Independent Safety Advisory Group (ISAG)

Hartlepool Borough Council and its partners Cleveland Police, Cleveland Fire Brigade and the North East Ambulance Service operate an Independent Safety Advisory Group (ISAG). The purpose of the ISAG is to comment on matters associated with events being held in relation to their impact on the Council and its partners. The ISAG holds no statutory powers and information is provided on an advisory basis only.

The ISAG is committed to supporting events as far as possible in the Borough as we recognise the wide ranging benefits that these events bring. The ISAG is committed to ensuring that the events are able to proceed in a safe manner, and that critical aspects are considered by the organisers. ISAG involvement should be seen as an enabler, not as a barrier.

Event organisers are asked to provide relevant information to help the ISAG to determine if ISAG involvement would be appropriate and to identify if any licences or consents may be legally required to enable the event to take place.

This is done through the Event Notification Form (ENF). This is split into 2 parts – Part 1 and Part 2. You are asked to submit Part 1 only in the first instance to determine whether further information is required. It takes a lot of work to complete forms such as these, and if it is not actually required, then it saves time and work for all parties.

If the ISAG feels that the information provided in Part 1 warrants further information, the event organiser will be asked by ISAG to submit Part 2 which asks for more information.

When to submit an Event Notification Form

For small scale, non-contentious events, 3 months’ notice prior to the event date will normally be sufficient. However, for larger and more complex events, for example, those involving road closures, music festivals or multi-activity events with the use of inflatables or other temporary structures, significantly more time may be required by the ISAG to fully consider the event and arrange any subsequent meetings if required. Submit Part 1 as soon as you can.

Please note:

The ISAG will not undertake any role associated with the organisation or management of an event and completion and return of the ENF (Part 1 and 2) does not remove the need to obtain the relevant consents and licences, the responsibility for which ultimately rests with the event organiser. By notifying the authority of an event this in no way absolves the organiser from any health and safety responsibility nor does it infer that Hartlepool Borough Council has any responsibility for health and safety in relation to the event. Event organisers are strongly recommended to visit the HSE website which gives advice on running events safely: www.hse.gov.uk/event-safety/index.htm.