Events and Venues Toolkit

From safety planning and risk assessments to staff briefings, training checklists, and compliance templates, the DSC Events & Venues Toolkit is your essential guide to delivering safer, smarter, and legally prepared events.

Built with Martyn’s Law in mind but also covering holistic risks, this practical, ready-to-use resource is tailored for Responsible Persons, organisers, and venue managers at all levels, including grassroots and community-led events up to mainstream commercial organisations. Everything you need to get started. See here for a preview of the contents pages: Contents – DSC Events and Venues Toolkit 3rd Edition

Pay £15 to order your toolkit or £24 for the resource bundle.

Overview of DSC Events and Venues Toolkit

Background and Context

The Decision Support Centre (DSC) Toolkit has been created as a comprehensive and practical guide for venues, events and organisations that need to prepare for, respond to and recover from a wide range of security and safety incidents.

The DSC Toolkit is a proactive, supportive resource designed to empower venues, event organisers and Responsible Persons to meet these obligations in a practical, cost-effective and confident manner.

At a time when the events and hospitality sectors are under growing scrutiny and pressure to meet new regulatory standards, the Toolkit enables organisations of all sizes, from grassroots community events to large-scale stadiums, to embed a culture of preparedness and responsibility.

Toolkit Scope and Structure

The DSC Toolkit is divided into modular chapters covering all key aspects of event safety, including tailored guidance and templates for both the Standard and Enhanced Tiers (pending and subject to formal guidance from the Home Office). Each section is written in accessible language and designed to scale according to the nature and capacity of the venue or event.

Key Chapters Include:

Compliance Support: A roadmap to readiness, including checklists, risk assessment templates and business continuity planning tools.
Responsible Person: Detailed guidance on legal duties, documentation and liaison with authorities, framed using the ‘reasonable and practical’ approach.
Training Framework: Structured learning plans, delivery methods and readiness tools including ACT awareness, crowd safety and emergency drills.
Communication Planning: A practical template covering internal and external communications before, during and after incidents.
Technical and Physical Security: Low-cost, high-impact recommendations suitable for all venue types, from lighting and CCTV to crowd control and access management.
Incident Response Playbooks: Scenario-based action plans for threats ranging from suspicious items and hostile vehicles to mass casualty incidents and adverse weather.
Policies and Documentation: Ready-to-use templates for reporting, staff briefing, audits and GDPR compliance.
Multi-agency Coordination: Guidance for working with emergency services, transferring primacy and documenting shared responsibilities.
Safety Advisory Groups (SAGs and ESAGs)
Directors and Officers Insurance: A primer on D&O coverage to protect leadership in a compliance-driven environment.

Application and Benefits

The Toolkit is intended for immediate adoption and practical use across the public, private and third sectors.

It simplifies and presents event safety obligations in step-by-step actions supported by checklists, examples and links to trusted third-party resources (e.g: ProtectUK, JESIP, NaCTSO, HSE).

Key benefits include:

A standardised approach to risk and security planning.
Cost-effective resources suitable for budget-sensitive organisations.
Increased staff and volunteer preparedness.
Demonstrable due diligence ahead of regulatory inspections.
Integration with the National Events Database (NED) and the Decision Support Centre monitoring service, offering further layers of safety and support.