New Government Good Practice Safety Guide Out!

Good Practice Safety Guide For Small and Sporting events taking place on the highway, roads and public places.

A new government document with direct relevance for cycling events has been published. The Good Practice Safety Guide For Small and Sporting events taking place on the highway, roads and public places came out on Friday 25 August.

Background:

In his report on the Hillsborough Disaster, Lord Justice Taylor stated that in the context of events, "safety transcends all other issues". Although his report focussed on sports grounds, it is clear that the majority of public events occur outside of stadiums and places of public entertainment and his comments remain applicable to these other events where members of the public gather for sporting or other recreational purposes.

To address the safety of events outside of stadiums or sports grounds and other regular public events, a working group was established to draw up event safety procedures. This working group was made up of representatives from the Home Office, Department for Transport, Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Health and Safety Executive, Local Government Association, Association of Chief Police Officers and UK Sport.

A Guide has now been published by this group, in consultation with the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and COSLA on the planning and organisation of events. The Guide gives general advice on how to notify an event, the responsibilities of an organiser, the risk assessment procedure, the safety measures that are available, and a planning timescale. It contains specific advice on a range of activities, and events, including Time Trials and Road Racing.

British Cycling's Response:

Peter King, British Cycling's CEO commented

"We are delighted the Good Practice Safety Guide For Small and Sporting events has finally been approved and published by the Home Office as the report's elements related to cycle racing have been part of British Cycling's road-race requirements for many years. We welcome the opportunity to take more responsibility for the safety and control of our sport which will be the outcome of the acceptance by police authorities of the content of the Guidance and its implementation with the cooperation of Local Authorities."

"The use of the highway for cycling events remains a difficult area, and we have been pursuing some legislative changes for some time to bring them into line with current traffic conditions and circumstances of cycle sport. We support the proposed amendments to the legislation which deals with cycle racing on the highways as these will re-in force the Guidance and give us more control over our sport. We will continue to pursue simplified road closure methods along with the accreditation of marshals to control traffic which, again with the publication of the guidance, should now prove less problematic."

Download a copy here (1.3mb pdf) >>>>