May/June 2021

PEOPLE
Behind the Scenes with…
Eddy Grant
How lead safety officer
Eddy Grant managed
6,000 partygoers at a
Liverpool warehouse as
part of the government’s
Covid-19 Event Research
Programme
AS LEGAL and safety consultant for safety
management company Symphotech, it was my
job to check everyone involved with the pilot
nightclub event held at Liverpool's Bramley-
Moore Dock was doing theirs. Luckily for me
everyone was on their A game, even the public,
God bless them!
The event was organised by Circus Music and
produced by The Events Company UK, both
of whom are brilliant and I have longstanding
relationships with. ‘The First Dance’ nights ran
over two days, welcoming 6,000 clubbers with
no Covid restrictions – no masks and no social
distancing, just a negative Covid test.
Obviously we had a lot of liaising to do with
the local authority in Liverpool and the relevant
agencies to create the safest event possible while
setting up the ‘experiment’ so the data could be
collected – the purpose of these pilot events.
Liverpool was chosen as both Culture
Liverpool and the council are ‘event friendly’ and
understand the mindset needed. They still want
all the test certificates etc. emailed to them on
the day (luckily I have a great logging system on
my phone) but they have confidence that we can
deliver safe events. Liverpool has also been at
the forefront of Covid-19 testing and research,
and the public has been really on board with
voluntary studies.
On the day of the first event, I arrive on site
at 9am, having been there the day before going
through everything. Because of Covid, loading
was done over 10 days, rather than just one, but
the stage is built and the infrastructure in place.
My first job is to go through the essentials
with the site management team. It’s boring but
essential. Things like, are the fire extinguishers
out and where are the lights going. Then it is
time to place the social distancing dots outside
of the venue, where Covid restrictions still apply.
In the meticulous way promoter Circus likes to
do things, the dots are as beautiful as they can
possibly be – exactly 2m apart and 2m from the
kerb, snaking 200m from the venue. They look
great!
It’s soon 12pm and we have the first inspection
by the covid compliance office. The bar staff etc.
are not part of the experiment so they still need
to wear masks and abide by Covid restrictions
and the officer is suitably impressed that we have
everything in control.
Then the full joint agencies turn up to inspect
and see the security teams are briefed by Titan
Risk Management and then us. We show the
agencies and every member of staff how the
alarm sounds and how the strobe alert lights
work. We also ensure systems such as the
isolating relay works, turning off the DJ when the
alarm sounds. We also check all the house lights.
Merseyside Police attached an officer to us,
which shows yet another level of care Liverpool
extends to the event. There have been anti
vaccination protests in the city and we are made
aware of where they are as they move and if they
are likely to affect us.
At 1.30pm we start the process of getting ready
for doors. We check even the obvious things – is
there a DJ, pyro guy, lasers, medical, etc. We
go through everything – the whole process of
the event and then give the ‘good to go’ to Sam
CIRCUS/JODY HARTLEY
CIRCUS/JODY HARTLEY
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