with video of an actual race, and were
tasked with identifying ten risks and po-
tential mitigation methods. Building on
Jones’ assessment exercise, Eric Stuart
(Gentian Events Ltd.) later led attend-
ees in a workshop on the importance
of documentation to the plan develop-
ment process, guiding each table-based
group to come up with possible risks as-
sociated with the event. These risks were
then compiled for use in developing an
outline for a safety plan for future Event
Safety Summits.
While Jones and Stuart’s sessions looked
at plan creation, Emma Parkinson’s (Cov-
entry University) session focused on
what happens AFTER a plan is devel-
oped. Her workshop “Taming Training
Troubles” examined the importance of
training and how an organization’s safety
culture can positively or negatively im-
pact its effectiveness. Relatedly, Domi-
nic Housiaux (Lankey & Limey Ltd.) later
discussed at how individual leadership
styles can affect project performance
by challenging attendees to script and
record a video on a pre-assigned safe-
ty topic, such as ladder safety and Per-
sonal Protective Equipment. His session
took a fresh and entertaining approach
to present a weighty subject, providing
plenty opportunity for networking and
more than a few humorous stories.
Closing out the workshop series and
the event itself, ESA Vice President Ste-
ven Adelman tied the previous material
24
together by leading the group through
a final table top exercise. Titled “Shlo-
botnick Enterprises’ Annual Event”, the
exercise provided an opportunity to
apply knowledge gleaned from the
previous two days to an imaginary cor-
porate event. Attendees were assigned
various roles such as production man-
ager, fire marshal, or promoter and
asked to respond to a series of routine
and emergency situations. While often
intentionally silly (the session title itself
being a nod to Charlie Brown), the ex-
ercise clearly demonstrated the impact
planning, or lack thereof, can have when
responding to unexpected situations.
Event Safety and Black Swans
In addition to the core planning work-
shops, this year’s Event Safety Summit
addressed several issues at the forefront
of everyone’s mind. ESA Vice President
Steven Adelman discussed the concept
of “Black Swans”, rare and often cata-
strophic events that seem predictable in
retrospect. Using the Route 91 shootings
in Las Vegas as reference, he argued
that while such events must be consid-
ered when developing a safety plan
they should not take undue precedence
over more likely (and statistically more
damaging) risks. Adelman stressed that
measures taken in response to such risks
should be well-reasoned and effective,
not guided by emotion or advice from
self-appointed “experts”.
He then welcomed Jason Aldean’s Pro-
duction Manager Drew Brown to the
stage, who shared his first-hand account
of the Las Vegas shootings and mea-
sures his team has taken in response
to the tragedy. Reinforcing Adelman’s
argument, Brown acknowledged that
their team has worked to overcome the
natural inclination to “arm up” for ev-
ery event, and instead have focused on
venue-specific safety measures and im-
proving coordination between the tour,
venue, and local authorities.
Brown closed out the session with a call
to action. “There are so many things that
we’ve turned a blind eye to in our in-
dustry and I’m tired of it. We’re all tired
of it. We have to be a whole to make a
change.”
Shining a Light on Mental
Health
Depression and addiction are growing
problems in our industry and society at
large. With many losses on both sides
of the curtain in 2017, this year’s Event
Safety Summit sought to bring atten-
tion to the issue of mental health in an
open and supportive environment. ESA
President Jim Digby led a discussion
featuring MusiCare’s executive Erica
Krusen and Dr. Lyn Rowbotham, as well
as renown artists Franky Perez (Apoca-
lyptica) and Jimmy Chamberlin (Smash-
ing Pumpkins). Perez and Chamberlin
shared their personal struggles and re-
covery with a rapt audience, while Dig-
by recounted the heartbreaking loss of
Chester Bennington this past summer.
The discussion and questions extend-
ed well past the scheduled end time, a
testament to the importance of the sub-
ject matter and the personal stories that
needed to be told.
Culturing Your Safety Culture
The Summit also tackled the issue of
internal and external organizational
culture change. Steve Lemon (Event
Safety Alliance) and Dr. Michael Useem
(University of Pennsylvania) discussed
both psychological and practical bar-
riers to organizational change in their
session “Culturing Your Safety Culture”.
Experiential Marketing expert James
Kern joined Dominic Housiaux (Lankey
& Limey Ltd.) for “Coaching the Client”, a
facilitated brainstorming session where
audience members were encouraged
to tweet their ideas for selling safety to
skeptical clients and other stakeholders.
These were then shared on the event’s
video screens and discussed among the
group.
Staging and Pyro and
Drones, Oh My...
While this year’s Summit emphasised
universal safety concerns, produc-
tion-related issues were still well-repre-
sented on the schedule. Ryan Hewlett’s
(Tait) session “Designing for Wind Load:
Engineering Basics,” provided an over-
view of the considerations that are made
when designing entertainment struc-
tures for outdoor use, which spurred a
lengthy discussion on ANSI E1.21 (En-
tertainment Technology - Temporary
Structures Used for Technical Produc-
tion of Outdoor Entertainment Events).
Brian Panther’s (Pyrotek Special Effects)
presentation “Special Effects and Fire-
works Safety Essentials,” discussed sev-
eral types of special effects and their
safety considerations, including fire-
works, flame effects, and lasers. Rep-
resentatives from several companies on
the Rock Lititz campus (including Tait,
Clair Global, Atomic Design, Columbus
McKinnon, Pyrotek, and Upstage Video)
hosted a panel on safety considerations
and collaboration during the design
process. Finally, Federico Auguglia-
ro (Verity Studios) gave an overview of
UAV safety basics before launching into
a stunning choreographed demonstra-
tion that left those in the room trans-
fixed.
Looking Ahead
Planning is already well underway for
the 2018 Event Safety Summit. Details
about this year’s event will be released
in early spring. For more information or
to make content suggestions, please vis-
it http://eventsafetyalliance.org.
25