Nightlife Association's

The goal is to create a set of international safety and security standards for all bars, clubs and all other liquor licensed establishments.  Currently there are over 10 large U.S. cities that have created their own “Standards”.  None of these “Standards” match one another and none are used outside of their respective cities. 

 

INA International Nightlife Association
DOCUMENT #: INA A2010-2015 (R2016) 
TITLE: Requirements and guidance for organizers of safe events 
SCOPE:
Preface

This is the first edition of Requirements and guidance for organizers of safe events. This Standard provides security and emergency management guidance to venues for planned events.

A safe event entails incorporating considerations of the environmental, social, and economic impacts of hosting an event into all areas of event planning and management in order to minimize negative impacts, augment positive benefits, and create positive legacies for present and future generations.

The International Nightlife Association is a non-profit organization that originated in 2012. The structure of the congress provides a representative and equitable partnership among regulators, industry, academia, professional organizations, and consumers to identify problems, formulate recommendations, and develop and implement practices that ensure event safety. New rapidly developing event technologies and marketing innovations challenge all groups involved in event production and monitoring to work together to enhance the quality of the events. The Nightlife Association meets at least biennially to provide that forum.

Scope

1.1
This Standard specifies requirements for organizing and executing safe events, and provides guidance on how to engage, inspire, and continually improve the performance of events contributing to safe development.

While the event will be more safe, it will not necessarily be safe in absolute terms. Implementation of this Standard may not be used to support a claim of absolute sustainability.

This Standard is applicable for use by organizations or individuals responsible for organizing events and applies to the full range of event types and sizes.

Event types include cultural, business, and sporting events and festivals. Event can refer to a single or a recurring event.

This Standard may also prove useful to event funders or sponsors who wish to encourage safety goals and objectives internally or externally.

This Standard applies to the life cycle of event management, including the planning, execution, and closure phases, but not to the content or theme of the event.

1.2
In INA standards, shall is used to express a requirement, i.e., a provision that the user is obliged to satisfy in order to comply with the standard; should is used to express a recommendation or that which is advised but not required; and may is used to express an option or that which is permissible within the limits of the standard.

Notes accompanying clauses do not include requirements or alternative requirements; the purpose of a note accompanying a clause is to separate from the text explanatory or informative material.

Notes to tables and figures are considered part of the table or figure and may be written as requirements.

Annexes are designated normative (mandatory) or informative (nonmandatory) to define their application.

 

BENEFITS:
Reduce guard assaults, reduce injury, and reduce violence; reduce police responses to the venue; reduce venue crime; reduce civil lawsuits; reduce civil lawsuit payouts; and reduce underage drinking.

 

Hospitality Industry Standards

 

•Alcohol Service Training

•Security Training

•Written Security Specific Policies

•Alcohol Service Policy

•Acceptable Identification Policy

•Basic emergency Procedures

•Zero Tolerance Drug Policy

•Designated Driver Program

•Safety Inspection Guide and Schedule

•Evacuation and Disaster Plan

 

 

Safe Nightlife Seal - Venue Safety & Security Industry Standards

BRONZE, BASIC INDUSTRY STANDARDS

1. LEGAL
   Has a current business license and approved occupancy perm

2. INSURANCE
   Property damage insurance (all risks): coverage on material damage (all risks), the property valuation should reflect the cost of rebuilding or replacing the buildings and trade contents as new and stock should be valued at cost, careful of market values 
   Public liability insurance: covers claims by your customers or damage to the bar arising through the negligence or through the employees

3. CERTIFICATIONS
   Training programs to teach staff members how to handle the risks and responsibilities of their duties. Security and control staff must be certified in security, food and drink safety training. Have written security procedures, protection, exit and evacuation plans. 
   Certified training for Food handlers to understand correct food storage, preparation and service; to Prevent poor personal hygiene, inappropriate storage or refrigeration, inadequate cooking or re-heating, cross-contamination from raw to cooked food, infected food handler. Have a clean and sanitary cooking & serving areas.

4. SAFETY
   Fire Equipment inspected regularly. Must have unobstructed Exits/Evacuation routes indicated with lighted signage. Emergency exit doors must have anti-panic bars and exit outward; to an evacuation area or fire safe zone.

5. HEALTH
   Have a First-Aid Kit available. Provide tap water stations to help prevent heat stroke. Staff trained in First-Aid and CPR.

 

SILVER, INTERMEDIATE INDUSTRY STANDARDS

1. Adequate HIRING PRACTICES – Managers perform real interviews or go through a background vetting process. 
   Have your current staff ask specific questions of the potential new employee, to create a better skills evaluation of the candidate. 
   Fill out application. Conduct a full criminal background check using their own states guard licensing processes.  

2. Adequate POLICIES - Employees must be given guidelines on the operation and these policies must be reiterated.
   Management should have a receipt signed by the employee they received the operations manual and understand its contents and expectations. Consideration should be given to "test" employees on the contents. A Discipline Manual may include a handout to explain violations of policy, including Verbal Counseling, Written Counseling, Work Suspension, Termination, and a Violators Log.

3. Adequate TRAINING - Actual educational training to give employees true guidelines, limits and methods to solve problems.
   Hiring and providing formal in house or private training for employees, taught the operations policies, procedures and techniques of incident management. After this classroom training, the employee is now on the floor with a senior employee to reinforce the prior training during actual shift events using OJT. 

4. Adequate MANAGEMENT - A trained Manager must be on duty, to be on top of all areas surrounding the policies and procedures.
   Managers should accept that their jobs can be made easier by a properly trained staff, to allow employees some decision making power while understanding when to get a manager for more unique issues, for true crisis management of an event. 

5. Adequate STAFFING -  Allowing staff to leave early truly increases the chance of violence. 
   The hospitality industry minimum standard for guards to guests is 1:50 or 1:75; meaning 1 guard per every 50 or 75 guests.  It is very important to remember that these industry standard minimum rations are for the capacity of the venue only. So, in simple math, if the bar has a capacity of 200 people, then, if they used the minimum industry standard, they would want minimum 3 or 4 guards.

 

GOLD, ADVANCED INDUSTRY STANDARDS

1. Silver Safe Industry Standards, plus

2. Bar owners must also implement strict measures to prevent acts of violence, anti social behavior and drunkenness in the bar to safeguard their staff members against harassment, intimidation or ill-treatment from customers or other employees. 

3. Annual voluntary evacuation drills

4. Bi-annual voluntary fire inspections

5. Employee completion of fire extinguisher training every 2 years

6. Security employee completion of an NIGHTLIFE approved security certification every 2 years - like the full 12 hour, in person, National HOST Security Certification.

7. Minimum of (4) basic First Aid trained employees

8. Minimum of (1) wall mounted automatic defibrillator per floor of venue

9. Safety: Patron code of conduct. Venue has CCTV surveillance system in operation, uses radio communication, metal detectors to forbid weapons and prevent terrorism attacks.