Merchandising and vendor operations are integral components of most live events, and they introduce a distinct set of safety planning requirements that are sometimes overlooked in the primary focus on production, crowd management, and emergency response. Vendors and their stalls bring additional workers onto the event site, introduce structures that must meet integrity standards, create electrical load demands on the site’s power infrastructure, generate vehicle movements during load-in and load-out, and interact directly with audience members in ways that can affect crowd flow and emergency egress. Managing these aspects systematically is a component of comprehensive event safety planning.

The Five Aspects of Merchandising Management

industry safety guidance identifies five aspects of merchandising that require planning and management at live events (Event Safety Alliance, 2013):

The merchandising facilities themselves, including the structural integrity of stalls and stands. The space requirements for each vendor location and their effect on overall site layout. The setting up, operation, and dismantling of stalls and stands, including vehicle movements and the presence of temporary workers. The items offered for sale as merchandise, including compliance with licensing, trading standards, and intellectual property requirements. Solid waste, sanitation, washup, and cleaning facilities serving the vendor areas.

Site Integration Planning for Vendor Facilities

Merchandising stall and stand placement must be considered during site design, not added after the primary site plan is established. The following matters must be addressed when planning vendor locations (Event Safety Alliance, 2013):

Position, size, and space requirements of each merchandising location within the arena or venue, with specific attention to ensuring that entrance and exit audience flows are not obstructed or caused to build up at strategic points. Vendor locations that inadvertently narrow an egress path or create a bottleneck at an entrance represent a crowd safety hazard. Whether stands and stalls are fixed or temporary, and whether they are properly engineered for their configuration. Structural integrity requirements — Chapter 19 of the (Structures) — apply to vendor structures, as does Chapter 4 (Fire Safety). Power supply requirements must be integrated into the overall event electrical plan per Chapter 17 (Electrical Installations and Lighting). Vehicle movements associated with vendors, who generally need to unload close to their space and then reposition their vehicles before the event opens. Parking allocation for vendor workers and their vehicles. Waste accumulation and collection provisions at vendor locations. Security arrangements and cash handling procedures (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Vendor Worker Safety Orientation

Workers employed at merchandising stalls and stands are typically temporary workers who may have no prior experience with the specific event site or with the safety protocols in effect. Their status as employees of independent vendors does not reduce the event organizer’s duty to ensure that they are informed of site safety rules and hazards. The event organizer must define health and safety responsibilities clearly, agree on communication methods with each merchandising contractor, and provide a copy of the site safety rules to each merchandiser on arrival (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Vendor workers must also be informed of the space allocated to their operation and of the requirement not to expand beyond that allocated space. Unauthorized expansion of vendor footprints is a common occurrence at events and can compromise pedestrian flow paths, obstruct emergency access, and introduce structural loads or fire hazards not accounted for in the site safety assessment. Vendors must be clearly instructed that their allocated footprint is fixed (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Stewards working on behalf of merchandisers should be included in the event safety briefing and assigned to the relevant communication chain. Radio frequencies used by vendor staff should be coordinated with the event’s overall communications plan to avoid interference with emergency communications channels (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Insurance, Equipment Inspection, and Licensing

Before vendors begin operating, the event organizer should verify public liability and product liability insurance certificates for each vendor. Any gas or electrical equipment brought onto site by merchandisers must be accompanied by relevant inspection certificates and evidence of recommended testing. Other equipment should be examined to confirm that appropriate firefighting equipment is available at each stand in case of fire. This requirement applies to vendors in all categories, not only food vendors (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Local health departments may have special certification requirements for food trucks and mobile food service operations; these requirements should be verified before the event and confirmed at check-in. The storage of merchandising stock, particularly where flammable goods are offered for sale, should be discussed with the fire authority and local authority to ensure that appropriate fire extinguishers are available at each stand or stall. Control and movement of stock around the site should follow agreed procedures to prevent unauthorized vehicle movements during the public phase of the event (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Merchandising Items: Licensing, Safety, and Special Services

Items offered for sale as merchandise must not breach license requirements, trading standards, copyright, or trademark regulations. Where items could cause injury or discomfort to purchasers or other audience members — glow sticks are a common example — information about safe use must be given to the purchaser at the point of sale and correct use instructions must be prominently displayed at the stall (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Services such as tattooing, body piercing, and massage may require special licenses or permits from the local authority. Before allowing these services to operate at the event, the event organizer must confirm that the necessary licenses and permits have been or will be issued by the relevant authority. Offensive or adult-oriented materials should be considered in relation to the audience profile; where the audience includes minors or where the event’s character is inconsistent with such materials, they should not be actively displayed (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

In the case of ticket scalpers and unwanted street traders, the event organizer should coordinate with local law enforcement to determine the legally available methods for deterring these practices; the appropriate response varies by jurisdiction and must not expose the organizer to liability for actions taken without legal authority (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Emergency Communications to Vendors

One of the most operationally critical requirements in the’s treatment of merchandising is the requirement for effective emergency communication to vendors during an evacuation. During an evacuation of the event site for any reason — bomb threat, fire, biological hazard, structural emergency — vendors must be directed to cease operations and close or shutter their booths and kiosks immediately (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

The reason for this requirement is straightforward: audience members who stop to look at, or purchase from, an open vendor stand during an evacuation block the egress flow of other patrons attempting to exit. Covering merchandise, closing displays, and making every possible visual indication that the vendor is closed for business is essential to maintaining smooth, continuous crowd flow to safe areas. An open, lit vendor stand during an evacuation is a crowd attractor at precisely the moment when crowd movement to exits must be maximized (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

This requirement means that vendors must be included in the event’s emergency communications chain and must receive and acknowledge the evacuation signal. The communication method — whether radio, public address, or designated personnel — must be established before the event and tested. Chapter 6 (Communications) of industry safety guidance provides the framework for this integration (Event Safety Alliance, 2013).

Conclusion

Merchandising operations at live events are a legitimate and significant component of event revenue, but they introduce safety considerations that must be addressed with the same systematic rigor applied to production and crowd management. The most consequential of these is the integration of vendors into the emergency communication chain, with specific instructions and protocols for the immediate cessation of operations during an evacuation. Events at which vendors remain open during emergencies because they were not included in emergency communications, or because their closure was not specifically planned, have experienced longer evacuation times and crowd flow disruptions that endangered audience members. Vendor emergency management is not an afterthought — it is a fundamental element of the event’s emergency action plan.

References

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). OSHA safety and health topics: Temporary workers. OSHA. https://www.osha.gov