DEDICO supported the GAA's National Health and Safety Committee to produce the 2026 Event Safety Management Guide, the definitive national reference for safe event operations across every GAA ground in Ireland. The committee provided the expertise and authority; DEDICO did the drafting, research, editing, and production work to turn that expertise into a finished publication.
At a glance
- Client: GAA National Health and Safety Committee
- Role: Research, drafting, editing, and production
- Scope: National, covering all GAA grounds in Ireland
- Format: Print and digital publication
- Status: Published 2026
The brief
The GAA's National Health and Safety Committee, the body responsible for health and safety standards across the association, set out to produce a single, authoritative guide to event safety management that would work for every GAA ground in the country, from a small club ground hosting a few hundred people to a county stadium running a high-profile inter-county fixture.
The committee held the subject-matter expertise: safety professionals, event management specialists, legal knowledge, and deep familiarity with how GAA grounds actually operate. What they needed was someone to do the document work, to take that expertise, gather the research, structure the content, write and edit the drafts, and drive it through to a finished, usable publication.
That is where DEDICO came in. The engagement was not advisory; it was operational. DEDICO's role was researcher, drafter, editor, and production manager, making sure the guide actually got written and got published.
The approach
The work had two main strands running in parallel: content and production.
On the content side, the work involved gathering all source input: research, legislation, existing guidance, and expert contributions across health and safety, event management, stewarding, medical provision, and emergency planning. DEDICO compiled, structured, and edited that material into a single coherent document, working through multiple drafts with the committee to get the detail and the language right.
The guide needed to be practical enough for a volunteer-run club committee and rigorous enough to sit alongside Irish and Northern Irish health and safety legislation. Getting that balance right was an editing problem as much as a content one.
On the production side, the guide was taken through to print-ready layout and a digital version accessible via the GAA Safe County portal, with QR-code navigation to the full appendix library.
What was delivered
- A complete, edited Event Safety Management Guide covering nine chapters: Ground Management Responsibilities, Planning for Events, Providing a Safe Venue, Medical Facilities and First Aid, Environmental Safety, Communications, Stewarding and Security, and Emergency Planning.
- Eleven appendices covering legislation, templates, checklists, training pathways, and contingency planning frameworks.
- A print-ready designed document and a digital version accessible via the GAA Safe County portal.
- Integration with the GAA's existing online resources and QR-code navigation to the digital appendix library.
The outcome
The guide was published in 2026 as the GAA's national standard for event safety management. It is the primary reference document for Ground Management, Event Controllers, Safety Officers, and Chief Stewards at every GAA ground in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the basis for the NHSC's ongoing training and compliance programme.
Considering similar work?
If your organisation has the expertise but needs someone to do the document work (research, drafting, editing, or taking a body of knowledge through to a finished, usable publication), the right first step is a short call.