Someone is going to die from a drone at an event...

It cannot be said more clearly than above. Sadly this is my prediction for the next couple of years as we are seeing a huge increase in the number of drones (unmanned aircraft) across the globe.

Today we have seen a drone, collide with an Airbus A320 passenger jet on approach to London Heathrow’s airport. Luckily the drone has borne the brunt of the impact as the aircraft is undamaged according to its operator British Airways. If the drone had been ingested by an engine, this could have caused the same level of catastrophic damage a bird and essentially shut the engine’s ability to provide power down.

Consider a drone wandering into an Airshow or other type of aviation display, the level of injury and fatalities could be significant from something so small.

Take the picture above, I have used this as it was from footage filmed over a crowd at a sports event in the USA. What if that drone had fallen into the crowd, there is medical evidence drones could cause a serious bleed which proves fatal to that person.

In the ongoing Muse "Drones" tour, one of their own drones fell into the crowd at a show at the O2 Arena in London. Whilst no one is reported injured it shows that drones can and will cause problems for event organisers and venue operators in the years and probably decades to come.

As I have the privilege of working between the USA and United Kingdom I see some different yet similar approaches to how drones, or to give them their legal name Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, are regulated.

But the reality is that no matter what level of regulation there is, all that means to an Event Organiser or Venue Operator is a difference in penalty for the person flying a drone over your event/venue. For example in the UK this could potentially be up to 5 years imprisonment.

 Event Organisers need to act now to protect themselves. You have a duty of care to ensure that you put in place reasonable health and safety measures for hazards that are reasonable foreseeable. Is a drone flying over you event reasonably foreseeable now? If not it should be.

 There are some very simple ways to protect yourself and there are even electronic systems that allow you to ban drones overhead your airspace and give you more control of the level of risk drones pose to you and your attendees.

We have put together a half day workshop for those connected to events and venues in how to use drones safely and also prevent them from becoming a hazard. The workshop is led by experts in this field including Commercial Drone Pilot approval (CAA NQE) instructors, former senior police officers and enforcement teams who deal with drones at events, venues and film locations or studios.

For more information visit https://www.crowdmanagementacademy.com/ukshop/health-and-safety.html

Workshop Dates:
1st June - Belfast
2nd June - High Wycombe
16th June - Bristol
17th June - Birmingham
20th June - Edinburgh