Event Management Support

• Health and Safety regulations do not require employers to make first aid provision for non-employees, however, it is strongly recommend that they are included in any assessment of first aid needs and that provision is made for them.
• You have a common duty of care and therefore you generally need to ensure that the event is properly managed so that people remain safe. This may include
  • Risk Assessments to identify precautions you need to take
  • Implement precautions – informing employees or volunteers on what they need to do
  • Document your arrangements and responsibilities for hosting events
  • Keep records of what you have done

Food supplied, sold or provided outside of the family or domestic setting must be safe to eat. This is regardless of whether those supplying or selling the food are trying to make a profit.

If you provide food on a regular and organised basis you may need to register with your local authority as a food business, however if you handle, prepare, store and serve food occasionally and on a small scale, you do not need to register.

Allergen Information

If your activity does not need to be registered as a food business, you don’t have to provide information for consumers about allergens present in the food as ingredients. However, this is recommended.

The 14 allergens are:

• celery
• cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats)
• crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters)
• eggs
• fish
• lupin
• milk
• molluscs (such as mussels and oysters)
• mustard
• peanuts
• sesame
• soybeans
• sulphur dioxide and sulphites (if the sulphur dioxide and sulphites are at a concentration of more than ten parts per million)
• tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts).

General Food Safety

Although your local authority may not deem your event as a food business, it is important that basic food safety is followed. 

A checklist is included within the Ultimate Event Management Pack or accessible down below however there is a summary below. 

1. Food preparation areas are suitable cleaned and sanitised before and after use.
2. Hands  should regularly be washed with soap and water or hand sanitiser. 
3. All fruit and vegetables should be washed
4. Raw and Ready to Eat foods should be kept apart
5. Food should not be used past its use-by date
6. All cooking instructions should be read
7. All food should be cooked through thoroughly
8. All equipment should be washed in hot soapy water
9. Keep food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible 

If you are encouraging people to bake food at home and bring it in for a cake sale – encourage all bakers to consider the following:

1. The recipe should be from a reputable source
2. Hands should be regularly washed with soap and water
3. Any equipment should be regularly washed with hot soapy water
4. All preparation areas should be cleansed and sanitised before use
5. Baked goods should be thoroughly cooked 
6. Baked goods should be transported in a clean sealable container. 

Food Safety Checklist

Baking at home checklist

For more information – check out the Food Standards Agency

If your event is considered low hazard and is under 25 people then you do not need a first aider. Instead consider having an appointed person who is known by the volunteer team.

An appointed person is someone who 

• looks after any first aid equipment and facilities
• calls the emergency services when required

If your event is considered high risk or over 25 people, you may want to consider ensuring that there is someone with first aid training present at your event. A first-aider is someone who has received first-aid training such as Emergency First Aid at work or First Aid at Work.

It is good practice to make note of any accident and what happened in response to the accident. To do this you need an accident reporting form. Please keep these for 3 years. 

You can find an accident reporting form template here

Important to know

If someone is injured at your event you may need to show that you have met your duty of care. 

If you are in control of premises – there are legal responsibilities that you have if there are any accidents with members of the public. These include

• If the accident involves a work activity
• If they result in an injury that leads to a trip to hospital for treatment that includes; a dressing applied, stiches, a plaster cast or surgery.

These injuries are called reportable injuries, and more information can be found out here