Imagine having the ability to predict if someone or something poses a threat. Being able to read and understand another person’s body language seems like a superpower…but it isn’t.

All employees, no matter their role, can have a role to play in keeping the public safe but are not always provided with the skills to do so.  Behavioural detection is an important tool in the toolkit of venue managers to help monitor and stay ahead of threats that can test the safety and security of people in our care.

In this session, you will learn the skills to help you ‘read’ people’s behaviours and show you how to improve your presence in an environment including real life experiences of what can go wrong if we don’t.

Looking for behavioural flags through actions and words can effectively help identify adverse crowd behaviours and security threats.

The primary goal is to provide the fundamental knowledge needed to assist in identifying potential threats and risks and to enhance the safety and security by creating a proactive security aware culture throughout the workforce.

As a professional in the venue management industry, risk management, good governance, and legal compliance are embedded in many facets of what we do and conducting risk assessment is an important part of that that has been a legal requirement and good industry practice over many years.

Most operationally focussed venue planners know how to conduct risk assessment however sometimes what is set out in the risk plan, differs to what happens on the ground, or that the process of conducting the risk assessment is just ‘box ticking’  and disconnected from other facets of event planning.     Have you ever considered:

• What are the inefficiencies of your current risk assessment process?
• What are the things that you know and implement that are workarounds where we can still get the result that we need?
• What is your communication process/system once you have completed and signed off a risk assessment, whether that is in relation to security, safety, enterprise risk, emergency management or business continuity?
• We conduct our due diligence but how are the results of the risk assessment communicated amongst key stakeholders?

It’s not just about creating a process … it’s about having all stakeholders embedded in the way they do business from a safety perspective; the behaviours they apply, and the attitudes, values and beliefs they commit to as a collective group.

The primary goal of this session is to reflect on and ensure you have knowledge in the process of undertaking risk management and have a risk aware culture to enable you to adapt to changes more efficiently and effectively.

The intent of Work Health and Safety legislation is to provide a balanced and nationally consistent framework for securing a healthy and safe workplace … to make the workplace safer for workers, contractors and the public.    While the legislation differs in some states and territories, the intent of the legislation is to impose duties, and obligations on business operators, and entities conducting organised business activities. To maintain a safe workplace that is as reasonably practicable, free from risk of injury.  There is a dual duty of care:

• To satisfy the statutory duties set out in work health and safety legislation and,
• To satisfy common law duties to mitigate foreseeable risk and to avoid claims of negligence resulting in civil action with fines and penalties or under the worst case scenario, criminal negligence under criminal law resulting in potential convictions and custodial sentencing.

This session will introduce you to:

• the laws that govern safety in Australia and New Zealand,
• your legal duties / the principles of these laws; and
• regulating agencies (regulators) and their role.

ISO 45001 Safety Management System is an international standard for health and safety at work developed by national and international standards committees, independent of government.  Key elements include leadership commitment, worker participation, hazard identification and risk assessment, legal and regulatory compliance, emergency planning, incident investigation and continual improvement.  ISO 45001 utilises the Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology to systematically manage physical and psychological health and safety risks.

This session will introduce you to a systematic approach to implementing safe practices and creating a safe work environment to help you meet your legal obligations.

The Building Code Compliance session is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of building codes and regulations, enabling you to navigate the complexities of compliance in construction projects. This session will cover key aspects of building codes, including their purpose, application, and enforcement.

The session will be conducted in a venue where you will learn about various building and fire code requirements and gain practical knowledge of the life safety and building code compliance facets of your venue and of temporary overlay if installed

Our demand for online technology is changing the way we operate venues. Patrons, venue hirers, and staff increasingly rely on online goods and services, transact, communicate, advertise and to maximise the fan experience.

The more venues rely on technology, the more susceptible they are to cyber security threats. If online ticket sales are disrupted by cyber-attack, this has a commercial impact on the event. If an event’s sound or lighting system is interrupted, this impacts the patron experience. If a venue’s website is defaced, or social media properties are taken over, this could have a brand impact.

Despite a growing range of cyber security risks, not all venues consider cyber security as a critical part of their risk management focus. It is rarer still for a venue to have dedicated cyber security resources. In the past cyber security risks have not been the most fundamental risks to the business of venues and live events. Workplace safety, patron health and safety, physical security, and general business disruption risks have been traditional more likely in our industry until now.

So how much focus should we put on cyber security? What types of cyber security risk should we worry about, and invest time and resource mitigating; and what can we deprioritise?

This session will be conducted as a panel so you’ll have the chance to ask questions and discuss these critical questions.

This session will provide an introduction to the key elements of security operational planning and delivery.

The session will address key elements related to developing integrated operational security plans, planning different types of events with different risk profiles, the importance of defining security roles and responsibilities, and the need to balance security posture with customer experience requirements.

This session will delve into common law precedents as well as case law – where the judgements set out the standard of care under common law.

The session will also look at case studies of relevant coronial findings and how to set yourself up for success in the court.

Every organisation has a reputation that is recognised by its customers and other stakeholders. It represents the values, personality, and behaviours that the organisation is perceived to represent in the marketplace within which it operates and beyond.

