Edinburgh Napier University

  Introduction
The work here reviews the role of those with responsibility for managing people and their safety at Mass Gathering Events (MGE). These are event managers, police, and medical personnel. Though the science underpinning mass gathering health and event management is developing rapidly, there is a lack of consistency around protocols and tools utilized to maintain safety at events.

Methods
This study adopted a qualitative descriptive methodology. Focus groups were used to gain insight into MGE safety through the lens of three different groups. Questions were centered on their understanding of safety at events, based on their experiences in MGEs.

Results
Participants in this study identified many risks to event safety, including a lack of risk assessment, communication, lack of ownership of risk, and poor planning. Even though these risks were similar, each participant group identified their own perspective with their own ways of managing them. The authors suggest that all event stakeholders should focus on the interests of both the audience and the wider event community, to work together to foster a safe, supportive, and trusting environment.

Conclusion
Safety has become increasingly significant in the vocabulary of researchers, managers, funding agencies, and public bodies involved in the provision of events. Accordingly, this paper comes at a time when there is an acute need for the appropriate application of psycho-social understanding and biophysical knowledge for the safe management of the social environment of MGE, and the wider community.