Step Up Your Winter Event Safety: A Guide to Pedestrian Planning

Pedestrian safety is a crucial aspect of any event, but it becomes even more important during winter events due to the increased chance of slips, trips, and falls. The reduced visibility caused by shorter daylight hours can also make it harder for drivers to see pedestrians.

By taking proactive measures to reduce hazards, organisers can significantly reduce the likelihood of accidents and injuries.

Ensuring a safe environment will not only protect attendees but also enhance their overall experience, leading to positive feedback and increased attendance in future events.

1. Assess your site requirements

Before any event, conduct a thorough site assessment to identify potential hazards and risks that could affect pedestrian safety.

This assessment should include a checklist of potential obstacles, such as uneven walkways, areas prone to ice build-up, inadequate lighting and car parks that may become wet and boggy.

2. Coordinate with Local Authorities

Collaborating with local authorities is important to obtain the necessary permits and permissions for your event.

This may include important aspects such as road closures, parking arrangements, and security measures.

It's also essential to provide local authorities with all of the event details, including expected attendance numbers, event schedules, as this will allow them to allocate resources efficiently.

3. Designate clear walkways

Clearly marked designated walkways guide attendees and prevent pedestrians from walking into hazardous areas.

This can be through a combination of well-placed barriers and signage to indicate where pedestrians should walk.

We can also provide highly trained traffic management operatives to assist the public should they encounter any issues during your event, as well as providing temporary crossing systems to facilitate safe passage for pedestrians.

4. Consider flooring options

Trakway provides a practical and adaptable solution for events. In particular, lightweight flooring options are designed to be effortlessly manoeuvrable throughout the site, ensuring you can adapt to changing requirements with ease. These are particularly helpful in adverse winter weather conditions, offering stability and mobility when you need it most.

Euromats are ideal for pedestrians and accommodating lightweight vehicles. They serve as an effective wet weather solution, preventing mud and moisture from causing inconvenience and ensuring a clean and accessible environment for event attendees.

Additionally, Supatrac flooring helps keep pedestrians' shoes clean and minimises the risk of slips, trips, and falls.

Whether your event permit requires you to have vehicle access for your roads, temporary car parks to reduce vehicles getting stuck in mud and congestion, or you just want to create a safe surface for pedestrians to walk, we can visit your site to provide you with the best options available

5. Implement crowd control measures

No matter the size of your event, implementing crowd control measures and vehicle zones with equipment such as barriers and fencing can guide attendees, prevent overcrowding and improve pedestrian safety.

It’s important to have the knowledge to highlight where barriers could avoid a potential issue. At Sunbelt Rentals, we can help to proactively communicate any pinch points that may cause congestion from restricted flow of pedestrians.

6. Use Effective Lighting

Effective lighting is paramount for night-time events, ensuring attendees have adequate visibility.

Placing emphasis on illuminating walkways and entrances with strategically positioned lights or illuminated signage is key to facilitating safe navigation of attendees. Poor lighting significantly hampers visibility, creating an environment ripe for accidents.

Unevenly lit spaces can conceal hazards, leading to slips, trips, and falls, which account for a substantial portion of accidents at an event.

We offer a wide range of environmentally friendly tower lights, including hybrid and fully solar-powered units. Our range of self charging, battery and solar hybrid tower light units are particularly effective as they can operate silently throughout the night and can significantly reduce your reliance on and costs associated with fuel.

7. Provide Adequate Signage

Clear and effective signage is indispensable for guiding attendees and alerting them to potential hazards. These signs should use simple language, incorporate symbols and graphics for enhanced understanding, and be positioned where they are highly visible – such as walkways and entrances.

Variable Message Signs (VMS) are designed to offer heightened visibility, user-friendly interfaces, and adaptability to diverse weather and terrain conditions. These versatile signs serve multiple purposes, including the communication of time-critical messages, with the added flexibility of pre-programmed message changes.

8. Enhance Site Safety

With the challenging weather conditions in winter, safeguarding attendees becomes even more crucial. These include two-way radios for instant communication, body-worn cameras as deterrents and incident recorders, nationwide press-to-talk functionality, and emergency buttons. Our CCTV systems enable real-time monitoring to proactively identify and mitigate safety risks.

9. Speak to our team today

We understand the challenges of planning and organising events – no matter the scale. Coordinating with stakeholders, following procedures and prioritising the safety of workers and the public are our top priorities. We offer a comprehensive one stop shop solution, guaranteeing efficient and effective deployment of equipment and solutions.

With our 360 Solutions, you can benefit from a single point of contact throughout our partnership. Our decades of experience ensures we bring detailed plans and expertise to tackle even the most complex projects. Contact us today.