Trade show marketing at Glasgow SEC: Scottish safety duties

What to take away

Named SEC Centre exhibitors and shows: the campus hosts Scotland's Trade Fair & Speciality Food Show, the Scottish Caravan, Motorhome & Holiday Home Show and BBC Good Food Show Scotland. Exhibitor lists for these shows have included Tunnock's, Walker's Shortbread, Mackie's, Marquis Leisure, Lowdhams and Dometic. Check the organiser's manual for the current floor plan and stand rules.

Scotland's event safety duties and where they differ

Scotland has its own legal system, courts and prosecutors. Health and safety law is largely reserved to Westminster, so the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforces at the SEC Centre and across Scotland.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies across the UK, and HSE event safety expectations are the same in Glasgow as in Birmingham.

Where Scotland differs is in fire safety and building standards. Fire safety duties are set out principally in the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, rather than the Fire Safety Order used in England and Wales. For a trade show, the venue's fire strategy and your stand's fire risk assessment must satisfy Scottish requirements.

Glasgow City Council's public entertainment licensing regime under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 is the event licence to check: ask the council and organiser whether the show is covered by a public entertainment licence and what conditions apply. Scotland's building standards are set by the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003; a building warrant may be required for relevant building work. Ask Glasgow's building standards service and the SEC whether the proposed structure or work needs a warrant or falls within an exemption. The venue's own rules sit on top of the law; compressed gas, generators or pyrotechnics may trigger further controls.

Scotland's climate also matters. Glasgow is wetter and windier than most English cities, and the SEC's riverside location on the Clyde exposes loading bays and outdoor areas. Temporary structures and banners outside must be rated for the wind and rain they will actually meet.

For a wider view of UK duties, see our guide to trade show marketing UK regulations.

HSE expectations for temporary structures at the SEC Centre

HSE treats stands, stages, trusses and marquees as temporary structures. The duty is to make them stable and safe for the people who build them and the public who walk past. HSE's The event safety guide: A guide to health, safety and welfare at music and similar events (HSG195) covers event safety management; use it alongside HSE's event safety guidance for temporary structures.

The starting point is a design that a competent person has checked. For anything beyond a simple shell scheme, you need structural calculations or a designer's statement. The SEC Centre will ask for these before build-up. Wind loading is the usual weak point: a large banner or roof panel acts like a sail.

Before opening, check the structure, its installation and the inspection arrangements, including:

HSE's event safety guidance and HSG195, The event safety guide: A guide to health, safety and welfare at music and similar events, are reference points for a reasonable event safety system. Read them before you brief a contractor, and use the HSE guidance relevant to your structure and activity.

Contractor rules and competence checks in Scotland

You remain responsible for anyone you bring onto the SEC Centre site. Contractor rules in Scotland follow the same principle as the rest of the UK: check competence before you appoint, and manage the work once it starts. The venue will also have its own contractor accreditation and pass system.

Competence means more than a cheap quote. Ask for evidence of similar stands, trained staff, insurance and a named supervisor. Companies House records help you verify that a supplier exists and who runs it. If a contractor cannot show public liability cover and a method statement, do not let them start.

Subcontractors are the usual gap. A rigging firm may bring in a freelancer who has never seen the SEC's rules. Require your principal contractor to declare every subcontractor and pass the same checks down the chain. Our piece on trade show marketing risk scenarios covers what goes wrong when this is skipped.

Risk assessments and fire safety for Glasgow exhibitors

Risk assessments are a legal duty under The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and they apply to trade show activities. A stand build is work, so you need a suitable and sufficient assessment of what could harm people and what you will do about it.

For a Glasgow show, write the assessment for the actual stand and the actual venue. Cover build-up, show days and breakdown separately, because the risks differ. Include electrical work, manual handling, slips on wet floors near the Clyde-side doors, and crowd movement around your stand.

Fire safety is the other half. The venue holds an overall fire risk assessment, but your stand can create its own hazards: stored packaging, heaters, cooking equipment, lithium batteries and blocked gangways. For open-air event elements, GOV.UK's Fire safety risk assessment: open-air events and venues is a useful reference; for Scottish premises, consult the Scottish Government's Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Places of Entertainment and Assembly.

Keep these points in your fire plan, alongside the staff briefing below:

If you handle visitor data on the stand, that sits alongside your safety duties. See our trade show marketing data protection checks for the scanner, badge and consent side of the show.

Work at height and rigging at Scottish venues

Rigging and work at height cause a large share of serious event injuries. At the SEC Centre, rigging happens in the roof, on trusses and on tall stands. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply, and the rule is simple: avoid work at height where you can, and control it where you cannot.

For rigging, use trained and competent people. Ask for their certificates and for the lifting equipment inspection records. Lifting equipment must be examined by a competent person at the required intervals, and the paperwork must be on site.

Glasgow's weather can interrupt outdoor rigging and loading. Build float into your schedule rather than pushing crews to work in unsafe conditions. For build schedules and crew planning, our trade show marketing operations guide sets out a practical timeline.

Reporting incidents and first aid duties at the SEC

If someone is injured at your stand, you must respond and report. RIDDOR reporting rules set out which injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences must be reported to the enforcing authority, which at the SEC Centre is HSE.

Reportable events include fractures, amputations, hospital admissions over seven days and certain dangerous occurrences such as a structure collapse.

Reporting is not a substitute for care. First aid requirements depend on your workforce and the risks. HSE first aid guidance explains how to assess what you need, from a trained first aider to a fully stocked kit.

At a trade show, the venue provides first aid cover, but that does not remove your duty to your own staff.

The venue's first aid point and the nearest defibrillator should be on your staff briefing. Print it, do not rely on memory.

A Glasgow exhibitor safety checklist

Use this before every Scottish show. It covers the duties that most often trip up exhibitors at the SEC Centre.

Keep a single safety file with all of it, plus the venue's rules and the show organiser's manual. If an inspector or the venue asks, you can answer in minutes.

Common questions