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Posted By Bob Challis
A charitable company I am involved with is a rural touring scheme for performing arts companies. The charity contracts with professional companies to do a number of performances in various village halls. In each village the charity finds a volunteer to advertise the event, sell the tickets, pay the village hall fee, put out the chairs, etc.
The village halls are licensed by the local authority. The performing companies have to sign an agreement with the charity saying that they always do risk assessments. Has the charity thereby done enough to reduce risk and its own liability? Or should it be taking a more active role – by requiring the volunteers, to carry out risk assessments, for example, by signing off the companies’ risk assessments, etc?
I find it a complex issue and I would be grateful for any advice.
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Posted By Bob Challis
Thanks for the link, Nick. I will accept your invitation to email you with specifics.
Bob
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Posted By Ron Hunter
I would suggest that the liability of the Charity must extend in part to the suitability and safety of the premises whilst they are on hire. I guess the volunteer is hiring the Hall on behalf of the Charity.
I would recommend a closer liaison between the Charity and the Local Authority. Many LAs have a process within the Hall/Eventapplication which covers issues such as numbers of people, fire safety, risks arising from the performance (if any),use of electrical or protechnic appliances etc.
There may be a risk that too much is already being devolved to the volunteer in the above respects, whereas actual liability would rest with the Charity (at least in part - the LA might be in the frame too)) were things to go wrong.
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Posted By herb1
In my experiences of having done this very same thing of touring a production to village halls i would suggest the following assuming you will revisit a number of venues with different productions.
Carry out your own survey of the various premises and identify any potential risks be it electrical supplies, kitchen and dressing room areas, access and so on.
Eventually building up a database of venues
Often you will be let in to see these with the very same volunteer who will be working for you on 'that' night and you can get some valuable local information from them as well as express any specific concerns you may have. Lack of fire extinguishers and chained up exits are a favourite.
The various productions you contract should be able to supply risk assessments and details of their specific show and you can marry up the detail to highlight any area that hasn't been covered.
As an example one hall i visited was next to a minor but very fast stretch of road that had to be parked on to facilitate the 'load-in'. The company lobbed a couple of cones and a sign in the back of the van to give some advance warning up the road for such eventualities and was grateful for the local knowledge.
This is a very simple example of course but may well have prevented an injury.
I would say that the responsibility lies with you for the show that is going into these spaces and with the local authorities/community associations for the venues themselves. Cooperation between the two helps to ameliorate any risks. On the plus side you find that the local authorites start to invest in the maintenance of these often neglected gems when outsiders start to compare across authorities.
I don't know if this helps but wish you luck
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Posted By Bob Challis
Many thanks for the advice, Ron and herb1.
One critical point, as you suggest, is the role of the volunteer. Either we train them and require them to do an adequate risk assessment or the charity takes on that responsibility directly. I think I know which approach is more likely to succeed.
I like the idea of all this leading to an improvement in facilities (although I won't be holding my breath).
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