Making your actions safe and accessible

Lots of activities that take place during voluntary and community events don’t need any licence, including a small group meeting with an MP.

If you’re organising a local march, tell the police in writing at least six days prior. You must inform them of the date and time, the route, and your name and address. If you arrange a march with less than six days' notice, you must still tell the police as soon as you can. 

You’ll be responsible for the safety of attendees at your event. Looking after people’s safety at events is largely about taking simple, sensible precautions. Health and safety law does not, generally, impose duties outside of the workplace. In most cases, all you need to do is consider realistically what could potentially go wrong, what effect this could have on those present, and what you need to do to prevent it. 

Ask yourself:

• How will people get to the event? Make sure your publicity gives details of public transport and parking. 
• Do you need to put up signs on the surrounding roads to make the event easier to find? 
• What are the risks, high or low, of somebody being harmed by a hazard, and how serious could the harm be? 
• How could accidents happen and who might be harmed? 

For example:

• Ensure that any under-16s are accompanied by an adult. 
• Ensure that you and other attendees are never alone with a child or a vulnerable adult. 
• Attendees are alerted to any photography taking place.  

Think about: 

• The layout of the event to ensure people and vehicles can move about safely. 
• The number of people attending the event, for example, managing entrances and exits to prevent overcrowding. 
• First aid arrangements. 
• Are the fire exits obvious and/or clearly signposted; are there enough exits to let everyone, including anyone who may be disabled or particularly vulnerable, leave quickly and easily in the event of a fire? 
• Is there suitable access for the emergency services?

• There is no law that says you must buy insurance for a voluntary or community event – but you might want to make sure you are covered in case something goes wrong, and someone makes a claim against you. Having public liability insurance may give you peace of mind, but it’s good planning, not insurance that stops things going wrong.  
• Find out more about event insurance with the Association of British Insurers’ ‘Celebrate – An ABI guide to planning an event’.  

Please note, any event you organise in support of taking action for nature using this toolkit will not be insured by us.

Making sure your events are inclusive and accessible is not only important for its own sake, but also to make events as far reaching and impactful as possible. So, while running your event, be conscious of who you're speaking to and who's showing up to events.  

Here's a basic checklist of the most important parts of this page. You can use this while you’re planning your events:

1. Identify potential safety risks and work out ways to prevent them. 
2. Identify a plan of action for emergencies. 
3. Decide whether you need insurance and buy it if so. 
4. Think about how to make your event as accessible as possible.