New International Standard to help cities manage big events

Mindful of the public safety issues and security risks that come with cities’ hosting of major events such as Olympic Games, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is currently developing a new International Standard - ISO 22379, Security and resilience - Guidelines for hosting and organizing large citywide events.

The new Standard aims to provide guidelines and expertise on how to manage risks, public safety and service continuity during a wide-scale event. When published, it will be the first International Standard of its kind, bringing together the knowledge and know-how of experts involved in hosting major events such as the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 and the Berlin Marathon.

Explaining that what makes it so valuable and unique is that it will be a product of the lessons and learnings of many cities and event organisers worldwide, Ivar K. Lunde, Convenor of the working group that developed the standard, stated “attracting international events is seen by many cities as a key way of promoting themselves on the global stage, but doing it successfully is a huge affair.

“What often happens currently is that each city starts its planning from scratch, without the benefit of the shared expertise and best practice of others. This standard will bring together such learning for everyone to benefit from.”

Lunde said there is as yet no “holistic” International Standard that can address all the key elements of preparing for, executing and evaluating a major event in a sustainable and secure manner. The use of ISO 22379 will therefore not only improve the success of large-scale events, but enable cities to host them in a way that also contributes to many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

It will also help cities decide whether to hold the event or not, as it enables them to identify the real risks and costs that will be involved.

ISO 22379 will be a useful complement to ISO 20121, Event sustainability management systems - Requirements with guidance for use, which provides a framework for making an event sustainable at the social, economic and environmental levels.

ISO 22379 is being developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 292, Security and resilience, the secretariat of which is held by SIS, ISO’s member in Sweden.

The International Organization for Standardization is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organisations. 

Image: The opening of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore.