At Reading they do ask for volunteers to pick up rubbish and glass from the camp site, and these people will be rewarded with alcohol in the arena, this can stop people from tripping over glass or stepping over broken glasses. And security guards are patrolling to stop people getting into fights or throw bottles around.
Ropes on the tents
Ropes on the tents are often being tripped over, especially at night when it is hard to see, although no major damage is caused by the hazard event, unless there are sharp object on the ground as the person is tripped over.
There are foot paths that cut across the camp site, so people don’t have to go around the tents as much, but there is not sufficient amount of foot paths.
Portable gas cookers
Many people bring gas cookers with them so that they can cook food such as noodles or boil water. But at night when visibility is poor, especially after consuming alcohol, using a gas cooker can easily cause minor burnt or if dropped on grass, can cause fire.
There are many food stances at the festival, and most of them open 24 hours, therefore people shouldn’t really need to bring any gas cooker with them in the first place. And if anything does happen, fire engine should get there within minutes.
Drugs
Drugs are a huge problem at Reading festival, when police did random search last year 164 people found possession of illegal drugs. When people do drugs such as pills, when they leave pills around and children can get access to them easily, which is extremely dangerous. Also if they use needles, leaving needles around can also cause harm to those who step over them. Not only to others, but doing drugs do many damage to the person him/herself, if the person is over dosed that is highly dangerous.
If children get access to pills, that could cause sickness and if the amount is high, can be fatal. Needles can cause minor cuts, but if it went in deep inside someone, will need immediate treatment. And if people over dosed on drugs, they either need immediate treatment or it can also be fatal.
Electrical products
Many people bring electrical products such as portable stereo with them, which can be a hazard during rainy days. If water gets into the electrical product it can electrocute the person using it, but the likelihood of this and the damage caused by this is very small. There is no restriction or warning sign about electric goods at the festival.
Sun burn
The festival is based on a huge camp site, which means audience will be exposed to the sun during most of the time, especially when the time of the festival is in August, the chance of sun burn is extremely likely if no anti-sun lotion is used.
There are anti-sun lotions for sale at the site if audience forgot to bring any.
Alcohol
Alcohol is dangerous if not careful. If drink too much it can cause alcohol poisoning, which can be fatal. It is also a flammable liquid, so if people throw it in the camp fire it can cause fire hazard.
Unfortunately there is no restriction and limitation on alcohol, since it is one of the main incomes for the festival. The ambulance van at the entrance should be able to take care of alcohol poisoning patient for a period of time before proper treatment is available.
Metal objects
Majority of the audience are alternative music listeners, and these people tends to wear a lot of metal objects on them, such as chains, spikes, and pointy rings, which can be used as weapons. Also since there are no searching before entering the festival, people can bring in knives very easily, which can cause a lot of damage if the person in possession of it is aggressive.
When listen to alternative music, audience tends to jump against each other, which called a mosh pit, which is dangerous when people are wearing metal spikes and metal rings. Every year at Reading Festival there are audiences that cut by other people’s spikes and piercing
Reading Festival currently has no search against carrying weapons into the festival and has no restriction on wearing metal decoration.
Plastic bags
Many people go to the town centre in Reading to buy food and alcohol; hence there is large number of plastic bags lying around the camp site. They can cause people to slip, especially at night when people cannot see, although tripping over would only cause minor injuries. Bags can suffocate young children and baby, which can cause fatal damage if it happens.
As before, the festival has volunteers to collect rubbish from the camp site to keep it tidy.
Promotional products
During the festival, many companies give out free product sample to the audience, such as shampoo and other daily products. However, some people use these products to threw, or even play golf, at the camp site, which is extremely dangerous, since a small bottle of shampoo if it hits someone on the head it can cause serious damage.
Promotional products are one of Reading Festival’s incomes; therefore there are no restrictions on giving out promotional products.
Children
There are many children attended the festival, which they could be exposed to alcohol, sex and drugs during the festival, which is harmful to children. Although they must be accompanied by member of over 18 years of age, but they cannot ensure the safety of children throughout the whole 3 to 4 days of the festival.
Risk Value
I will assign number 1 to 10 for both likelihood and consequence, and the risk value for each agent would be the multiple of the likelihood factor and consequence factor. I would assign below 20 is acceptable, 21-35 is tolerable and over 35 is intolerable.
