It’s NO ‘accident’!
July 16, 2012 at 7:34 am | Posted in Security | 2 CommentsTags: accident, alcohol, car, crash, death, drinking, duty of care, event, injury, kid, legislation, Naomi Oakley, party, Party Plan Checklist, prevention, safe parties, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security, youth
Youth + Intoxication = Disaster.
In my view, an accident is something you have no control over.
If, for instance:
- you’re driving a car;
- a large spider drops on you from behind the sun visor and
- you crash into a tree,
that’s an accident.
If, on the other hand:
- you’re rushing and driving at speed;
- you tailgate the car in front of you and
- you rear-end them when they brake,
that’s no accident.
That’s plain carelessness.
Media scrum
Sadly, the tragedies listed below were no accident.
Had proper planning been in place, these teen celebrations would have been spared the associated injury and death:
- Five young men killed in high speed crash.
- Young girl killed and four injured in smash.
- Dead girl’s friends claim drink was spiked with ecstasy.
- Man stabbed in chest after house party.
- Man who died after king hit ‘wanted a fight’.
- One dead and three injured in car ‘accident’.
When is enough enough?!
To protect our children from serious injury and death, parents wanting to hold a teen event must:
- Apply for a party permit.
- Have a proper party plan in place.
- Discharge their duty of care to guests and the community before, during and after the event.
But until we introduce legislation to ensure parents do these things, we’re doomed to witness yet more carnage.
Parents must realise it isn’t just about their child’s celebration. Failing to plan an event can all-too-easily lead to the planning of funerals.
As a parent of a teenager myself, I beg you to act responsibly and support my positive proposal for change.
Unless, of course, your child’s happiness and welfare mean nothing to you.
In which case our society is surely lost.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Failure to plan = planning to fail
May 28, 2012 at 3:19 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: accident, child, crowd control, drinking, duty of care, event, injury, kid, legislation, loss, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, Party Plan Checklist, police, safe parties, security, social media, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security, venue, youth
How to keep the cops from your door.
The mayhem caused by unplanned teen parties is alarming. With no experience of planning a successful teen event, parents are continually putting kids in harm’s way.
As Managing Director of U-Nome Security and Founder of Safe Partying Australia, I’ve planned and worked at more than 700 teenage parties.
Every weekend, I see first-hand exactly why parties are causing tragedy across our nation.
I often wonder how many injuries in the home result from mismanaged parties. Though this was a mature-aged event, it highlights the risks of homes unsuitable for celebrations.
Sadly, this sort of tragedy is far from rare.
Today’s teen parties are more likely to be held in homes. This is because most public venues no longer support them.
To make things worse, there are many more teen events.
20 years ago, people celebrated turning 21. These days, every birthday from 13 on is seen as ‘significant’.
I believe this spike in birthday celebrations is due to American television now available online or via cable in most homes. Our kids are watching teen movies and music videos that promote the coolness of ‘Sweet 16’ and other birthdays.
So, with more events in more homes, we have problems.
While most private dwellings have limited public liability cover in case something goes wrong, it’s far wiser to prevent problems (and subsequent claims) before they occur.
To this end, I inspect every party venue in advance. The many issues I find and flag include:
- Swimming pools.
- Rickety balconies designed and made for domestic use only.
- Extremely steep stair wells.
- Homes in the middle of renovations.
- Homes on busy roads.
Combine these risk elements with underage drinking and explosive social networking and you literally have a recipe for disaster.
I believe that if we had legislation to protect kids at parties, it would:
- Increase community security.
- Ensure our young people return home safely.
- Minimise injury claims stemming from teen party mayhem.
- Reduce the financial impact on our community (e.g. wasted emergency service call-outs and pressure on our already-stretched health system).
You may think this is all someone else’s problem.
It isn’t.
Will you wait until your child fails to come home?
And two grim-faced police officers wake you at 3 am
with a heart-stopping knock at your door?
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Thrown to the wolves
November 23, 2011 at 6:04 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: accident, alcohol, crowd control, drinking, duty of care, fight, injury, kid, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, Party Plan Checklist, police, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security, venue, violence, youth
Nights need expert handling by a sufficient force of mature, trained professionals.
Throughout my career (13 years at Victoria Police and 6 years specialising in teen events) I’ve seen my share of dreadful things.
These days, I also receive many calls from staff from other security firms.
They call because they’re concerned about the types of teen parties to which their employer is sending them.
I think it’s vital security firms ensure the events they send their staff to are safe.
I’m not just talking alcohol; there are many more issues to worry about, like:
- Pools.
