Carrying out effective tabletops and other exercises plays two key roles in your venue or stadium's adherence to the Protect Duty. Tabletops both boost your readiness for the expected and the unexpected on event day, and, if properly recorded, give you proof that you are prioritising safety and security at your site. Here, we pick out four areas that an effective exercise enables.

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1. Carry out a readiness programme

• List and discuss the different scenarios, both business-as-usual and incidents, that could occur in your venue
• Establish detailed contingency plans for the most likely and the most impactful issues
• Reflect this planning in your daily run sheets, your staffing and your incident checklists

2. Present a united front

• Work openly with your key staff, stakeholders, agencies and contractors
• Integrate everyone else that the Protect Duty will affect, including transport hubs, authorities and local businesses and residents
• See venue security as a cross-functional, multi-agency, collaborative exercise to be approached positively

3. Learn every time

• Take the opportunity of the learning curve that the Protect Duty will inevitably bring
• Keep looking to improve safety in and around your venues, stadia and events
• Extract and share reports that show you what went well and what needs attention

4. Give yourself the proof

• Use a digital system of record that provides an automatic audit trail both in planning and operations
• Prioritise the essential accountability which is a vital part of a venue's adherence to the Protect Duty
• Do not rely on manual methods, pen and paper which will not stand up to scrutiny

The Protect Duty is something to be considered throughout all aspects of your 365 planning and operations. Effective tabletop exercises are a crucial part of the pre-event preparation phase.

WeTrack has testing and exercising software that enables organisations to plan and carry out exercises like these in a collaborative and accountable way. Please get in touch if you would like to learn more.