Overview of the Australian Health and Safety Laws - Essay Example

?Introduction to Business Law Executive Summary This discussion stresses upon the functions which are generally performed by the event managers in making a specific event successful, as well as determining the applicable legal regulations concerning health and safety aspects of the audiences and other stakeholders. The success or failure of a particular event or a concert largely depends upon an event manager. An event manager is mainly accountable for planning an event preparing effective safety measures and ensuring appropriate coordination with the staff for successful completion of an event. Managers need to remain increasingly concerned about the occurrences of any harmful incidents during the event. For instance, a court might consider several aspects if there occurs a harmful incident due to lack of air-conditioning facilities at the concert as can be witnessed with reference to the incident of Madonna’s concert in the UK recently. The aspects may include complying with the legal rules as well as regulations and making essential approvals relating to the concert. The various responsibilities of a safety manager at Madonna’s concert in Australia would be to construct a safe venue for the viewers or the audiences, offering ample space to the viewers for free movement which in turn shall also render them a comfortable space to enjoy the show without disruptions and appropriately managing the people including the working staffs. Moreover, the other significant role of a safety manager is to monitor various safety aspects for the conduct of an event which includes electrical systems, fire prevention tools and accumulation of surface water among others. Hence, the scope in relation to the duties of an event manager is considered to be quite broader as the manager is entitled with various responsibilities to be performed since the initiation till the completion of the event. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 1.Introduction 4 2.Event Context 5 3.Legal Issues 7 3.1.Overview of the Australian Health and Safety Laws 7 3.2.Legal Considerations 9 5. Recommendations 9 6. Conclusion 11 References 12 1. Introduction As to a recent instance regarding Madonna, it has been viewed that Madonna’s concert has significantly raised tremendous issue relating to health and safety. The demands of Madonna had ultimately resulted in generating huge troubles with health and safety officials concerning the event. The issue was regarding the impediment of air-conditioning as one of the prime demands of Madonna. With reference to the challenges witnessed during this concert, it can be effectively noted that it is quite necessary to manage a particular event or a concert which would emphasise upon looking after the interests of both the artists and the viewers. In order to organize and manage the similar event with Madonna in Australia, laws pertinent with health and safety would be the topmost concern. In this discussion, a detailed report advising Madonna and her management on various legal matters will be taken into concern. The different matters would include determining the appropriate authorities in Australia who are responsible for maintaining the efficiency of event management in relation to health and safety. Moreover, identification of certain matters that a court might consider when analyzing the likelihood of an occurrence of a harmful incident due to lack of air-conditioning facilities at the concert will be discussed. Various aspects such as the work of a safety manager relating to a musical concert, carrying out various safety checks and the duties of a safety manager prior to, during and immediately after the concert will also be portrayed in the discussion. 2. Event Context The nature of the proposed event is about organising a musical concert in Australia for entertainment. The chief artist of the concert would be the famous singer, actress, dancer as well as songwriter, Madonna. The event would likely be held in Australia’s one of the premium indoor venue i.e. ‘Brisbane Entertainment Centre’ which posses the capability of accommodating 13,500 attendees at a particular time. According to the report published by ‘Australian Bureau of Statistics’, it has been found that a considerable number of people i.e. nearly 4 million of viewers aged 15 years and above attended popular music concerts in Australia in a single year. The report also revealed that the attendance of these viewers escalated significantly during popular music concerts in Australia (Australia Council for the Arts, 2012). On the basis of the aforementioned discussion, it is to be stated that the proposed event would be targeted especially towards the viewers who belong to the age group of 15 years and above. As the main artist of the proposed event would be Madonna, it is expected that the viewers belonging to higher age groups will be more attracted and the event might turn out to be a success attaining its pre-planned aims. In relation to the political features associated with the proposed event, there prevails a necessity to consult the local government where the event will be taking place. For the proposed event, one of the major political features would be to confer with the ‘Brisbane City Council’ which is regarded to be amongst the biggest local councils in terms of the population covered. The reason of consulting the local government or the council is to acquire specific approvals relating to the proposed event. The various approvals relate to noise regulation, land or venue use, application of food or drink outlets and building impermanent structures among others. Moreover, the local government or a council plays an extensive role while organising any sort of events such as a musical concert. The government or the council is also believed to possess the responsibility to make sure of the facts that the event involves minimum degree of harm as well as inconvenience towards the community at large (Government of Western Australia, 2009). With regard to the socio-cultural features, it is to be stated that the success or failure of any event whether a music concert, dance show or art exhibition largely depends upon the significant factor of socio-cultural impacts. In this regard it can be mentioned that in order to accomplish success, the proposed event would be conducted on the basis of the experiences and socio-cultural preferences as well as behavioural attitudes of the local residents, policy-makers and local entrepreneurs belonging to the Brisbane, Australia. The socio-cultural feature in relation to any event tends to impose significant impact upon the facets of community development, attracting the viewers towards the event and different event related infrastructures as well (Mikkonen & Pasanen, 2010). In relation to the issue about health and safety, a recent history or an example of a musical performance which was performed by the renowned celebrities like Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney can be taken into account. It has been viewed that a curfew was placed as a consequence of safety issues following the event. The musical show was licensed up to three-hour programme schedule but it was exceeded and, consequently, the programme had to be stopped. According to the event organizers, the curfew was placed for the interest of the health and safety of the public as it was observed that they were becoming quite uncontrollable as the show was going on (The Telegraph, 2012). 