Creating a Health & Safety Plan for Your Event
Linda Lindamood, VP of Safety & Logistics at Linder Global Events: Creating a Health & Safety Plan for Your Event—ECEO0056
The way we think about safety at events changed dramatically in the aftermath of 9/11. Security moved to the forefront, and emergency response became an integral part of event strategy. But developing a security plan for our events is not just about preparing for a worst-case scenario. It means considering things like weather, traffic, crowds and threats to ensure the overall health and safety of our guests.
Linda Lindamood is the Vice President of Safety and Logistics at Linder Global Events. With 30-plus years of experience in the events and hospitality industry, she has developed expertise in logistics, operations, transportation, security and crowd management. Linda spent 12 years in leadership at the Walt Disney Company, where she was responsible for the safety, movement and magical experience of hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. She has been with Linder Global since 2009, planning and managing notable large-scale events such as the National Cherry Blossom Parade and the Apollo 50 Festival on the National Mall, an outdoor celebration of the first Moon landing attended by more than 500K guests.
Today, Linda joins guest host Megan Cumming to discuss how the landscape of event security has changed since 9/11 and explain why it’s crucial for every event to have a health and safety plan in place. She walks us through the questions we should be asking to assess an event’s unique security risk, sharing the components of an effective health and safety plan and the best way to communicate that plan to the venue, local law enforcement, contract staff and volunteers. Linda also describes the role attendees and vendors play in making an event safe and the value of sequential timelines for loading in AND out. Listen in for Linda’s insight into the tech tools we can use to ensure health and safety at events and get her list of free resources for designing an effective security plan!
Topics include:
- How the landscape of safety and security has changed since 9/11
- Why it’s crucial for every event to have a health and safety plan
- The questions planners should ask to assess an event’s security risk
- The components of an effective health and safety plan for an event
- Sharing your safety plan with the venue and local law enforcement
- How to convey the safety plan to contract staff and volunteers
- The role vendors and attendees can play in making an event safe
- Why a sequential timeline of the OUT is as important as the IN
- Leveraging tech tools like WeatherOps, crowd management apps
- Linda’s top free resources for developing a health and safety plan
Mentioned in this podcast:
Organizations
Mayor’s Special Events Task Group
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Federal Emergency Management Institute
Department of Homeland Security
International Festivals & Events Association
People
Resources
DHS Planning & Managing Security for Special Events
National Park Service Event Planning Guide
Natalie Evans Harris on Event CEO EP050
Linda Lindamood
Linda Lindamood, Vice President of Logistics Management Services, brings over twenty years of experience from the transportation industry with expertise in logistics, protocol, and security. For several years, she held leadership roles at Walt Disney World, as event operations manager and Magic Kingdom Park Duty manager, responsible for the safety, movement, and quality of experience for thousands of guests. Linda also worked for UPS and was Vice President of Transportation and Logistics for one of the Washington area’s premier transportation companies. She successfully directed individual and large-scale event transfers, tour groups, and shuttle bus services for intimate, elite groups as well as large-scale events for thousands of people. At Linder, Linda’s thorough knowledge of vehicle options, air transport, traffic patterns and group flow strategy ensure that event participants arrive and depart safely and comfortably. Essential to event strategy, Linda ensures smooth production for some of Linder’s largest events
Megan Cumming
Vice President of Operations, Megan Cumming, has been an asset to Linder for over a decade. Megan is a vital part of strategy with a capacity to handle extraordinary challenges for both clients and the Linder team. With a professional background in catering, she worked for several years as Manager of Special Events at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, one of the most popular events venues in the Washington area. Megan worked diligently with corporate contacts, donors, event planners, and museum goers. There she developed the ability to produce dynamic solutions for all stakeholders. At Linder, Megan played instrumental roles for the Smithsonian Latino Canter, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, CoreNet, the Institute of Medicine, and American Farmland Trust.
