A packed house at Co-op Place in November for the huge night of country music featuring Sawyer Brown, Lonestar, Doc Walker, and George Canyon.--SUBMITTED PHOTO COURTESY RANDY FEERE
Last week we got a stark reminder how important it is to keep health and safety a top priority in the events world.
A tragic incident occurred in Cincinnati during a Monday Night Football game, when Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills suffered a cardiac arrest on the field. Venue and team staff rushed to administer CPR and an AED; an automated external defibrillator, was used to restore the young man’s heartbeat.
Due to the emergency preparedness of the venue and actions of the medical team, he is making remarkable progress in hospital and will hopefully make a full recovery.
As venue managers, one of our jobs is to ensure that everyone has a great experience at the event they are attending, but our larger responsibility is to the safety, security and wellbeing of the players, artists, volunteers, staff, and patrons.
We ensure that our staff have the tools and training to keep everyone safe. This starts when you enter the venue through a security checkpoint.
This allows us to ensure that everyone entering has a ticket and that no one is bringing in any sort of weapons or contraband. Scanning tickets allows us to know at a moment’s notice how many people are present in the venue should an emergency arise.
For larger events such as ones at Co-op Place or the Together Again festival downtown this fall, we have dedicated security, police, and paramedics on site to be ready for any sort of emergency that may arise. These first responders work in conjunction with our event staff and venue managers to ensure the safety and security of all guests.
Each venue we operate has a comprehensive emergency response plan specific to that venue and is reviewed with event staff regularly. It involves a wide variety of scenarios from an evacuation due to fire, to a lost child, to sheltering in place due to a weather event.
Our frontline staff are trained in First Aid, CPR, AED usage, de-escalation training as well as many specifically trained in Crowd Management.
This certification allows them to understand crowd dynamics and the techniques we can use to influence them. We are also in the process of training our staff in Mental Health First Aid to help assist someone dealing with a crisis.
Our goal is for everyone to have a great time at our events and get home safely at the end of the night while ensuring everyone feels safe, secure, and welcomed into our venues.
Trampas Brown is the manager of guest experience and operations for Co-op Place
