RISK ASSESSMENT

The level of service that your event needs is based on the risk level and the number of people required. Your coverage may include volunteer first aiders, medical professionals, ambulance services or a combination of these.

Risk is a function of likelihood of an incident occuring and the potential outcomes. For example, large festivals genberally have a high incidence of first aid treatments but a low level of potential harm. Motorsports have a high potential harm but low rates of first aid incidents.

Risk can also be affected by harm education and injury prevention. This includes good OH&S standards and having services for patrons which reduce the likelihood of injury or illness such as free water or sunscreen and enough shade.

The risk matrix can be used to show the relative risk of an event:

Outcome à

Likelihood ↓

Minor Injury (1)

Moderate Injury (2)

Serious Injury (3)

Critical Injury (4)

Life Threat (5)

Very Unlikely (1)

1

2

3

4

5

Unlikely  (2)        

2

4

6

8

10

Probable(3)

3

6

9

12

15

Likely (4)

4

8

12

16

20

Very Likely(5)

5

10

15

20

25

 

Low Risk

Moderate Risk

High Risk

 

As a rough guide, UniMed recommends the following coverage levels.

 

Risk Level

First Aid Personnel

Ambulances

Low

1 per 3000

Not required

Moderate

1 per 1000

1 per 10000

High

1 per 500

1 per 5000

 

However, issues such as event size, geography and access to services will affect the actual number of medical services required.

A number of services exist to cater for these different levels of coverage required. As part of your event management process, you need to consider which type of service will meet your needs.

Staff for events come in two types: volunteer and commercial. Please note that the opposite of volunteer is not professional. Professional is a term used to express an organisation's standards of practice. It is up to the client to determine whether they consider a service professional enough or not for their needs.

Volunteer services will tend to be cheaper as their donation or service fee will not cover any labour. They will tend to charge or request an amount to cover their costs only. Commercial services are commercial enterprises who must make a profit and pay wages, and will charge accordingly, however, there is a stronger commercial accountability by having paid staff. The choice is ultimately up to the consumer of these health services, so it pays to shop around and determine what service gives the best coverage for the money paid or donated AND which service (or combination of services) will provide the most appropriate level of care for the risk and number of persons involved.

Revised: September 15, 2005
Direct comments and questions to:
UniMed First Aid