Enablers of creativity

Safe Events Director, Mark Breen talks about the company’s extensive work in Saudi Arabia and explains how health and safety helps facilitate the incredible creativity on show in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia to be particularly ahead of the curve in this regard. “One of the things we really like about working in the Kingdom with forward-thinking companies like MDLBEAST is that they understand completely that safety is a key department that needs to be at the top table,” he commented. “For clients who are trying to lead the way and do ambitious things, we become another valuable partner that is involved from day one.”

Th e fact that large-scale live events are still a relatively new phenomenon in the Kingdom brings its own set of unique challenges. “There’s a big difference between crowds in KSA and elsewhere,” Breen reflected. “The culture of attending live events is still being developed, and it’s not something that happens overnight. There’s a huge element of social engineering taking place in Saudi Arabia, which we’re a tiny part of.”

Th e flipside of this challenge for Breen is that it provides an opportunity to make a genuine difference. “If you enjoy being at the birth of an industry and helping shape things, there’s a lot to be gained from working in KSA,” he commented. “It has its challenges, but if you enjoy giving back to the industry and helping something develop, it’s an amazing place to be doing business right now.

“There’s a raw appreciation for going to events in Saudi because it’s still such a new industry. Of course, audiences enjoy going to festivals all over the world, but they’re used to them, they have lots of options and they happen all the time,” he added. “If I ever look around on a show where there are hundreds of thousands of happy smiling faces and I don’t get a massive thrill out of it, that will be the time to finish up and do something else.”

There’s a common misconception of a typical health and safety advisor as a stickler for the rules who stymies creativity at every turn in favour of taking the zerorisk option. However, according to Safe Events’ Mark Breen, this could not be further from the truth. “We think of ourselves as enablers of creativity,” he outlined to TPiMEA. “There are very few ideas that can’t be figured out if we have enough time. The more ambitious and the larger scale they are, the better. That’s what gets us excited – the challenge of making innovative and creative things happen.”

With a penchant for ambitious projects, the Middle East is a natural fit for the Dublin-based company, which took on its first job in Saudi Arabia in early 2017. “The size and scale of the projects happening in KSA grew rapidly, and when we got the first enquiry to work with MDLBEAST in early 2021, things moved up a few more gears,” Breen commented, recalling that first conference call with the MDLBEAST team. “As I was listening and seeing more and more fantastic people join the chat, that was when I knew the project would have legs. As we know now, it’s very, very real!”

With the Safe Events team preferring to be brought into projects at the earliest possible stage, Breen has found

A large part of Safe Events’ goal in Saudi Arabia is to develop the local industry in the country through training and educational programmes. “We do the job, and we think we do it well, but it goes a bit beyond that,” Breen explained. “A big part of what excited me during that first call I went on with the MDLBEAST master planning team back in 2021 was that there was talk of developing the industry, introducing training and bringing best practice to the country.”

As well as contributing to a major educational programme that was mandatory for anyone working on Soundstorm, Safe Events has also run its first NEBOSH International General Certificate Course in the Kingdom, led by the company’s Technical Director, Paul Budden.

“We’re a very operational safety company, but one of our key goals is to impact safety on events well beyond ones that we are contracted to be involved in,” Breen concluded. “Whether that is creating free infographics, running #EventInsights webinars, doing training, or funding the NEBOSH course as part of our investment in the region, we get a kick out of doing things that make the whole industry safer for everyone.”

Photos: Safe Events www.safeevents.ie