Event Safety Alliance Australia launches

In a week when events safety was a prominent issue at the ENTECH convention, a new body, Event Safety Alliance Australia (ESAA) has been launched.

With news of accidents at events increasingly common around the world and creating a buzz on online forums and discussion groups, ESAA has been established in response to the increasing need for a universal code of best practise in the live events industry.

The Alliance recognises that the events industry is diverse and encompasses not just the performing arts, but everything from public and corporate events to exhibitions and broadcast, wherever the same equipment and techniques are in use.

ESAA intends to bring together all the players in the market to develop a truly representational voice for the Australian industry.

The challenges of safety and emergency management that face people in the events industry are not just regional or national, but truly international. Therefore, ESAA will engage with professionals and organisations both nationally and internationally to work toward providing mutual support, with the goal of developing the best solutions for the industry, wherever it operates.

In the context of public event safety and emergency management, the ESAA's aims are:

• To develop and promote the Australian Event Safety Guide across all States and Territories incorporating national and international standards of best practice;
• To promote co-operation and mutual assistance between people and organisations
• To arrange meetings and seminars as appropriate and to publish and distribute information in written and electronic format;
• To incorporate input from our membership and disseminate information as widely as possible through meetings, conventions, published materials and electronic media;
• To meet, liaise and cooperate with similar national and international associations for the benefit of the industry in general.

Explaining the creation of ESAA, leading industry safety expert Roderick van Gelder, Risk Manager for Stage Safety Pty Ltd, states "as long as we see safety as an 'add-on' to our jobs, things will keep going wrong because people find excuses not to finish that part.

"I often liken it to seatbelts in cars. When first brought in everybody found excuses not to use them. Now that everybody is used to them it feels strange to get in a car and not fasten your seatbelt.

"And no, it hasn't stopped accidents happen but it (has) certainly saved many lives.

"The introduction of guides like the 'Purple Guide' and the IstructE TDS guide will help educating people and once people start using their knowledge to question things, like the ZZ Top rigger, things will change."

ESAA seeks to engage with relevant professionals and organisations and asks those interested to visit their new website and get involved.

Editor's note: ESAA was deregistered in June 2014 and it no longer functional.

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