- Balconies.
- Perimeter fencing.
- Exit and entry points.
- Ratio of guests to crowd control staff
Some security firms send just one crowd controller to a party with 100 guests!
How can one person possibly handle a brawl? Or simultaneously patrol dark, unsafe back areas while gatecrashers invade the front and sides?
I recently saw an eastern-suburb party turn pear-shaped.
The teen organiser had been strongly advised to have four crowd controllers. But as he hadn’t budgeted for the event, he went for the cheapest quote.
The result? Just two crowd controllers for 300 kids!
Inevitably, the event was shut down. It was clear the security firm hadn’t done any risk assessment of this party, thus placing guests, hosts, property and even their own staff in danger.
Unfortunately, this case isn’t rare. I liaise with many parents and teens seeking crowd control for their parties. Often they:
- Haven’t budgeted for the event.
- Don’t accept the quote and information given.
- Are too weak to stand up to their kids or peers.
- Don’t insist an alcohol plan is put in place.
They then choose the security firm with the lowest quote who doesn’t care if alcohol is managed.
This firm will ask a few questions (maybe) and send one or two (at most) teenaged crowd controllers, to deal with other teens.
This is a very bad start.
In addition to the crowd controllers being the same age as the host and/or guests, they often lack the experience and maturity to deal with the myriad of dicey situations uncontrolled environments invariably throw up.
It completely defeats the purpose of having security.
Event hosts expect their crowd controllers to:
- Enter the property if guests get too drunk.
- Break up fights that arise from the lack of planning or (backbone) from the parents.
Meanwhile, the ‘responsible adults’ at these events often have a party of their own elsewhere on the property.
I believe security firms must ensure the staff they assign to teen parties operate in a safe environment.
It’s not only their duty to provide a safe workplace under occupational health and safety laws.
It’s also the right and decent thing to do by their staff, their clients
and our community.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Death never takes a holiday
November 2, 2011 at 10:57 pm | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: accident, alcohol, crash, crowd control, death, drinking, duty of care, event, injury, kid, Naomi Oakley, parent, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security
Careful party planning can stop this unwanted guest.
Yet more teenagers died this week.
Seven teens left a Halloween Party in a stolen car and came to grief.
Just 24 hours prior to this, a teenage girl left a party, opted not to get picked up by her parent and got into a boy’s car instead.
Now she’s dead too.
Incredibly, it seems people have forgotten the January 2010 tragedy where five kids died in a vehicle that left a party.
Alcohol was a factor in all these ‘accidents’.
But let’s rewind.
I’ve always believed that if you have adequate safety and security measures at a party, you can prevent tragedy.
You must manage all alcohol at an event, even if it’s BYO.
A host’s duty of care can also extend beyond the event.
Parents organising a party should take reasonable steps to establish how their teenage guests are getting home.
Even if these kids walk out of a party, the question must be asked.
At the very least, doing this may get kids thinking.
You may be able to persuade them take a taxi or wait for parents to collect them.
Managing all aspects of a teen party is extremely important.
If parents don’t have the skills and resources to manage a party properly, they should think about having professional crowd control to monitor and assist them.
By covering every base, we ensure the next teen party doesn’t end in tears.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Violence ain’t ‘senseless’
August 29, 2011 at 5:40 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: accident, alcohol, child, crowd control, death, drinking, duty of care, event, injury, kid, legislation, Naomi Oakley, neighbour, Party Plan Checklist, police, safe parties, secondary supply, security, teen, teenager, U-NOME Security, venue, violence, youth
When it comes to teen party violence, parents are the real clowns.
We hear a lot about ‘senseless violence’.
But when kids get injured at parties, it’s not the violence that’s senseless.
It’s the parents.
With prior planning, parties needn’t suffer any violence.
To me, ‘senseless’ is someone stabbing you in the street.
Car accidents aren’t senseless. Most are due to speed, alcohol, fatigue or other driver error.
The following situations recently came to my attention. All have been called ‘senseless’, when really they’re not.
Birthday bash
An 18-year-old’s parents didn’t want to control alcohol at his birthday party.
They wanted the kids to ‘have fun’.
So they confined their attentions to the front of their home.
Meanwhile, out of sight in a back bedroom, their dear son had sex with a minor.
This boy faces a life-ruining conviction and placement on the sex offender register.
All because his parents didn’t want to set boundaries.
What FUN!
Making sense
A grieving mother, whose son was fatally stabbed outside a party, has asked a judge to send a hard message about the deadly consequences of ‘senseless violence’.
