Event safety
If you are organising an event in the Lancaster district ESAG can provide advice, support and guidance to help ensure the safety and welfare of visitors, workers and contractors at the event.
Event Safety Advisory Group (ESAG)
Lancaster and district Event Safety Advisory Group (ESAG) is a multi-agency group, chaired by Lancaster City Council, which provides advice and guidance to event organisers, particularly for events that have the potential to pose a significant risk to the safety and wellbeing of participants, spectators and/or the general public.
Most local authorities will have their own ESAG membership, so if you are planning an event outside our district, please visit your respective local authority website for further information.
The ESAG membership includes representatives from various departments within the following organisations:
- Lancaster City Council (Chair & Secretariat)
- Lancashire Fire and Rescue (Vice-Chair)
- Lancashire Constabulary
- North West Ambulance Service
- Lancashire County Council
- HM Coastguard
ESAG can give you independent safety advice for your event, but please note that it is the event organiser who has legal responsibility for ensuring a safe event.
Guidance and event planning template
This downloadable document provides advice on planning an event, and a template for organisers. The template acts as a checklist ensuring areas of safety are covered adequately leading to an event plan that can be used by those running the event and circulated to outside agencies who may need to attend.
Events on council land
Depending on the nature and scale of your event when booking on council land, it may be a condition to attend an ESAG meeting prior to your event. Refusal to attend an ESAG meeting may result in your event application being denied.
Advice and guidance
The following links and downloads will help you plan and organise a safe event:
- HSE Guidance on running events safely
- ESAG referral criteria for outdoor events
- Apply for a temporary road closure
- Apply for a Temporary Event Notice (TEN)
- The Council's Leisure sector health and safety pages. Advice on topics such as community halls, bouncy castles & inflatables, fairground rides, petting zoos and face painting!
Food Safety
- A useful guidance document for organisers and caterers is the CIEH National Guidance for Outdoor & Mobile Catering
- You should ask caterers attending your event to complete a quick questionnaire before you allow them on your site Pre-event Caterers Checklist (PDF, 711KB)
- Handwashing advice for mobile caterers, market traders and other mobile food vendors (PDF, 1.5MB)
Last updated: 03 June 2024