3. Legal Issues 3.1. Overview of the Australian Health and Safety Laws An event manger is generally considered to be responsible for organising as well as managing a particular event. The responsibilities of an event manager include resourcing, managing human resources, negotiating, ensuring the effective utilisation of resources and ensuring excellent public responses (Government of Western Australia, n.d.). In order to organise a musical concert starring Madonna in Australia, it is the event manager who will be liable for maintaining the law of health and safety towards the public along with the staffs attending this concert. While organising the concert, which will be conducted in the month of December of this year, i.e. 2012 in Brisbane, the event manager would require obtaining adequate knowledge regarding the health and safety issues. This is fundamentally owing to the fact that the specific demand of Madonna for refusing to avail the facility of air-conditioning system in one of her concerts brought serious trouble with regard to health and safety issues. While performing in a concert, Madonna demanded to impede the functioning of the air-conditioners for the benefit of her vocal chords. Consequently, this demand of Madonna raised inevitable issues regarding the health and safety aspect of the public along with the staffs attending the concert when fans were examined to get fainted due to the non-functioning of the air-conditioners and subsequent high temperature (Bryant, 2006). After experiencing the issues associated with health and safety, it can be considered to be quite essential for an event manager to comply with the applicable rules prevailing in Australia for the purpose of organising the concert of Madonna in Brisbane city. According to the legislative framework of ‘Occupational Health and Safety’ (OHS) as per the Australian jurisdictions, the legal requirements for organising an event include complying a mandatory principal act, lawful regulations and standard practices. The inherent principal acts as well as regulations are chiefly enforced by the applicable government departments which emphasises upon the purpose of ensuring the actuality that the people present during the events or workplaces should not suffer any sort of injuries or illnesses. Moreover, the standard practices are usually formulated by Standards Australia on the basis of their discussion with other international standard bodies, as well as the other allied parties of Australia. Recently, it has been observed that the workplace based health and safety issues have emerged as a prime concern for both the business organisations and the event managers of Australia. In this regard, it is to be mentioned that the event management organisations as well as other business enterprises are increasingly focusing upon the harmonisation of the laws associated with health and safety in the workplace with the intention of improving the security of the staffs as well as the public while performing any activities in the workplace (AEIA, 2004). Additionally, the event manager would also need to abide by the guidelines mentioned in “New South Wales (NSW) Work Health and Safety Legislation” while organising the intended concert in Australia. This particular law tends to generate greater clarity, certainty as well as consistency across Australia which ultimately makes it simple to understand workplace based health and safety related matters. According to Section 1 (10), the prime intention of this law is to deliver a well-balanced framework for protecting health and ensuring safety of the staffs with the implementation of appropriate as well as effectual enforcement measures (NSW Government, 2011). It is worth mentioning in this context that the notion of exclusion clause within a contract represents the fact that one party belonging to the contract will not be liable for any kind of happenings (Legal Services Commission of South Australia, n.d). The ‘Occupational Health and Safety’ (OHS) law belonging to the jurisdictions of Federal Court of Australia can be applied for the concert of Madonna in Australia which will be conducted in the last month of this year, i.e. 2012. This current law would affect the staging of the concert of Madonna by making necessary approvals. The approvals include public building under the Health Act 1911, planning as well as noise regulation approval (Government of Western Australia, 2009). 3.2. Legal Considerations A court might consider several significant aspects if there exists chances for an occurrence of a harmful incident due to lack of air-conditioning facilities at the concert. This is owing to the fact that certain negative consequences can result because of improper arrangements of air-conditioning facility. The negative outcomes might include disturbing the health of the viewers and endangering their security which can even lead towards death. One of the crucial aspects that a court might consider is about complying with the requirements of the legislative framework dealing with health and safety issues of a particular nation where the event or a concert is going to be held. For instance, if a concert is going to be held in Australia and if any unfavourable incident is reported due to lack of air-conditioning system, the court will investigate regarding the proper compliance of the lawful requirements as performed by the concerned event team based on Australian health and safety related laws and regulations. Moreover, the court will also consider the issue that whether necessary approvals were acquired by the team as it is considered to be a fundamental criterion or norm while organising a specific event such as a concert. The approvals may entail the aspect of obtaining permission from the local government or council to conduct the event, noise regulations and most importantly land or venue usage (Government of Western Australia, 2009). 