I’m told alcohol wasn’t restricted at this event. Had an alcohol plan been in place, this situation may well have ended differently.
A life could have been saved and a boy prevented from going to jail.
I believe most parents who read this article will think the teen stupid for drinking so much. But what about the parents who let it happen?
This is where the senselessness lies.
Foregone conclusion
Parents near Shepparton held an after-formal party for their kids. Yet again, there was minimal security and no restriction of alcohol. The results?
- Brawls on a neighbour’s property.
- Children and parents terrified in their homes.
- Half a dozen Police units called at 10 pm. They use capsicum spray. Some are injured.
Organisers said, ‘They didn’t know this would happen’. Yet they’d have a very different attitude if there were consequences to their lack of forethought.
Duty of Care is the responsibility of the parents. They must think about consequences of their (lack of) actions.
On the edge
Four teens were hospitalised after a balcony at the party they were attending collapsed.
I believe this tragedy could have been avoided. Again, it was no accident.
Pre-assessments of party venues are necessary to flag physical safety issues.
Most balconies are designed for domestic use only. Our pre-assessment plans forbid parties on balconies and stair wells.
We also cover perimeter fences, pools, alcohol plans and experienced, professional event security. These simple things:
- Prevent most parties from turning ugly.
- Minimise violence in our community.
- Save lives.
- Free our emergency services and judicial system.
If you minimise the risks, you turn things from ‘senseless’ to sensible.
Duty of care
Parents need to show duty of care.
If the new alcohol legislation doesn’t include duty of care and alcohol control, we need to go back to the drawing board and look at my safe event law proposal.
A holistic approach is the best option
Unless we have consequence for parents who don’t exercise duty of care when hosting a party our kids will suffer ever more violence.
A tragic waste of life that’s truly ‘senseless’.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
All the Wrong Moves
March 17, 2011 at 5:16 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: accident, alcohol, crowd control, drinking, drunk, duty of care, event, fight, gang, guest, kid, liability, Naomi Oakley, neighbour, nightmare, parent, party, Party Plan Checklist, police, prevention, private school, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security, venue, violence, youth
- There’s a right way and a wrong way.
The wrong way costs MUCH more.
Girl Talk
A young girl rang and asked if I could provide crowd control for an after-formal party for 400 teens in an inner-Melbourne factory area.
She couldn’t believe I was concerned when she told me:
- The school didn’t want to know about it. (No kidding!)
- Only two parents would assist … then leave after just one hour.
- It was BYO alcohol (and everything else) as they couldn’t be bothered sorting this out.
- The average guest age was 16.
- Police hadn’t been notified. (I wonder why?)
Father Knows Best?
Having planned and worked at 600 teen parties, I know how to do pre-party assessments for parents.
These include making the venue safe, preventing unwanted guests and planning for risks, alcohol and transport.
A father decided that, despite my vast experience, he didn’t want any restrictions on his son’s 18th birthday (or his 60 teenage guests).
He ‘knew them all’; they were ‘good kids’. Yet he did ask if my staff would break up any fights.
Not on my watch! I provide a safe environment for my staff and the people they protect.
This is called:
DUTY.
OF.
CARE!
Write it down, before it bites you on the bum.
Begging for Trouble
A young man asked me to provide security for 350 16-year-olds in the western suburbs. Once again, just two parents home, unrestricted alcohol and not a word to the cops.
Recipe for disaster doesn’t begin to cover this.
Out of Her Mind
A mother asked me about security for a teenage party:
- 50 kids? Yep.
- Eastern suburbs? Yep.
- Alcohol? Not restricted.
- Parents? Nup.
WHAT?!
The mother was going overseas that weekend, leaving her teen to party with 50 others in her house. Pity her neighbour! Yet she whinged about a recent party that had deposited underwear and empty booze bottles in her yard!
Are you getting this?!
Crash & Burn
Two distressed mothers enquired about crowd control for their teens’ birthday. Their kids had been at the same party a few weeks ago. This party had parents ‘doing security’ -thinking anyone can perform this demanding and difficult job.
Two hours in, 20 gatecrashers arrived, started a brawl, injured guests and ended the event.
The birthday boy was shattered that he couldn’t celebrate his special day.
The Usual Suspects
All this happened in the last few weeks. The usual common elements are:
Alcohol control. If you don’t restrict grog, guests will fight, vomit or pass out. If not this time, then the next. Your luck will run out.
Police notification. It’s extremely stressful for police to attend an event they know nothing about. Do the right thing and inform them. You may need them more than you could ever imagine.
