Health & safety specialist A.C.T. (National) will put event industry perceptions about supply chain compliance in the dock at the Liberal Club, Whitehall on 13 February 2019, with practicing barristers, proper legal process and an environment dressed for the occasion.
The mock trial follows A.C.T’s launch event in 2016, which examined the hire and use of equipment in the confines of an event site – where culpability lies if there’s an accident. The case was made with such conviction there was clamour for much more and global professional services firm Aon has stepped up to sponsor the sophomore show.
The 2019 case will look at client accountability when engaging a contractor/supplier on an event site, investigating what happens when something goes significantly wrong.
Falling from height is the biggest cause of fatality in an event environment and the trial will, again, expose its audience to the rigors, the trials, of a proper courtroom environment as it highlights the facts and the liabilities before calling for a verdict from the floor.
“Everybody uses contractors but not everybody does the on-the-job checks, the pre-checks or the due diligence,” Mark Wheeldon, Commercial Director at A.C.T., explains.
In some instances it’s a race to the lowest cost and a ‘lite touch’ in terms of the formalities, a tick box exercise. The first time a client realises the true cost of negligence can be in the middle of a criminal case. So the mock trial in February will demonstrate what can happen when accountability moves a step closer.
Chris Woodford, Operational Director at A.C.T. comments: “the last event put us on the map because we did things differently. It showed the industry what a mock court trial should do, educating people in the judicial process and giving them a taste of the real thing.”
“We met with Aon at the 2016 Mock Trial,” Wheeldon added. “The company described the event as ‘novel and professional’ and I’m delighted a company of Aon’s stature has come in as headline sponsor.”
The 2019 case will be different, examining how the Crown would investigate the client in the context of an accident somewhere along the supply chain, in terms of risk management, due diligence, active monitoring et al, and organisers expect the jury to be put to the test…
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Author: Paul Allott
Paul Allott is a director and co-founder of Event Industry News, Event Tech Live and the Event Technology Awards.