5. Recommendations The tasks entitled for an event manager as well as the entire event management team at Madonna’s concert in Australia would be countless. With respect to Madonna’s demand, a contract will be created with Madonna in which all her demands concerning the usage of air-conditioning as well as the ambience for her dressing rooms would be mentioned. In relation to one of the major demands of Madonna regarding the usage of air-conditioning, the event manager should be designing the stage in such a way so that there lay ineffective operation of air-conditioning which would ultimately restrict the vocal chords of Madonna to get affected. Moreover, the event manager should organise different settings for Madonna where all her demands can be easily fulfilled without bringing any sort of trouble to the management staffs or her companions. From the perspective of the viewers or the audiences, the event manager would have to remain much concerned about the sitting capacity of the viewers in order to prevent from any sort of trouble concerning their health and safety owing to the minimisation in the numbers of air-conditioning machines. In relation to the usage of the air-conditioning systems, the event manager along with the team should implement the air-conditioners leaving much space from the stage of Madonna so that the interests of both the audiences and the celebrity are secured (Government of Western Australia, 2009). On the basis of the legal perspective, an event manager can improve each of the aforementioned situations or cases by approving valid licenses along with permissions from respective local council or any other statutory agencies. Moreover, the event organisers should discuss with the local government in order to verify all the needed approvals for the area or the venue where the event would be held. For instance, in order to organise the event of Madonna in Australia, an event manager would have to approve valid licenses in accordance with the legislative requirements of NSW (Government of Western Australia, 2009). In relation to carry out safety checks, an event organiser must offer a secured operational atmosphere to its spectators. In order to provide a safe operational environment, an event organiser would have to remain much concerned about the structure of venue, the factor of over crowdedness and the presence of different materials like fire-extinguishers along with other safety tools. The duties of an event manager prior to the concert include licensing and approvals. During the concert, the duties would be managing people and the deliverance of structural safety measures. At the end of the concert, an event manager would have to perform event debrief with every stakeholder related with the concert. The various duties of an event manager that can be advised to the staff at the concert comprise maintaining lawful guidelines, budgeting, managing people, selling of tickets and programme design among others (Government of Western Australia, 2009). 6. Conclusion The success or the failure of an event broadly depends upon the concerned team as well as the organiser by a large extent. It is quite important for the event management team as well as the event organisers to abide by the lawful requirements of the local government or council abiding by the specified rules and regulations pertaining to the aspect of health and safety. In this regard, the safety managers are considered to be mainly responsible for carrying out different safety measures as well as checkouts for the purpose of conducting a smooth and safe event. Hence, the duties of the event managers are measured to be quite broad as they play an imperative part prior to, during and immediately after the concert by a significant extent. References AEIA, 2004. Employer Guide to Occupational Health and Safety. Document. [Online] Available at: http://www.liveperformance.com.au/site/_content/document/00000036-source.pdf [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Australia Council for the Arts, 2012. Attendance at Music Concerts. Resources. [Online] Available at: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/resources/reports_and_publications/artforms/music/attendance_at_music_concerts [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Bryant, T., 2006. Madonna's Diva Demands Overruled By Health and Safety. TV & Showbiz. [Online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-399139/Madonnas-diva-demands-overruled-health-safety.html [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Dublin City Council, 2012. Guidelines for Event Organisers. Documents. [Online] Available at: http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/Events/Documents/DCCEventOrganiserGuidance.pdf [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Government of Western Australia, 2009. Guidelines for Concerts, Events and Organized Gatherings. Publications. [Online] Available at: https://www.rgl.wa.gov.au/ResourceFiles/Publications/EventsGuide2009.pdf [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Government of Western Australia, No Date. Event Management Plan Checklist and Guide. Files. [Online] Available at: http://www.gdc.wa.gov.au/uploads/files/Event%20Management%20Plan%20-%20GDC%20Toolkit.pdf [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Legal Services Commission of South Australia, No Date. Exclusion Clauses. Contracts. [Online] Available at: http://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch08s02s06.php [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Mikkonen, J. & Pasanen, K., 2010. Economic and Socio-Cultural Impacts of Two Leading Cultural Festivals of Savonlinna. Files. [Online] Available at: http://www.eventsandfestivalsresearch.com/files/proceedings/Mikkonen_Pasanen_FINAL.pdf [Accessed August 30, 2012]. NSW Government, 2011. Introduction. Work Health and Safety Act 2011 No 10. [Online] Available at: http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/inforcepdf/2011-10.pdf?id=f8df8095-a335-66a0-8828-f33d06042cb9 [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Shone, A. & Parry, B., 2004. Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook. Cengage Learning EMEA. The Telegraph, 2012. Springsteen Gig Closure 'Unfairly Blamed On Health And Safety'. Music. [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9405323/Springsteen-gig-closure-unfairly-blamed-on-health-and-safety.html [Accessed August 30, 2012]. Read More