Members include the Police, Fire Service, Ambulance Service, St Albans District Council. The council's representatives are from Sport and Leisure (Leisure, Events), Environmental Health (Licensing, Health & Safety, and Food Safety) and HCC Emergency Planning.

The Event Safety Advisory Group is co-ordinated and chaired by the Community Safety Section, Culture and Community Development, District Council Offices, Civic Centre, St Peter's Street, St Albans, Herts AL1 3JE. Contactable on 01727 819568 or via e-mail events@stalbans.gov.uk.

• We act as the first point of contact for anyone organising an event to which the public are invited.
• We ask that you have an event organiser to fill in notification form, risk assessment checklist and nominate an event safety officer.
• Completed forms will be circulated to members for assessment and possible action.
• Members of SAG provide advice and guidance on their specific areas of responsibility to the organiser and other agencies involved.
• If necessary members of SAG meet with the organiser.
• The chair of SAG keeps written records of meetings and ensures actions arising are clearly documented.
• In some circumstances some members of SAG will monitor events to ensure standards are maintained.
• SAG meet quarterly to discuss events held in the previous quarter and monitor how effective the group's work has been.

If you are organising an event in St Albans, there are a number of responsibilities placed upon you as organiser. If you are holding an event you need to understand that you are legally responsible for the safety of anyone attending.

The following pointers should help you in your event planning.

• Create a planning timetable including key dates
• Identify a team of people to help plan, organise and run the event, who can take responsibility for public safety
• Be clear about what you can achieve on your budget
• Carry out a risk assessment to ensure public safety
• Consider whether your event will cause disruption to traffic.
• Consider whether your event will require a licence.

SAG has produced two documents below, as a general guide setting out the key points to consider and is especially useful for smaller and larger events alike. For the smaller/community type events, please see "How to organise and hold a successful small event for hirers". For major/larger events, please see "How to organise and hold a successful major event for hirers"

Hirers are encouraged to complete the Application Form (PDF) or Application Form (WORD) and email it back to one of the contacts.

To help you plan your event there are a number of publications available. You can also get advice from the Health and Safety Executive but you need to purchase the guides they produce. Two guides may be particularly relevant:

• Managing crowds safely - HSG154
• The event safety guide - HSG195

You should also look at the Health and Safety Executive's website for their publications www.hse.gov.uk and in particular the 5 Steps to Risk Assessment. For advice on structures, please see the IStructE book on "Temporary Demountable Structures (TDS) guidance on procurement, design and use" April 2007.

For further information on booking Council Land and non Licensable Events contact - Stuart Foster in Leisure Services on: -

01727 819368 or e-mail leisure@stalbans.gov.uk

For further information on Licensing issues contact - Lesley Cameron at the Licensing Section on:

01727 819454 or e-mail licensing@stalbans.gov.uk

For further information on the Events Safety Advisory Group please contact - 01727 819587 or e-mail events@stalbans.gov.uk

You can also find out about licensing if you follow this link.