Lightning

You have to be aware that there will be a lot of conductive parts on demountable structures (Stage, Marquees, etc) as well as parts of your attractions, so you need to have a plan as to what to do if lightning is in the area during your event.

As the event organiser you are required to ensure the safety of everyone at the event, including yourself, so provisions need to be made to ensure everyone knows what to do. Nine times out of ten, lighting comes as part of a storm with plenty of rain, which makes everything even more conductive.

You should plan for things around each location where you have a structure that may be susceptible to a lightning strike, as well as planning for the site as a whole. Plan to clear the stage of all people and set up an exclusion zone. It may be the same for any marquees on the site and any inflatable or fairground ride will also have to be considered for evacuation until the storm has passed.

This all takes careful thought, and no something you want to leave until the day of the event. Check out our post about where to find health and safety information to help you with your planning process.

Wind

Wind is probably the most common weather event that can close an event. By its very nature an event is something that’s not permanent, and almost everything you need to put on an event is bought onto the site as portable equipment. Most portable equipment is less stable, lighter or more easily moved than permanent structures. 

This along with the fact that many outdoor events are held in big open spaces, it means that everything is more susceptible to the load that wind will put on it.

Most demountable structures like staging and marquees will have a rated value for wind loading and this is normally in the form of measurement in metres per second.

You need to be fully aware of the wind loading for all the structures on your site and at what point you need to take action. In most cases, you will need to take action well before you reach the maximum wind loadings. In some cases, you can mitigate the risk by removing some of the structure. In other cases, it may mean adding bits to the structure, but ultimately it may mean closing the event.