The likelihood factor, 1 to 3 would be very unlikely, 4 to 7 to be happens occasionally and 8 to 10 for happens regularly. As for the consequence factor, 1 to 3 would be small injuries up to first aid, 4 to 7 would be serious injuries, whereas 8 to 10 could cause fatal or multiple fatal damage.
Likelihood Factor:
Camp fire 3
No fence to separate the camp site 4
Glass bottles 9
Ropes on the tents 10
Portable gas cooker 4
Drugs (syringes, tablets) 8
Electrical Products 2
Sun burn 8
Alcohol 4
Metal objects (chains, rings, spikes) 7
Plastic bags 1
Promotional products 5
Children 5
Consequence Factor:
Camp fire 10
No fence to separate the camp site 7
Glass bottles 6
Ropes on the tents 1
Portable gas cooker 7
Drugs (syringes, tablets) 9
Electrical Products 3
Sun burn 2
Alcohol 8
Metal objects (chains, rings, spikes) 5
Plastic bags 8
Promotional products 6
Children 6
Risk Value:
Camp fire 30
No fence to separate the camp site 28
Glass bottles 54
Ropes on the tents 10
Portable gas cooker 28
Drugs (syringes, tablets) 72
Electrical Products 6
Sun burn 16
Alcohol 32
Metal objects (chains, rings, spikes) 35
Plastic bags 8
Promotional products 30
Children 30
Other than glass bottles and drugs, most of the other hazards are in the tolerable level; however, there are methods that could reduce those risks also.
Camp Fire
Camp fire should not be allowed, or only allow in certain area of the camp site, to reduce risk to minimum. For example if the centre of the camp site caught fire it takes the fire engine longer to arrive.
However, lack of lightings could cause audience to sleep early, in way the shops would lose sales due to lack of demand at night, which is very expensive for the food store since a lot of the customers buy food at night.
Fence
The festival should set up fence around the camp site from the woodland area, which shouldn’t be too expensive at all. Another method is having more security guard patrolling around the area, this method may be cheaper in the short run, but setting up fence is cheaper in the long run.
Portable cooker
Portable cooker should not be allowed, it causes fire hazard un-necessarily. There are enough food stores so people shouldn’t really need cooking. Another idea is, the festival can set up a tent providing hot water, however, this is expensive (the cost of setting up the tent and need people to run it and power to boil water) and the benefit from this is not significant enough for this to be worth while.
Alcohol
The whole festival is sponsored by Carling, therefore it would be impossible to stop serving alcohol. One thing the festival can do is to increase the price, therefore control the amount people can consume/afford, however, by doing so people might buy their alcohol in the Reading town instead, therefore it is best to leave it as it is.
Promotional products
The festival can easily restrict the content/packaging of the promotional products in the festival. For example shampoo, instead of having small plastic bottles they could use wrapper, which stops people from throwing them and cause damage to others. Paper wrapper cost less than plastic bottle therefore should be cheaper for the promoting companies to make.
Children
The festival should stop children under 18 years of age from entering, since children might be exposed to drugs and alcohol. Although they tend to stay with the family at camp site, but if they do enter the arena they could get injured easily, especially near the stages. Although by doing so, the sale of the ticket might drop, since some family might not want to leave children behind for 5 days or so, but this is worth considering because there is a ticket shortage every year, by doing so it might solve this problem too.
Glass bottles, drugs and weapons
The festival should have a guard by the entrance of the festival, stopping people from bringing glass bottles in, as they do that in another festival called Download Festival, there is a search before they let you enter, and you must empty all glass bottle products into a plastic bottle in order to bring into the festival, which is highly effective against people get injured by bottles or broken glass.
By carrying a search before entering the festival, this can also help to reduce drug problem, there could be police car at the entrance for immediate arrest. Therefore by playing a searching spot at the entrance, the festival could stop people from bringing in glass, drugs and weapon, which solve a lot of the safety issues.
Metal decorations
As the metal decorations, the festival should have limit on that. Chains and wrist bands are acceptable as long as no huge spikes attached to them. Spike collars and pointy rings should not be allowed since they often cause injuries both at the camp site and in the arena. However it is easier said than done, since people can always put them away and put them back on after they entered the camp site, it is more efficient if they check for spikes and pointy rings before they enter the arena or go near the stage.