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LOS ANGELES, written by Frank Hammel, PLSN — The first draft of the Event Safety Alliance’s Event Safety Guide — an updated version of the widely-used U.K. guide with the same name, often dubbed the “purple guide” — is available for download from the Alliance website, eventsafetyalliance.org. Subtitled  “A Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Live Entertainment Events in the United States,” the draft document includes a disclaimer stating that the 273-page PDF document is provided for public review only for a 180-day review and comment period (from Feb. 6, 2013 to Aug. 5, 2013).

“The information contained here is subject to revision, supplementation, or deletion,” the disclaimer cautions. “Nothing in this version of the Event Safety Guide should be relied upon as advice, guidance, or representation of any kind.”

The Event Safety Alliance, comprised of close to 600 members including staging and rigging suppliers, insurers, IATSE members and other live event production professionals, urged attendees at a panel discussion at Event Live Expo 2013, held in Los Angeles from Feb. 5-7 to review the draft guidebook and offer their suggestions for its improvement.

The executive director of ESA, Jim Digby, who is also production manager for Linkin Park, attended the event, as did John Brown, CEO of Brown United, who provided audience members with flash drives loaded with a digital DF of the safety guide for review.

Event panelists included production manager and Justabunchofroadies.org founder Charlie Hernandez; Matt Bettenhausen, chief of security for AEG Live, who is also a former federal prosecutor; Berkeley Reinhold, head of music business affairs for WME; and Ken Macdonald, a festival director as well as venue GM. Dr. Donald Cooper, a retired fire marshal for the state of Ohio, a key contributor for the draft document’s guidelines, also attended the event.

In its first-draft form, the Event Safety Guide covers topics ranging from planning and management to venue and site design. It also covers emergency planning, communication and  crowd control while offering best practices to avoid hazards ranging from pyro and fire to extreme weather and rigging and from bomb threats to sanitation issues and waste management.

The request for industry members to step up as active participants in shaping the “living document” is aligned with the main slogan that can be seen on the Event Safety Alliance website: “YOU are the Event Safety Alliance!”

To download the guide, go to www.eventsafetyalliance.org Please note that you must register online to download the guide.