Rethinking risk at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games
With 6,500 athletes and team officials, a 60,000-strong workforce and over 1.5m spectators attending, the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games Organising Committee faced a significant challenge in planning a safe, successful event in the midst of a global pandemic. In addition to corporate sponsorship, we provided Covid scenario and response planning support to help manage a previously unimagined level of risk.
Setting the scene
The Organising Committee (OC) needed to prepare and deploy Covid safeguards for a huge number of people. Not only was the unprecedented nature of this work a challenge in itself, but the ever-changing Covid prevalence levels - and associated national and international guidance - meant building flexibility into plans and governance structures was imperative.
How we helped
Our Risk team was appointed to help rethink the approach to the risks faced. Rather than focusing exclusively on Covid levels anticipated at the time of the Games, we supported the development of a flexible, scalable scenario planning framework that articulated how the OC was to cope with multiple scenarios through the planning and delivery phases.
We supported the operational planning by creating end-to-end user journeys detailing risks and mitigations in line with the frameworks for seven separate client groups (Athletes, Media, Games Family, Spectators etc.). The scenarios informed the everyday journeys of athletes and members of the games family, ensuring they were safe and able to compete.
We also used our own data monitoring and intelligence capabilities, providing the OC with continuous reporting on Covid prevalence across the Commonwealth nations.
“Determining the impact of Covid on the Games was a difficult curve ball in the Organising Committee’s planning. We were ready to help with data and analytical skills and experience of helping other organisations put on events in pandemic conditions and we are very glad to have been of assistance at this time, when the position was changing almost daily.”
Making a difference
Working closely with the OC to rethink the approach to risk, we helped plan to a level of risk that would have been unimaginable at previous Commonwealth Games. We helped them navigate the uncertainty of such an unprecedented, fast-moving situation, changing the way they predict, prepare and respond to risk and providing them with the confidence to make critical decisions.
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