Event Safety Services

01/06/2026

Lots of our staff are Outdoor Guides and/or experienced trail runners. Here an ESS team goes onto the Main Range in late November with our Terra Tamer wheeled rescue stretcher to bring a hypothermic and injured runner in during Ultra Trail Kosci.

19/05/2026

Thanks to Jaime Bohm one of our riggers for the great night pics showing Miler runners on Tarros ladders.

19/05/2026

Ultra Trail Australia May 2026

We’ve just finished supporting the huge UTA that saw almost 8000 runners this year. This is now the biggest annual event in the Blue Mountains as far as the visitor dollars it brings in via accom, meals and other services.
ESS is a significant contributor with a variety of services:
* Medical team (over 200 shifts across the four days) including doctors, nurses and first aiders.
* Logistics support with 4WD trucks and utes
* Water tanks for remote check-points
* Temporary erosion mitigation infrastructure to protect sensitive hanging swamps and lesser-user walking trails (Duncans Pass and Bruces Walk)
* Our specialist radio network for areas without phone reception.
* Rigging and Safety team for Tarros Ladders
* Land Manager liaising

This event drags in every one of our diverse team from medical staff to riggers, risk managers right through to our junior first aiders who learn so much and even a few work experience students from Katoomba High.

30/04/2026

10/04/2026

AN ESS SAFETY NET FOR BONDI FIRELIGHT FESTIVAL
Thursday night saw two of our first aiders looking after the crowd enjoying the camp fires, music and good vibes on the beach. Pics courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/soulganicAU Willem Roorda and Lauren Storaker

23/01/2026

REAL RISK MANAGEMENT IS ENABLING

Proper Risk Management is an enabling tool to help innovators and event organisers and businesses stage exciting, safe and successful events.

Lucas and the ESS team are skilled and experienced with informed evaluations and creating real, tailored risk mitigations to launch and develop well-managed events and businesses. This needs innovative thinking that breaks away from the mundane.

Window dressing risk management uses templated, boring carbon copy risk plans to sneak a permit past a land manager or unknowing insurance broker. These plans are more worried about everyone wearing steel-capped shoes and high-vis than digging deep into activities, systems, thorough research and proper evaluations.

Photo: Safety expert and ESS principal Lucas Trihey making some real-world risk evaluations on the first ascent of Solstice (110m), Mt Banks Upper Walls, Grose Valley, Blue Mountains NSW. Photo: Simon Bolton

05/01/2026

A Blue Mountains Gazette article about the ESS team who contributed to the production of the Charlize Theron thriller APEX (due out on Netflix in April!). If you can't get past the paywall - screenshots are in comments.

Discover how Blue Mountains outdoor guides and students powered the production of the Netflix thriller Apex.

18/12/2025

END OF YEAR WRAP

At this time of year the ESS focus shifts to community and public events as endurance and sporting events wind down for the holiday period.
We’ve got first aiders assisting at the huge beach party that takes over Bronte Beach on Christmas Day and first aiders going to NYE events.
And today we have a team of four on the final job for the year helping NPWS to manage bushwalking tracks for a day of helicopter loads going in to Govetts Leap.
January and February 2026 are looking busy with sending first aiders to large conferences and sporting events.
Watch this space for enhancements to our heat mitigation services that we’ll be rolling out in 2026: daily WBGT predictions, weather monitoring and portable, onsite cooling equipment for hire.

movie: ESS staff are working today with National Parks to manage walking tracks for Heli Ops. vid by Lauren Storaker

09/12/2025

ESS - PART OF A MULTI-AGENCY TEAM LOOKING AFTER XMAS REVELLERS

We are pleased to be working with Waverley Council as part of the solution to the massive Bronte Beach Xmas Party that has grown into a big deal in recent years. We are sending a team of first aiders on Xmas day as part of a multi-agency Emergency Services team that includes Ambos, Police, Security and lots more.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/councils-250000-crackdown-after-unacceptable-christmas-day-party-at-bronte-beach-013348850.html?utm_social_post_id=617923576&utm_social_handle_id=243936098957151&fbclid=IwY2xjawOkshVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFjRmhsVzcwc2diQzEyOWhNc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHqnseS6jfMyIsarKOSifmbC2QyO2aB0fWpfxyJ38D9KpJMwc111fz50ShOBd_aem_Nrv8oEBoxVQ3T5BAUJoIXw

There is a long list of changes in place for one of the largest Christmas parties in the country.

27/10/2025

HEAT STRESS GUIDANCE FOR ATHLETES

ESS has been leading the way with research and guidelines for Heat Stress at Trail Running events since 2014.
We use the Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer Heat Stress Index that incorporates ambient temp, humidity, breeze (or lack of) to create a value to give event organisers customised information for their event in warm conditions that factors in their activity, the duration and runner cohort.
Using that data we can make a reliable forecast of whether we’ll see conditions where we could see participants collapse from heat and can work with organisers to come up with Heat Mitigation measures to keep the event going even on high heat stress days.
Sport Medicine Australia has just released an update on Heat Stress for sport and it’s great to see that the guidelines that ESS has been creating for 11 years is validated by the new SMA recommendations.
https://sma.org.au/sma-unveils-new-extreme-heat-policy/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNrzYtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHu1iY4OKYm0AIeCUlB_AYp5BmbV-9gpBkSY57GOBgcVIjacD6vYQWCIMeYrK_aem_yLAWcJuXxo8B9wX9AzqMwg
If event organisers want industry-best advice that’s informed by years of evaluation and experience drop a line and we can help you run events more safely on hot days.

The new Sports Medicine Australia (SMA) Extreme Heat Policy developed by Professor Ollie Jay (University of Sydney), Associate Professor Carolyn Broderick (University of NSW and Chief Medical Officer…