This reputation can however be damaged by actions or omissions by the organisation, its directors, employees, or other relevant internal or third-party stakeholders. Major incidents where the reputation of the organisation needs careful handling to minimise the damage, and maximise the recovery opportunities.

Crisis situations need careful management of communications to relevant stakeholders to protect the organisation’s reputational assets and its brand.

In some cases, the crisis can involve an adverse impact on critical business functions. These are functions that are core to the organisation’s ongoing operations, survival and success. While most business functions are important, not every business function is critical.

Business Continuity Management helps apply a risk-based approach to understanding business critical functions, assessing them according to risk; and planning to ensure there is a state of continuity readiness.

Ultimately, this session is about resilience. It will help you gain knowledge and skills in risk management methods to manage threats to an organisation’s reputation, respond to operational threats, and recover to a position that is similar or better than before.

Auditing serves as a crucial mechanism to assure and verify the implementation of systems, procedures, workplace practices, and documentation. It’s essential to confirm that the actions align with the stated plans or procedures. This requires ongoing monitoring, verification, and assurance. Picture yourself in a courtroom setting; having the intent alone is insufficient. You must be able to defend the implementation of documents, processes, and procedures within your workplace.

This session will also consider the monitoring and review aspect of auditing that serves to validate the effectiveness of risk controls in mitigating risks. Practically, this involves strategies such as conducting inspections and audits of risk controls, annually reviewing the risk and insurance program, reviewing contracts, conducting post-event debriefs to evaluate control effectiveness, conducting major event test events, and analysing incident reports.

Threat and vulnerability assessment are activities that feed into a security-based risk assessment.  They can either be standalone activities or are used to help determine the level of risk that a threat represents.  The vulnerability assessment considers the effectiveness of risk controls to identify the gaps or weaknesses that undermine a venue’s security. Threat assessments study the entities, tactics and techniques used to threaten an organisation.  .

Understanding a venue’s vulnerabilities is key to preventing terrorism and improving overall event security.

Whether a large stadium, concert or festival location, or other sporting or performance venue, the venue first needs  a comprehensive Risk and Vulnerability Assessment completed of the venue on both non-event and event days.

By taking the time to identify and understand where the highest levels of vulnerability exist, a detailed plan to mitigate the risks people, property or business disruption can be effectively tailored.

This session will guide you through the reasonable steps necessary to provide a secure event that protects patrons, players/performers, staff and the venue site which is essential in protecting your brand, deterring an attack, and minimizing potential liability.

Expanding the learning outcomes from Fundamentals of Venue Security in Year One, this session will consider detailed elements related to delivery of security operations.

This session will address key elements related defence in depth and the ‘last mile’, venue security arrangements, alcohol management, RSA and liquor planning, crowd management, security deployment planning and ratios, and managing contracted security services providers.

The landscape of safety and security has changed significantly in the past five years and the release of the Australian Government’s Strategy for Protecting Crowded Places from Terrorism provides learners the opportunity to integrate the learnings and guidance of the Crowded Places Strategy within their venues.

Counter Terrorism are the measures taken to combat or prevent terrorism … also known as anti-terrorism.  The purpose of this session is to build your understanding of the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism.

Counter Terrorism strategies are based on strong, trusted partnerships between all levels of government and those responsible for crowded places. The strategies aim to make crowded places as resilient as possible to terrorist attacks while preserving our use and enjoyment of these places.

Crowded places such as stadiums, shopping centres, and major events will continue to be attractive targets for terrorists.  Owners and operators of crowded places have the primary responsibility for protecting their sites, including a duty of care to take steps to protect people that work, use, or visit their site from a range of foreseeable threats, including terrorism.

The approach taken to protect crowded places should be nationally consistent, proportionate and, to every extent possible, preserve the public’s use and enjoyment of these places. It is not possible to protect everything, so owners and operators must prioritise the highest risk areas of a crowded places.

Developing an effective emergency response plan is key for safety managers who may be anticipating any form of severe storm, flood, extreme temperatures, or severe weather event.

Weather is unpredictable and with a changing climate, having a severe weather response plan, particularly for outdoor events, is important for the safety and security of employees and business infrastructure. Even if a business or venue is not in a region affected by severe weather, customers, partners, or suppliers may still be disrupted, so it is important to have a plan in place to anticipate those impacts.

This session will cover some of the key issues you must consider when preparing for severe weather including:

1. Information and Weather Intelligence
2. Critical relationships: When setting up an emergency response plan, it’s important to make the right connections with external service providers and other key stakeholders.
3. Keep asking questions: Knowledge is power. No one can pre-empt every scenario that might occur in the event of severe weather, but hypothesising the major possibilities will add a layer of preparedness and help leaders make the right decisions.
4. Plan in advance: No one wants to be caught off-guard. If a venue knows they may be affected by severe weather at certain times of the year, plan for it. Build an emergency plan to protect staff, clients, and infrastructure.
5. Make continuous adjustments: Responding to weather requires flexibility and time-sensitive decision making. Asking these questions gives the opportunity to improve emergency plans, ensure that people and facilities remain safe, and avoid large-scale losses.