Safety in sports grounds

Summary of sports grounds safety requirements

Sports stadiums with a spectator capacity of more than 10,000 people must be certified under the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975.  The capacity for Premiership or Football League grounds is 5,000.

A general safety certificate will cover use of the stadium for certain specified activities. Use for other spectator related purposes will require the issue of a special safety certificate.

A safety certificate will set:

  •  the permitted capacity for the sports ground
  • detailed terms and conditions that the ground management must comply with in order to operate the sports ground at its permitted capacity

Responsibility for the safety of spectators at the sports ground rests at all time with the sports ground management. This will normally be the owner or the leaseholder of the sports ground.

Charlton Athletic Football Club safety advisory group

The safety advisory group (SAG) provides us with specialist advice on how we can effectively carry out our responsibilities in overseeing spectator safety at sports grounds. Representatives of the football club management and emergency services attend the SAG meetings.

View the Charlton Athletic Athletic SAG safety certificate and terms of reference:

Charlton Athletic Safety Certificate
PDF - 388.6 KB
Charlton Athletic SAG Terms of Reference
PDF - 105.84 KB

If you're a Charlton Athletic fan, you can raise a safety-related issue with supporters' representatives on the safety advisory group. Contact them by email at rcable@btinternet.com or k1nsella@aol.com.

Regulated stands

A sports ground that's not designated by the government may also need to be certified under the Fire Safety and Safety at Places of Sport Act 1987.

Any sports ground must satisfy both of the following conditions:

  • the sports ground contains a covered stand
  • the covered stand has a spectator capacity of more than 500

Definitions

Stand - an artificial structure (not merely temporary) which provides accommodation for spectators and is wholly or partly covered by a roof.

Covered (in relation to spectator capacity) - covered by the roof or other part of the structure which constitutes the stand.

Further information