The issue brought to the HSE Myth Busters Challenge Panel in case 235
was by an enquirer, who was told that an entry fee charged for a Christmas
craft fair was necessary in order to control the number of people attending,
essential on health and safety grounds. The organiser went onto say that, if
these controls were not in place at the event, there would be a severe risk of
overcrowding and they probably would not be able to go ahead with the event.
The panel decided that whilst they can understand why the organisers
need to control numbers of people attending this event, using health and safety
as the reason for charging people to gain entry to the event is wrong. A
practical way to control visitor numbers is to issue tickets for entry but the
decision to charge for the tickets is a commercial decision (which the
organisers are free to make) not a safety factor. Rather than blame the entry
fee on health and safety, it would have been more helpful if the organisers had
explained that the ticket costs were simply to cover the cost of staging the
event and managing visitor numbers.
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