Ground Inspection

Twenty-four hours before the match the host Safety Officer or perhaps the Stadium Manager will also represent the club at a pre-match inspection of the ground along with the police.

The inspection usually covers important aspect of public safety, including:

(a) Basic structural conditions, state of terracing, including clearance of snow and ice and generally good housekeeping considerations within the ground, consistent with crowd safety and fire prevention objectives;

(b) The effect of any maintenance and construction work on the safety and evacuation arrangements for the ground;

(c) Exit routes are to be checked to ensure that they are clear and exit doors/gates are operating properly;

(d) The erection, position and maintenance of high quality signposts giving clear instruction to the public on:-

(i) direction to turnstiles
(ii) home and away support area
(iii) segregated areas with ground
(iv) turnstile numbers
(v) notices at turnstiles outlining restrictions imposed by the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) act 1995 on patrons entering the ground
(vi) exits
(vii) police office
(viii) first aid station
(ix) toilets (male and female)
(x) NO SMOKING areas
(xi) the existence of CCTV.

There is also merit in surveying the exterior of the ground and approach routes with a view to taking any action that may be necessary to reduce the availability of missiles and weapons, from obvious sources such as rubbish skips, scaffolding sites and ongoing building sites.