News - Select Chilled Out At Life Festival

Select Security Group Ltd has secured Life Festival, Ireland for a second year running.

Life Festival, Ireland’s leading dance music event, took place in the last weekend of May in County Westmeath, Ireland. Having worked with the organisers at the 2008 event Select knew the events emphasis on customer service and a relaxed atmosphere which has made the event so popular over the last four years.

Select’s Management Team started on the event in February by visiting the venue for planning meetings and starting to construct a Crowd Management Plan. This had to be completely changed from the previous year’s event as the venue has moved to Ballinlough Castle 180 kilometres away.

Select supplies numerous services to the event including all Event Security and Crowd Management, Comprehensive CCTV Coverage, Traffic Management and Car Park Management. This holistic approach has enabled the organisers to achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction whilst reducing their operating costs significantly.

As the event was held over the May Bank Holiday weekend and coupled with the best weather in Ireland, the event saw a dramatic increase in attendance from 2008 resulting in the event being sold out by the Friday evening. Due to the increased numbers attending Select were asked to supply additional Event Stewards to ensure crowd safety. Andrew McQuillan, Director, explains:

“Once we established the level of attendance was in excess of the predicted level, we worked with the Safety Management Team onsite to work out how many additional staff would be required. This is not just a simple matter of bring staff to site. We had to expand our back office operation including additional radios, uniforms, food and accommodation at a couple of hours notice.

Thankfully we always meticulously plan for each event to ensure we cope with anything thrown at us. We instigated our well rehearsed plans and dispatched additional staff along with supplies from our Head Office within two hours of receiving the request. This goes to show our commitment to ensuring comprehensive coverage for our clients in all circumstances”

As the temperature soared to a record breaking 34oC, Select has to implement plans to ensure that the weather didn’t affect their operations or the safety of the public. Roy Semple, Operations Manager, commented:

“With the fantastic weather also came the real risks of heat exhaustion and dehydration for staff but also for the public. When people are dancing in the sun with no protection they can easily get burnt and become dehydrated, causing them to collapse. All our staff were briefed to watch for any signs of dehydration and advise people to drink lots of water. At the stages we also handed our cups of water.”

Andrew McQuillan, Director, also commented on the reduction in incidents during this year’s Life Festival:

“Our staff work hard to reduce crime and increase safety at all our events. Life Festival was no different and we were able to lower the incident numbers from last year significantly. This is down to several key factors including the training our staff go through and the partnership with all stakeholders including Police, Fire and Ambulance services.