Public safety

What this objective actually covers

Public safety sounds broad because it is. It covers anything that could physically harm your customers, staff, or anyone else while your venue is operating. The licensing authority is not the fire service and they're not the Health and Safety Executive — but they can use this objective to attach conditions, refuse your application, or review your licence if they think safety is not being properly managed.

In practice, this objective is where fire safety, occupancy limits, first aid, evacuation procedures, and basic maintenance all live. The mistake most applicants make is treating these as separate regulatory boxes rather than writing them all into the operating schedule under this one heading.

Fire safety: the big one

You need a fire risk assessment. Not a downloaded template, not something your mate filled in — a documented assessment from a competent person that is specific to your premises. This is required under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 regardless of whether you have a premises licence, but it sits squarely in the public safety objective and the licensing authority will ask about it.

What the assessment should cover

• The layout of the premises and the routes people will use to escape
• The materials and contents of the building (fire load)
• Sources of ignition: electrical equipment, kitchen, DJ booth, pyrotechnics if applicable
• Detection and alarm systems
• Emergency lighting
• Fire suppression equipment (extinguishers, sprinklers)
• Staff roles in an emergency

Emergency exits

Every fire exit must be clearly signed, unobstructed at all times, and fitted with emergency lighting that works on a power failure. This sounds obvious but exits get blocked — by deliveries, by coat rails, by storage that crept in gradually. Your operating schedule should include a commitment to check exits are clear before every session and log it. That log matters if anything ever goes wrong.

Keeping the assessment current

A fire risk assessment is not a one-off document. It needs to be reviewed when anything significant changes: the layout, the use of the space, new equipment, change of activities, or following an incident or near miss. Commit to this in your operating schedule and actually do it.

Occupancy and overcrowding

Your maximum capacity is not a licensing authority decision — it is a fire safety calculation based on your fire risk assessment and the width of your exit routes. But the licensing authority wants to know that you know what your capacity is and that you have a way of enforcing it.

State a maximum occupancy figure in your operating schedule. Then explain how you will monitor it: is it door staff with a counter? A ticketing or booking system? A clicker behind the bar? Whatever method you use, write it down. Overcrowding is a disciplinary issue in the night-time economy, and having a credible system goes a long way.

If you are running ticketed events, the capacity is easier to manage because you know in advance how many people are coming. If you are operating a door-walk-in venue, be realistic about peak times and make sure your monitoring system actually works under pressure.

First aid

This is an area where a lot of venues undersell themselves. You probably already have first aid provisions — a kit somewhere, maybe a trained member of staff. Write it in. The operating schedule is the place to say: first aid kit location, number of trained first aiders on duty during operating hours, and whether you use external medic services for larger events.

For a bar or small club, a first aid kit and at least one qualified first aider during operating hours is the standard expectation. For larger venues or festival-style events, a dedicated medic or first aid team is not unusual and shows the licensing authority you take it seriously.

Also think about access: if someone collapses, can an ambulance get to your front door, and do your staff know the address clearly enough to give it quickly on the phone? Include your full address in the operating schedule, and if access is complicated (basement venue, long corridor from road) describe how you would direct emergency services.

Staff training

Training records are evidence. Without them, "all staff are trained" is just something you said. Keep records of who was trained, in what, and when — and commit to this in your operating schedule.

The key areas for public safety training:

• Fire evacuation procedure — every member of staff, including temporary and agency staff, before they work their first shift
• First aid — at minimum the people who are your named first aiders
• Responsible alcohol service — relevant to public safety because it links to intoxication and the risks that come with it
• Safe dispersal — what to do at the end of the night, how to manage a crowd leaving at the same time

Emergency and evacuation procedures

You need a written emergency procedure. It does not need to be lengthy. It needs to be clear, posted in staff areas, and actually practised. The procedure should cover:

• How to raise the alarm (your fire detection system and what staff should do)
• Who is responsible for calling the emergency services
• How to evacuate customers — calmly, systematically, without creating a crush
• Who does a sweep to check no one is left in toilets, storerooms, or other areas
• Where people should assemble outside and how you will account for everyone
• Who is the decision-maker if there is a real emergency (not always the most senior person by job title — it is whoever is trained and on-site)

Run a fire drill before you open. Then run one at least annually. Log it. If the licensing authority ever reviews your licence following an incident, this log is what protects you.

Maintenance obligations

The licensing authority can attach conditions requiring regular maintenance of safety-critical equipment. Get ahead of this by including your own commitment: fire alarm tests weekly, emergency lighting tests monthly, fire extinguisher service annually, CCTV system checks regularly. These things need to happen anyway — write them into the schedule so they are conditions you have set for yourself.

Putting it in your operating schedule

Public safety is one of the most straightforward objectives to write — because most of what you need to do is required anyway under fire safety, health and safety, and employment law. The trick is not to leave it out of the schedule on the assumption that the licensing authority knows you're doing it. They need to see it in writing.

Our operating schedule template includes a dedicated section for public safety, with prompts for everything on this page. It is free to use and written from real application experience.