Engineering a safe event: Edinburgh's International Festival fireworks

Abstract

Outdoor events throughout Britain are increasing in number and complexity. It is now common to have street-based events for crowds in excess of 100000 spectators and it is essential that public safety issues be addressed. Edinburgh's annual International Festival and Fringe has for the past 21 years ended with a bang. The month-long festival concludes with a spectacular classical concert and fireworks display with thousands of fireworks launched from Edinburgh Castle over the heads of 100000 spectators and into the night sky. This paper describes how the engineering of a major street-based event such as the Festival Fireworks can be achieved by professional multi-agency planning, a designed infrastructure, and by acting on the issues raised by previously identified points in the debrief report.