Duty of care. If you don’t provide a safe environment for guests and neighbours, you could be liable. Think before you plan a party and ensure parents are there to assist.
I’ll cover social media in detail soon. For now, do NOT promote any event on social networking spaces unless you want it to end in anti-social behaviour!
I’m not the party police, but I do know how to ensure everyone has a great time at yours.
Ignore these warnings at your (considerable) peril.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Six Faces of Pain
February 28, 2011 at 3:21 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: accident, alcohol, crowd control, drinking, event, legislation, Naomi Oakley, parent, police, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security, venue, violence, youth
However you look at it, this is crap.
Last weekend in sunny Adelaide, an ambulance attended a party to treat a girl who’d sustained a (probably alcohol-related) injury:
As this girl was being treated, she ran onto the road and got hit by a car, whereupon the party guests began abusing the paramedics.
Based on my experiences as a police officer, security provider, parent, guest and neighbour, this is how I believe each person felt on the night:
1. Parent
I’ll let my teenage daughter walk to the party with her friends. I won’t bother ringing to check if the party will have parents there. I trust my child, so I don’t need to ask questions about alcohol.
This sort of thing could never happen to us:
2. Teen
Great! I can walk with my mates. Mum doesn’t know the party has plenty of booze, hardly any parents and no security.
I’m going to get smashed; along with a few friends who’ve heard about this event on Facebook:
3. Neighbour
What the hell is going on over the road?! Kids everywhere; drunk. No security; hardly any parents about.
My kids will never sleep with this racket going on, and I’m too scared to walk over to see what’s going on:
http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/story/2011/02/27/teen-arrested-rocky-party
4. Ambulance
Oh great; another uncontrolled party. Guess we won’t be able to attend to that sick elderly man; he’ll just have to wait.
These wretched parties are such a burden on our resources. Hopefully it won’t be too wild:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/26/3149718.htm
5. Police
What are we heading into this time? What sort of event is it? How many people are there? I hope there aren’t any garden tools lying around like last time. A pity we’ll have to delay attending to that reported business break in.
These parties are a pain in the butt. Hopefully we get some back up this time. At the last one I attended, I got hit in the head with a bottle for my trouble:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/8915332/police-called-to-wild-teenage-parties
6. Hospital
Not another drunk, injured teen! As if we’re not busy enough already. Guess we’ll have to delay seeing that boy who fell off his scooter and broke his leg.
Conclusion
All these preventable dramas happened in one fortnight! And they’re just the tip of the iceberg.
Parties are turning deadly right across our nation, because parents are neither planning nor controlling them.
We need legislative change.
We need Police to record data on out-of-control events.
Our politicians won’t serious until they have real figures in front of them.
Unless we act, it’ll be another set of horror stories next weekend.
And the next.
And the next.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Country Capers – Why Crowd Control is Vital at Rural Events.
October 25, 2010 at 3:39 am | Posted in Security | 8 CommentsTags: accident, alcohol, car, country, crowd control, drinking, event, gatecrasher, guest list, Naomi Oakley, parent, Party Plan Checklist, remote, rural, safe parties, security, security stamp, U-NOME Security
Lock your gate BEFORE the horse bolts!
On Saturday night I had a security team looking after an 18th birthday near Berwick (in Melbourne’s outer east).
The event, for 70 guests, was on a big property on an unmade road.
My crew initially controlled BYO alcohol entering the property by helping parents organise a central bar and serve all drinks in plastic vessels.
Meanwhile, down the 1 km driveway, other family members were checking names at the front gate and only admitting those on the guest list.
So far so good. The plan was to for my people to head down there and take over.
But before this could happen, at about 9 pm, a white utility with red P plates (registration XFP 105) turned up at the gate. It was relayed to me that the two men in the ute had been drinking.
The men gave a photocopied invitation to the family member at the gate – who denied them entry as they weren’t on the guest list.
The family member then contacted my team (who were still helping with the alcohol) and told Glenn (my supervisor) that the ute had headed towards the dead end part of the road.
Glenn walked around the property and found two men hiding behind a tree in the middle of a paddock. He asked what they were doing.
They said that because the inside toilet was occupied, they were using the tree.
By speaking with them further, Glenn ascertained that the men did not have the requisite entry stamps issued by crowd control.
He was thus able to ask them to leave.
They got back into their vehicle and drove off.
A short time later, my crew was staffing the gate. Once again, the two men turned up in the ute. This time, two guests from the party got into the vehicle with them.
One in the cabin.
