Fake omega
rss

CGF ARTICLES, OPINIONS & EDITORIALS

Attending a corporate function - Consider the risks (2014-01-31)

Article by CGF Research, written by Terrance M. Booysen and reviewed by Hogan Lovells, South Africa

South Africa, and indeed many other countries, has an insatiable desire and craving for sport and the outdoors.
Whether it’s about a Tri-Nations or World Cup rugby or soccer match, the spectators are fixated on the game and its participants, including of course its outcome and all the hype when these spectators are actually at the event.  Ask any enthusiast regarding their choices and whether they’d prefer watching a play-off between two rival teams on television, or attending the event in person; be this a sporting event, or attending a musical, ballet or orchestra as further examples.  There’s no question about it; in almost all cases people would prefer being in the stadium or in the theatre and ‘living every second’ of the event.  In the case of a major rugby game for example – the stands in the stadium literally vibrate as the teams are encouraged by their devoted supporters.  The air is intoxicated with excitement, and the player’s grit and pain penetrates the psyche of their on-looking fans.  Clearly none of this intensity can be experienced when people do not attend such events in person and watch them on television, and this may be just one of the reasons why our preference is to attend them.

Many companies treat their customers and/or employees and host them to a sporting or recreational event, amongst others.  In most cases the company’s organisers may have inadvertently overlooked, or worse, they may not have considered the safety of their guests to events of this nature; be this at their own premises or at a public venue to where their guests are being invited.

And this is where the challenge begins: in the case of the Oppenheimer stadium disaster (1991), 42 people died as a result of a stampede during a soccer match.  Then in 2001, 43 people died in a stampede at Ellis Park as a result of a lack of security measures.  Not long after the Ellis Park disaster, the Commission of Enquiry led to the introduction of the Safety at Sports and Recreation Events Act 2 of 2010 (‘SASREA’).  This law was introduced into South Africa in August 2010 in order to prevent future tragedies of this nature.  It is now almost three and a half years since SASREA came into operation but the regulations to the Act are still not finalised. The SASREA is, however, enforceable and is being enforced. Until the regulations are finalised, interim measures have been put in place by the Department of Sports and Recreation to facilitate the implementation of SASREA.
  
Attached Files


Comments are closed.

Showing 0 Comment