For many event organisers, the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) meeting is the part of the planning process they like least. It means chasing documents, formatting plans to a local authority’s preferences, and sitting while a panel asks questions you can feel you’ve already answered. It is easy to treat the SAG as a hoop to jump through.
The SAG is one of the few moments in the planning cycle when the event, local authority, police and emergency services are all looking at the same plan. Organisers who use that meeting well have smoother licensing, fewer surprises on event day, and local relationships that make subsequent events easier. This guide explains what a SAG is, how to prepare for one, and how to get real value from it.
What is a Safety Advisory Group?
A Safety Advisory Group is a multi-agency forum. It’s usually convened by the local authority, and reviews the safety arrangements for events in its area. The Purple Guide recognises SAGs as an important part of event planning. Most local authorities use them for larger or higher-risk events.
It is not a statutory body with the power to approve or ban an event in its own right, and it does not issue your licence. The licensing authority makes those decisions under the Licensing Act 2003.
Because SAGs aren’t defined in legislation, no two work in quite the same way. Some meet monthly and review events in batches, while others convene only when a significant application comes in. Some want a full Event Safety Management Plan weeks in advance, while others prefer a short presentation and a conversation. The first thing you can do is find out how your local SAG operates by speaking to the officer who coordinates it, before you submit anything.
Who sits on the panel and what they care about
Membership varies by authority, but you can usually expect representatives from:
- the licensing team,
- environmental health,
- highways,
- building control or safety officers,
- the police,
- the fire and rescue service, and
- the ambulance service.
Some groups also include emergency planning officers or a representative of the local community. Each of these people is looking at your event through a different lens, and it helps to anticipate it. A good presentation answers the questions each of these people is likely to have before they have to ask them.
Start earlier than feels necessary
One of the most common mistakes is leaving SAG engagement too late. Licence applications take time, and consultation periods and hearings can add weeks to the process. Local authority submission deadlines vary, from several months before the event to eight weeks. You need to know the deadline for your area before you commit to a date.
There is also a knock-on effect on your supply chain. The less notice you give your suppliers, the less likely they are to be able to support you. This can mean higher costs, more complicated arrangements and, in the worst case, no stage. A show that has not confirmed its site with only a few months to go is already close to the point where planning cannot be done properly.
What to submit, and how
Where possible, submit a full set of Event Safety Management Plans well ahead of the meeting. Some information will inevitably remain unconfirmed, and that is fine. It is better to present as comprehensive a plan as you can, than to hold everything back until it is perfect. Giving panel members time to read the documents before the meeting means the conversation can hold substance.
Your submission will typically cover the event’s capacity and audience profile, the site plan, crowd management arrangements, emergency procedures and egress, medical provision, traffic and transport management, noise management, and the arrangements for temporary structures. Where structures are involved, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 may apply. The SAG will expect to see that design, installation and inspection arrangements are considered.
Above all, the plan has to reflect your actual event. A plan that is last year’s event with the date changed, or a generic template with your logo will be obvious to experienced panel members. Different sites present different challenges. If your documents do not show that you have thought about your event specifically, the panel has little reason to trust the rest of the plan.
Prepare a presentation and your questions
Many organisers send documents and then turn up to the meeting expecting to answer questions. A stronger approach is to prepare a short presentation that covers the points the panel will most want to hear about: capacities, emergency egress, noise management, etc.
A presentation keeps you in control of how the event is introduced, shows the panel that you have thought the event through, and tends to answer many questions before they are asked.
Just as importantly, prepare your own questions. This is the part most organisers overlook. A SAG is a rare opportunity to ask the people who will be involved in your event what they think and what they need. What is the local authority’s position on a particular issue? What does the police view of the road closure look like? What mutual aid arrangements exist if things become difficult on site? Safety depends on dialogue between the event and the local authority. Events affect the surrounding area and draw on local resources when things go wrong,. The people who control those resources should hear about your event from you, in person, before event day.
Speak the same language as the emergency services
There is often a gap in shared understanding between the emergency services and the event management team. Event teams usually know little about public order policing, and many police officers don’t have a detailed picture of how events manage crowds. Each emergency service has its own operating methodology, and so does the event itself.
That is why frameworks like JESIP (the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles) exist. The SAG meeting is a good place to check that the way you intend to work with the emergency services matches the way they intend to work with you. If your plan refers to a command structure or a way of communicating that the services do not recognise, it is better to find out in a meeting room than in an emergency.
After the meeting
A SAG meeting rarely ends with a clean sign-off. More often it ends with a list of actions, questions that need a written answer and points that need further detail. Record these properly, assign each one to a named person, and respond promptly and in writing. Closing out actions quickly shows that you take the process seriously and builds the confidence of the people who will be scrutinising your event again next year.
Keep the relationship going between meetings as well. A short update when something material changes is far better received than a surprise at the final meeting. The events that go well are almost always the ones where the relationships were built before event day.
Finally, test the plans you have presented. A plan the SAG has reviewed is only useful if your team can put it into practice. A tabletop exercise is an effective way of finding the gaps before the event is live. Working through a scenario based on your own event plans shows where your resourcing is thin, and where your management team has not yet read the documents they are relying on.
Common mistakes to avoid
The mistakes we see most often are the same. Organisers submit late, or submit documents that clearly describe a different event. They treat the meeting as a test to be endured rather than an opportunity for conversation. They arrive without questions, or without anyone who can answer the panel’s questions in detail. They promise things in the meeting without checking whether they are deliverable, and let actions drift afterwards. Each of these is avoidable with preparation and a little humility about how much the people on the panel can help.
Make the SAG work for you
A well-run SAG process is not an obstacle to a good event. It is part of how good events get delivered safely.
If you would like support with preparing for a Safety Advisory Group, we can help. Get in touch here.
Share Post