And one in the back tray.
With all four drinking, the ute sped off down the dark, winding, gravel road.
A recipe for carnage.
The Police arrived soon after – unfortunately just missing the hoons.
This is a good example of how effective crowd control can be at a rural property.
- The guest list worked.
- The gatecrashers were detected.
- The missing security stamps proved them to be uninvited.
Giddy up!
Naomi Oakley, Managing Director, U-NOME Security Communication Specialists.
Kids Rule?!
July 29, 2010 at 5:19 am | Posted in Security | 4 CommentsTags: accident, alcohol, birthday, child, crowd control, drinking, event, kid, Naomi Oakley begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, neighbor, neighbour, parent, Party Plan Checklist, police, pool, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security, venue, youth
Don't let children pull your strings.
I was asked to look after an 18th birthday in an Eastern suburb.
BYO alcohol and 140 guests.
As I always do before assigning staff to an event, I met the parents several days beforehand.
I inspected the property and noted some issues:
- Open pool in the party area.
- Neighbouring properties close by.
- Small backyard (especially given the big numbers).
Then I sat down with the parents to talk alcohol arrangements.
They said they hadn’t decided what they were going to do with the BYO alcohol.
I described the two main issues I continually face:
- Gatecrashers.
- Alcohol-fuelled violence.
I recommended that parents oversee the serving of alcohol, i.e. guests who bring alcohol hand it to parents, who then serve it responsibly.
I warned the parents that their teen would be annoyed at this security/safety measure and he’d probably convince them to let him and his friends drink as much as they wanted.
The parents said they supported my recommendation and confirmed that they were in charge.
The very next day, they sent this message:
‘We trust our child’s judgment and will let him be in charge of alcohol consumption.’
Great!
Up to this point, I had a controlled, safe environment for my staff and the guests.
The parents’ decision turned this into a volatile situation that may have required me to use (already overburdened) emergency services.
So who was in charge? The teen of course!
On the night of the event, I assigned three staff and myself.
The small space, open pool and large number of drinking teens made it very difficult for us to move around.
I was extremely concerned for the safety of the teens and my staff. While this particular party didn’t turn into a disaster, quite a few of the teens were intoxicated and extremely lucky to avoid injury.
On the same night, in a neighbouring suburb, police had to shut down a 15-year-old’s birthday party because of drunk guests.
When police asked the father why he had no security at all, he replied:
‘I thought that was your job.’
Wrong again!
I have plenty of stories like this and it’s frustrating.
I’ve compiled a national list of parties that have turned bad for similar reasons. So far, I have 35 events that have hit the media.
This is the tip of the iceberg – perhaps only 35% of the true figures. Most out-of-control parties don’t get reported to the media.
Parents must learn that they’re in charge of parties. Not their kids.
Otherwise, they’re begging for trouble.
Naomi Oakley, Managing Director, U-NOME Security Communication Specialists.
Out on a Limb
June 14, 2010 at 5:23 am | Posted in Security | 2 CommentsTags: accident, alcohol, ambulance, balcony, crowd control, death, drinking, event, fall, injury, nightmare, party, Party Plan Checklist, police, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security, venue, youth
Plant pots? Yes. Party people? No!
The Deadly Dangers of Balconies
Crash!
Last night in Sydney, a balcony packed with people collapsed at a teen party.
Around 20 guests fell more than two metres – many sustaining injuries.
Two ambulance helicopters and several road ambulances ferried them to hospital.
We could have prevented it all.
Prevention
When my company conducts a Safety Assessment on a prospective party property, we establish whether or not the venue is safe.
Based on our experience, we strongly discourage parties in places with balconies.
We’ve learnt the (very) hard way that balconies add to the problems of teen parties and increase the risk of injury.
We know that young guests have a tendency to skylark and ‘show off’ on balconies.
They hang off the sides and pretend to jump.
And sometimes they do jump.
And they fall.
Hard.
Lethal Cocktail
Domestic balconies are not designed or made to withstand dozens of bouncing bodies.
Add cracked concrete, corroded steel, alcohol and pounding music to the mix and what do you have?
Disaster.
Future
Most issues and injuries can be prevented if safety assessments are conducted.
The event permit system I’ve proposed includes this process as part of permit conditions.
It makes sense.
It’ll save lives and limbs.
What are we waiting for?
Naomi Oakley, Managing Director, U-NOME Security Communication Specialists.
Naomi Oakley
Recent Comments
paulhassing on Drugged up paulhassing on Drugged up paulhassing on Alcohol is flooding our health…
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
