New Welfare Guide Launched by the Events Industry Forum

A comprehensive new guide to welfare at events has been published by the Events Industry Forum.The new guide, which has been written by welfare specialist Penny Mellor, draws on the experiences of a wide range of welfare organisations to provide a set of guidelines for providing welfare services at events, such as concerts and festivals. It also contains guidance for event organisers about providing welfare services as well as downloadable forms that can be used by those providing these services (e.g. lost property etc.)This is thought to be the first time that guidance on welfare services has been made available and it is hoped that it will lead to greater consistency in the approach to the provision of these essential services.The provision of good welfare services is critical at many events as they provide support for dealing with a wide range of issues, from drug problems, welfare and distress to lost people and property. The new Welfare Guide is being published alongside the Purple Guide and will be provided to subscribers at no extra cost. The work to create the guide was funded by a grant from the Events Industry Forum raised through subscriptions to the Purple Guide. ‘The Purple Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Music and Other Events’ was originally published by the Health & Safety Executive, but taken over by EIF in 2014 with their support. It is considered to be the main reference source to health and safety by the events industry and is used widely by licensing authorities, enforcement agencies as well as event organisers.EIF has made a commitment that all funds raised from subscriptions to the Guide, after costs, will be reinvested in support for the UK events industry and has recently announced that it is making a further £8,000 of grants available for industry projects. Details of the new guide can be found at www.thepurpleguide.co.uk