Health & Safety: In It Together Festival

Background

In It Together is a new festival concept from Welsh promoters Climax (responsible for Escape, Party At The Park and Inside Out). The show was conceived during the various pandemic lockdowns and was designed to offer Welsh family festival goers something to look forward to. The 4 day, 15,000 capacity camping festival featured multiple stages (including local emerging talent stage) and featured a headline performance from Noel Gallaghar.

Having worked with Climax across their portfolio of festivals since 2019, OPS were tasked with providing H&S and Licensing services for this new, ambitious project.

Challenges

• The Climax team are adept at delivering 1-day, metropolitan dance events aimed at the 19-30 and student audiences. A four-day, family-friendly camping festival in a new, rural location would certainly take them out of their comfort zone.

• The chosen location (Margam Old Farm) had never been used for events previously and as such a new Premises Licence was required. OPS liaised with the client, as well as the various Local and Responsible Authorities to conduct site visits and discuss the event (producing a draft Licence application) prior to formal submission.

• The planning phase of the event involved the site plan having to undergo multiple adjustments to ensure that, where it needed, a safe and suitable Invacuation Plan could be enacted (the site is bordered on all sides by roads, meaning a typical evacuation would be difficult to manage).

• Once on site, the challenges continued: Welsh Water attempted to close the event as they were unsatisfied with the wholesome drinking water provision installed by the event’s water company. This resulted in having to bring multiple deliveries of bottle water to site and distribute around to ensure that there was adequate drinking water available for all customers in all locations, whilst the production team worked to commission the plumbed supply.

• On the morning of Noel Gallagher’s headline performance, the wind became such a concern that the main stage had to be evacuated during load in. The wind remained problematic all day and the decision was made to cancel all band performances prior to Noel. The Safety Advisor worked closely with the Production Manager and the Tour Manager, monitoring anemometer readings and reviewing against local forecasts and we were able to safely allow Noel’s production team to get back on stage to set up in time for the show.

Delivery

• Event Safety Management Plan

• Event Risk Assessment

• Fire Risk Assessment

• Invacuation/Evacuation Plan

• Supplier and Trader Auditing

• On-Site Safety

• Child and Vulnerable Persons Welfare Policy

• SAG Attendance

Results

• Successful delivery of the inaugural In It Together Festival

• Hugely favourable reviews from attendees

• 2023 tickets are selling fast

• OPS are looking forward to working with the Climax team in 2023