Incident escalation and duty of care coordination
Event emergency contact sheet
When something goes wrong, the first ten minutes are spent searching for a number that someone, somewhere, saved on a personal phone.
Opens WhatsApp with a draft you can edit before sending. Nothing is sent automatically.
The short answer
An event emergency contact sheet is a one-page list of the people your team may need to reach quickly: your own decision-makers, the venue's duty contacts, key suppliers and the competent parties the venue works with. For each, it records the role, a primary and backup contact, and who on your side may call them.
The sheet supports coordination only. It does not tell anyone how to respond to an incident. Which services to call and in what order is decided with the venue and the emergency professionals, who set their own procedures.
What the sheet is for
The sheet answers three questions fast: who do we need, how do we reach them, and who on our team is allowed to? It removes guesswork when people are busy or stressed.
It also makes a gap visible early. If the only number for the venue's duty manager is the sales contact's mobile phone, you find that out in the planning stage, not on the day.
Who belongs on the sheet
- Organiser decision-makers: event owner, deputy, committee chair and the person who speaks for the organisation, see external spokesperson authority.
- Venue contacts for the event days: the duty manager, security or control room, and the person who handles house services. Ask the venue which contacts and internal extensions it wants you to use.
- The medical or first-aid provider if one is appointed, see medical-provider liaison.
- Key suppliers: AV, registration, catering, transport and staging, each with an out-of-hours contact.
- A named person for speaker and VIP contact, and for delegate enquiries.
- The emergency services numbers the venue tells you to use. Ask the venue to confirm these in writing rather than assuming.
What each entry should record
| Field | What to write | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Role and organisation | Duty manager, hotel; AV lead, supplier X | People change; the role remains |
| Primary contact | Name, mobile and any internal extension, as given by the contact | Person who answers during the event |
| Backup contact | A second person for the same role | Protects against one phone being unreachable |
| When reachable | Hours and any known gaps | Supplier crews often change over |
| Who on our side may call | A named person and a deputy | Prevents five people calling at once |
| Last confirmed | Date and who confirmed | Numbers go out of date |
Build and check the sheet
- List roles first, then fill in names and numbers from the people themselves, not from old emails.
- Ask the venue to confirm its duty and security contacts and internal extensions in writing.
- Test every number by sending a short message or making a call that asks the person to confirm they are on the sheet.
- Fix who may call whom, and who is the single point of contact for suppliers on the day.
- Print the sheet for the control desk and keep a copy on each key person's phone. Agree where the master copy lives, and who updates it.
- Confirm again a few days before the event and at the start of each event day.
Keep it simple, current and private
A contact sheet holds personal mobile numbers, so decide who may see it and how it is stored under your organisation's privacy rules. Limit the printed copies to the people who need them and collect them after the event.
Keep the sheet to one page. Detailed incident forms, spokesperson rules and venue procedures belong on their own documents, see incident reporting form and venue emergency-plan review questions.
Tie it to roles and the run of show
Use the responsibility matrix builder to check that each role on the sheet has a named owner. Add the control desk contact to the run of show so every cue-caller knows who to reach.
Worked example · Fictional example
A contact sheet built a week before a forum
Fictional organisation and figures, for illustration only.
A fictional professional body holds a one-day forum for about 300 delegates at a hotel. A project lead drafts the contact sheet and asks the hotel for its duty manager, security contact and internal extensions. The hotel provides these in writing for the event days.
In testing, the AV supplier's out-of-hours number is not answered, and the registration lead's backup has left the organisation. Both are corrected before the event. The final sheet names the event owner as the person who may call the venue's duty manager, with the deputy as backup, and states the venue's confirmed internal extension for its control room.
Use this yourself
Event emergency contact sheet template
Copy this table to a single page and fill it from the contacts themselves. Mark any gap Not decided, with an owner and a date.
| Role and organisation | Primary contact (name, mobile, extension) | Backup contact | When reachable | Who on our side may call | Last confirmed (date, by) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event owner | |||||
| Deputy / committee chair | |||||
| Spokesperson (organiser) | |||||
| Venue duty manager | |||||
| Venue security or control room | |||||
| First-aid or medical provider (if appointed) | |||||
| AV supplier lead | |||||
| Registration lead | |||||
| Catering lead | |||||
| Speaker and VIP contact | |||||
| Emergency services numbers as confirmed in writing by the venue |
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- A small event in a familiar venue, where the venue has already given you its duty contacts.
- One person is available to confirm each number and update the sheet.
- The team has used a similar sheet before.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Several venues, suppliers and teams are involved and nobody holds the full list.
- Contacts are scattered across personal phones and old email threads.
- The event has VIP guests, external speakers or multiple rooms and the committee wants roles and call rules agreed properly.
Want the contact sheet built and checked with you?
A conference project lead can collect the contacts from your venue and suppliers, confirm each one, agree with your committee who may call whom, and keep the sheet current through the event days. The venue and emergency professionals keep their own procedures and decisions.
Questions organisers ask
Should the sheet list emergency service numbers?
Ask the venue which numbers and internal extensions it wants used, and record them as confirmed in writing by the venue. Do not rely on assumptions or on a number someone remembers.
Who should hold the master copy?
One named person, such as the project lead or secretariat head, with a deputy. Everyone else has a copy dated and marked as such, so old versions are not used.
Is the sheet a safety plan?
No. It supports coordination by showing who to reach and who may call. Safety and emergency procedures belong to the venue and emergency professionals.
How often should the numbers be checked?
When the sheet is first built, a few days before the event, and at the start of each event day. Record the date and who confirmed each entry.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.