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The
Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds
The
Fourth Edition of the 'Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds'
is an advisory document for use by competent persons and is
the distillation of many years of research and experience
of the safety management and design of sports grounds.
The
Guide has no statutory force but many of its recommendations
will be given force of law at individual grounds by their
inclusion in General Safety Certificates issued under the
'Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975' or the 'Fire Safety and
Safety of Places of Sports Act 1987'.
The
concept of the 'Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds' is widely
attributed to Lord Wheatley who, at paragraph 69 of his Report,
said:
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While
not seeking to set out a code of practice in the sense
of statutory regulations which have to be observed in
all cases, I have, with the assistance of the Technical
Support Group, provided what should be regarded as guidelines
towards a proper standard. I trust that these will be
of benefit both to clubs in deciding what they should
do in making improvements, and to licensing authorities
in deciding what should be looked for. |
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Lord
Wheatley subsequently produced a 'Technical Report' at Appendix
A of his Report.
In
due course, the First, a revised version of the First, the
Second, the Third and Fourth editions of the 'Guide to Safety
at Sports Grounds' have been produced by Her Majesty's Stationery
Office and no respectable Football Safety Officer could function
without referring to this publication.
The
main paragraph headings in the 'Guide to Safety at Sports
Grounds' comprise:
- Calculating
the safe capacity of a sports ground
- Management
- responsibility and planning for safety
- Management
- stewarding
- Management
- structures, installations and components
- Circulation
- general
- Circulation
- ingress
- Circulation
- stairways and ramps
- Circulation
- concourses and vomitories
- Circulation
- egress and emergency evacuation
- Barriers
- Spectator
accommodation - seating
- Spectator
accommodation - standing
- Spectator
accommodation - disabilities
- Spectator
accommodation - temporary
- Demountable
structures
- Fire
safety
- Communication
- Electrical
and mechanical services
- First
aid and medical provision
- Media
provision
- Alternative
uses for sports grounds
Notwithstanding
an assertion made by Lord Justice Taylor in his Report into
the Hillsborough Disaster that "the ultimate control
at any match must be that of the police commander", Section
D in the Introduction to the 'Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds'
emphasises:
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Responsibility
for the safety of spectators lies at all times with
the ground management. The management will normally
be either the owner or lessee of the ground, who may
not necessarily be the promoter of the event.
In
discharging its responsibility, the management needs
to recognise that safety should not be seen as a set
of rules or conditions imposed by others, but rather
as standards set from within which reflect a safety
culture at the sports ground. A positive attitude demonstrated
by the management is therefore crucial in ensuring that
safety policies are carried out effectively and willingly.
These
policies should take into consideration the safety of
all spectators, for example, those with disabilities,
and children.
Representatives
of management cannot, however, be reasonably expected
to possess all the technical knowledge and skills required
to assess and apply every recommendation in the Guide.
Management should therefore, whenever required, seek
guidance from competent persons who have the relevant
qualifications, skills and experience.
Representatives
of the local authority, together with police, fire and
ambulance officers, will advise management on how to
discharge its responsibility, and, in certain circumstances,
may require measures to be taken in order to achieve
reasonable safety standards. This does not, however,
exonerate the ground management for its responsibility
for the safety of spectators.
Although
the Guide is not specifically aimed at risks to spectators
from the sport itself, management also have a responsibility
to take all necessary precautions to safeguard spectators
against the effects of accidents in, or originating
from, the activity on the pitch, track, or area of activity.
Particular care is need when the sport entails the use
and storage of flammable fuels
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This
quite clearly places a heavy onus on club management everywhere
to cheerfully meet their obligations with regard safety. This
is not always recognised however, and something else Lord
Justice Taylor regrettably felt obliged to say in Paragraph
24 of his Report may still ring true:
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Amazingly,
complacency was still to be found even after Hillsborough.
It was chilling to hear the same refrain from directors
at several clubs I visited - ["Hillsborough was horrible
- but, of course, it couldn't have happened here"].
Couldn't it? The Hillsborough ground was regarded by many
as one of the best in the country. It was selected by
the FA for the cup semi-final and thought by them to be
entirely suitable. The identical fixture had passed off
uneventfully the previous year. I have little doubt that
if the disaster scenario had been described to the management
at Hillsborough prior to 15 April, they too would have
said ["Of course, it couldn't have happened here"].
Yet something like it had happened at Hillsborough in
1981, albeit with less dire results. Moreover, I am satisfied
from eyewitness accounts I have received that there have
been many other occasions when overcrowding has led, at
various grounds round the country, to a genuine apprehension
of impending disaster through crushing, averted only by
good fortune. I have heard from Police Commanders at a
number of the grounds I visited how relieved they are
that capacities have reduced in the interests of safety.
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Lord
Wheatley also suggested that football grounds should be licensed
and said respectively in paragraphs 33, 34 and 35 of his Report:
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The
system most widely advocated is the licensing of grounds
by a local authority. Such a proposal has been mooted
over the years. It finds its place in the Report of
the Departmental Committee on Crowds in 1924 and in
Mr. Hughes's Report on the Bolton Disaster in 1946.
The
broad argument in favour of it is as follows. The public
pay for admission to a football ground, therefore there
is a duty on the club to see that the ground is safe
for those who pay for admission. In other fields of
entertainment similar considerations have led to a system
of licensing by a local authority. There is accordingly
no good reason why football grounds should not be similarly
dealt with. It would simply mean extending a well-established
system to football grounds.
To
this broad argument there are added particular advantages
which it is claimed the proposal has over its competitors.
If an application is made for a licence, the local authority
would have to be satisfied that all statutory requirements
had been observed. They could call for reports as they
saw fit from a variety of sources under or connected
with their administration. Building inspectors, engineers,
sanitary inspectors, surveyors, architects, police and
fire officers would be among the disciplines at their
disposal. It would presumably be competent for any of
these bodies to place before the licensing court objections
or considerations. On the other hand the applicant club
would be entitled to submit what representations or
evidence it chose. The licensing bench would be a local
body which would more readily appreciate the various
considerations involved. So runs the argument.
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These
proposals were subsequently adopted in the 'Safety of Sports
Grounds Act 1975'.
This
particular piece of legislation created 'Safety Certificates'
in respect of sports grounds with accommodation for more than
10,000 spectators and gave powers of entry and inspection
to persons authorised by the local authority, the chief officer
of police and the building authority.
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