Should the Government ban unsafe British community events that cause injuries and waste emergency services resources?
Recent HMICFRS inspection found safety frameworks for non-sporting public events like festivals, fairs and celebrations inconsistent and insufficient, warning a major incident is a matter of when not if. Events such as Notting Hill Carnival, the Big Church Festival where a man died after a sign fell, and unlicensed raves have caused injuries, deaths, hundreds of arrests, assaults on emergency workers and significant resource strain on police, ambulance and fire services. New regulations on healthcare at events and calls for statutory guidance aim to improve safety without blanket bans.
23 Opinions
No, just charge organiser for any costs accrued.
I believe there are already safety laws and legal requirements when events are set up locally to make the event as safe as possible. A ban would be catastrophic on small events. Rather than a ban just double up on the safety aspects of a local event. Accidents can happen at any event big or small.
Safety is paramount. If it's not safe it shouldn't be going ahead.
I think there is a case for a ban here, perhaps temporary until rules can be established that people must follow to keep all people safe. If rules broken once the ban is lifted, police to have powers to intervene, especially where lives are potentially in danger.
Given that there’s a safety aspect to the licensing being granted and legal recourse if an event results in injury there’s no need to ban anything.
NO Simply because as it says in many cases these events where safety is at risk are unlicensed & illegal events, so banning them isn't going to make much difference! However it'll cost a lot of our taxes & limited resources, that could be better spent elsewhere, trying to enforce the impossible to enforce
Ah, the slippery slope.
This could lead down a very slippery slope with a safety aspect being used to ban events that those in power don't want held. It could lead to an abuse of power and used to attack free speech. Imagine a religious event being banned because someone claims there could be unrest caused by it. We've seen how this could be abused with West Midlands police and the ban on Israeli fans using false information and a safety aspect to appease the local community.
The issue here is where the line is drawn and how the power is used. There are already powers to shut down events if public safety is at risk. Let’s use those powers before introducing unnecessary legislation.
The examples given are sad but don't justify Health and Safety over reach. All the risk assessments won't stop accidents happening but they will stop events happening.