Security Solutions To Help Keep A Festival Safe

Keeping a festival safe is very important to the overall experience, for performers, attendees and all the staff on site. It is an incredibly challenging thing to plan, making sure everyone enjoys themselves but is also safe. While it is a small minority, there is always the chance of things going wrong with attendees such as sneaking into the festival, drug abuse or violence. Security solutions at festivals are key to helping keep everyone safe and enhancing the experience of the day.

But what goes into keeping everyone safe and ensuring the security of the festival? Read on for some security solutions that can help keep festivals safe.

When To Plan Security Solutions?

For a festival, security solutions should be considered from the very start of festival planning. You should be looking to identify the risks from the beginning, completing risk assessments for all eventualities. Risks can come from everywhere, so a risk assessment is a great way to combat every possible risk, whether it be small or large. It helps you can look at each individual risk and plan a security solution to that issue.

Festivals should be built from the ground up with security in mind, not as an afterthought to slot in after most of the work is done. Planning security afterwards can result in an unsafe environment. Here are a selection of security solutions that can be implemented at a festival.

Security Solutions

Fences & Barriers

One of the best ways to keep a festival safe is the use of fences. For a start, fences can be installed around the whole site, preventing anyone from attempting to sneak into the festival. People sneaking into festivals can lead to overpopulation of the area, which can actually be quite dangerous. There have been numerous cases over the years of people passing out at festivals from being crushed in over-packed areas. Fences to prevent people from sneaking in can help combat this issue.

Fences can also help to facilitate flow around the festival, directing people down prearranged routes so they can get where they need to go faster. Festivals with a good flow are easier to navigate for both attendees and any security staff. Fences can help keep different areas of the festival separate. This could be helpful if you have a VIP area that needs to be kept secure from those who have not paid to be there or to keep artists safe backstage from fans who might try to sneak in to see them.

Barriers are another innovative method to facilitate flow. Putting a barrier in the middle of a route can divide it in two, where you can then use a one-way system to help with the flow of traffic. You can also use barriers at the front of stages that keep the artist and guests at a distance but doesn't impact the view of the stage.

Wristbands

Wristbands are an innovative method of providing security at a festival. You can instantly see whether someone is meant to be there if they’re wearing the official wristband of the festival. Therefore security can then pick out who hasn't got a wristband and may have snuck into the festival. You can also have different colour wristbands for different tiers at the festival. A different colour VIP band might allow access to exclusive areas while an under-18s band will inform staff not to serve them any alcohol while eliminating the need to ask for identification from everyone.

A great way to increase security that many festivals are to go cashless and instead use wristbands. Festival-goers can load money onto their wristband before the festival happens, then easily pay once there for food, drinks and anything else on offer. This will prevent theft or loss of cash or cards which becomes a worry for lots of attendees.

Security Guards

One of the biggest security solutions at a festival is to have an abundance of security guards. There should be enough to ensure the safety of everyone on the site, allowing them to be spread out throughout the whole site to provide instant service when needed. They are essential to making sure attendees, staff and any performers all have a great and secure time while they are at the festival. However ensure you don’t have too many, as this could lead to attendees feeling uncomfortable and not being able to enjoy the festival properly. Remember your security guards can be behind the scenes ready to help out, not visible at all times to attendees.

You don’t need trained security guards as your only form of security. Stewards and festival staff are great ways to reduce any tension by offering their assistance. If the situation develops, they can call on security staff to come assist any problems.

Queues

Great queuing systems are one of the best ways to provide security at a festival. Using barriers to sort guests when they are entering the festival helps with the flow, and also ensures everyone goes to the correct entrance.

Barriers at queues for food and drink stalls are also great. They provide a precise area for queuing so the line doesn't spill out into walkways and cause issues. They also prevent cutting in line, which can sometimes lead to arguments and lead to guests potentially fighting.

CCTV

If your festival is fitted with CCTV, it is much easier to deal with any potential issues if you can have the entirety of the festival on camera. Security guards observing the CCTV can report on any issues or any developing problems that they spot on the cameras, dispatching staff to that location to stop whatever problem is happening.

CCTV is also extremely helpful in helping to organise all of your security solutions, being able to check fire routes, queues, gates, barriers and guard positions to ensure everything is alright.

Fire Routes

A festival needs to follow health and safety regulations, including the planning of fire and emergency evacuation routes. These need to be clearly labelled so everyone can know and follow them. To make it easier these should hopefully be the same way you normally enter and exit the festival, but you might find an alternative route that could be safer.

Radios

Staff should be able to get in contact with each other instantly in case of emergencies. With the number of people and their phones at the festival, it might be difficult to call or text other staff members. Radios can work on a unique frequency so you can instantly communicate over long distances in the case of emergencies. It’s definitely the best and easiest method of communication between staff across a festival

Gates

Gates are another great way to keep different parts of your festival secure. They can help stop attendees from coming into backstage areas where there could be dangerous machinery. You could use manual gates that require staff to guard and open, or electronic options that anybody who needs to get through.

Gates are also great for entering the festival, ensuring nobody gets in without a ticket. You could use turnstiles that allow only one person through at a time in order to help regulate the flow of people. These could be manual turnstiles or electronic ones that only open after the scan of a ticket. They prevent any unauthorised access from people trying to sneak in through the heavy crowds at the entrance.

Amnesty Station

Contraband is an issue dealt with at nearly every festival around the world. This can include drugs, knives, alcohol and any other banned items. One way to help with the security is to offer an amnesty station, where anybody entering the festival can get rid of any of their contraband without any consequences.

This is a great way to try to combat any contraband entering the festival, making attendees aware of what will happen if they are caught with contraband inside the festival so they are encouraged to leave it behind.

Shuretech

If you’re looking for security systems, Shuretech Ltd offers a full range of security system solutions in Reading and the surrounding areas. This includes commercial gates, shutters, grilles, turnstiles, CCTV, access control and barriers for commercial properties.

All of our engineers are fully qualified to deliver a professional and reliable service, being health and safety accredited to ensure safety is at the forefront of all the tasks they complete. All of our products are sourced from local manufacturers and constructed from high-quality materials, guaranteed to provide security at great prices.

So give us a call today on 01344 307 350 to talk with one of our friendly staff to discuss your requirements and see how Shuretech can help you out today. To learn more about the full range of security solutions we offer, visit our website now.