut down? What are my liabilities? What are the risks at my event?’

There are so many questions. That’s the importance of hiring a company that has been around the block, asks the right questions and implements the right plans.

We are committed to up-skilling, empowering and educating and are putting together our training schedule for the first quarter of 2010, which includes event organiser induction training, contractor training, first aid, fire warden and basic OHS Act training. Wishing everyone and their families a safe and blessed festive season.
Mike Lord and Brian Jackson