Keeping your carnival safe, legal and happy

There are numerous legal issues that affect carnival organisers, so you need to be aware of the issues that affect your legal liability and have a good understanding of best practice, appropriate to the type and scale of your festival. Read the Legal Liability, Insurance and Licencing sections.

Overall, carnival organisers should always ensure that they have carried out a duty of "reasonable care" towards all those affected by their activities, including volunteers, staff, suppliers and audiences. By doing this you will also be more likely to attract the willing support of those around you, as they know that you will have put safety of all stakeholders in the heart of your planning.

Organising a carnival, especially on a volunteer basis, can be very time consuming and to simply get the basics done is likely to take up the majority of your time and you may feel that there is not enough hours in the day to focus on legal issues. However, if you don't, you may be putting yourself at a risk as ultimately the legal liability falls on the shoulders of the event organiser if anything should happen.