Health & Safety

Building smarter, safer public spaces: modern approaches to crisis management

How prepared is your organization for a crisis? In a fireside chat with Billy Pappas (D4H/EcoOnline) and David Thurston (University of Greater Manchester), real-world insights revealed gaps in emergency readiness across sectors.

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By Stephanie Fuller

January 21, 2026

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How prepared is your organization to handle a crisis? In a recent fireside chat, Billy Pappas, Emergency Management Solutions Specialist at D4H (now part of EcoOnline), sat down with David Thurston, Health and Safety Manager at the University of Greater Manchester, to explore this crucial question. Drawing from real experiences, their conversation revealed eye-opening gaps in how organizations across education, transport, housing, healthcare, and cultural institutions approach emergency preparedness.

Here are the key insights from their conversation that can help you bolster your crisis management processes and ensure your organization is prepared to meet the evolving demands of public safety.

Table of contents

Click on a specific section below to navigate to that area:

1. Real-life incidents reveal hidden gaps in crisis management
2. Public-facing organizations operate like “mini cities” and must plan as such
3. Technology is essential for modern, coordinated emergency and crisis management
4. Regulations like Martyn’s Law are raising expectations across all sectors
5. Proactive crisis management protects lives and reduces long-term costs
6. Crisis plans must be flexible, trained, and continuously improved
7. Why choose D4H for modern crisis management?

1. Real-life incidents reveal hidden gaps in crisis management

The 2019 Cube Fire at Bolton student accommodation serves as a stark reminder that even small triggers can expose systemic weaknesses. On a Friday evening, a discarded cigarette ignited a blaze that destroyed the top floor of a building housing over 200 students. While only minor injuries occurred (a far better outcome than the 72 fatalities in the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire) it revealed profound coordination gaps.

By midnight, nearly half of the university’s staff had self-deployed to campus. This was approximately 200 people with good intentions but no clear roles or coordination. Most telling, the university’s Health and Safety Manager wasn’t informed until Monday morning. This communication breakdown underscores why proactive planning matters across all public-facing sectors. Whether responding to fires, security threats, severe weather, or public disorder, organizations need established protocols that ensure the right people receive critical information at the right time.

And in twenty nineteen, an accommodation block which contained two hundred of our students, as you can see, went on fire. So it’s really an examination, I think, of what we did and what we didn’t do and what went well and what didn’t go well on that night and subsequent time. And that photo that you just pulled up because I don’t think I’ve seen that photo before actually and I’m a former firefighter that flashover on that top floor looked monstrous. That is quite ablaze. Although I do notice too, so two minor injuries in twenty nineteen compared to the seventy two fatalities back in twenty seventeen. So could you actually walk through, because I mean, it’s one thing to see a fire, but then what you just said, your students, your building, I feel like there’s a lot more of a personal element there. What was it like you know can you unfold how the event happened and how everything kind of went down? So the university itself doesn’t and I don’t think it did at the time, doesn’t own any accommodation blocks. Some universities do, we don’t. So this was owned by a private company, but we had over two hundred of our students renting property there. And so it was Friday evening, and about nine o’clock on a Friday evening, and from what we can understand from the subsequent fire investigation, there was a group of students, most people who were out, but there was a group, they were smoking, and discarded cigarettes landed, and that started the fire. There were a whole host of things which came out as of the recommendations, but as you can see, the fire caught pretty, pretty strongly. And there was also real concern based on what happened to Grenfell and all of the the issues with, the cladding and so on and flammable cladding as to whether it was the same or not. It was flammable, but it was it was a different type. But you can see that it completely wiped out the top floor. And in terms of rescue, say most people were out. So that was good. That was good from everybody’s point of view. There are a couple of people who suffered quite minor injuries who were treated at the scene, that was fine. So then it’s really the response. So a lot of firefighters going into the center of the town, a lot of staff are out socially on a Friday evening, seeing all of these fire engines and police and so on, all heading towards the center and wondering what’s going on, realizing that it’s the cube and deciding that they ought to go to the campus, the university campus, to see whether they could help out. And clearly informally, were WhatsApping and phoning each other. And so by about midnight, we had almost half of the university staff on campus. Now that’s a good thing, and that’s a bad thing. Yes. So it’s a good thing because you’ve got lots of hands. It’s a bad thing because people are just turning up and with no particular role and no particular coordination. And I think this is where things like D4H can really help because it was really difficult. And people felt as though they wanted to help, but were being told, well, I think you need to go home. Well, I really want to help. I’ve got a couple of students who live there, and there was that element to it.

2. Public-facing organizations operate like “mini cities” and must plan as such

Universities, hospitals, transport hubs, entertainment venues, and cultural institutions function as mini cities with large, open populations moving through their spaces daily. During both the Cube Fire and summer 2024 riots across the UK, the University of Greater Manchester found it difficult to communicate building-specific instructions across its open campus. When hostile groups appeared, students in the library had legitimate safety concerns but at the time, the university lacked mechanisms to provide targeted, real-time guidance to specific zones.

This challenge extends across sectors. Transport networks manage constantly changing populations; sports venues handle tens of thousands of attendees; shopping centers and corporate campuses face similar complexities. These crowd-rich environments cannot rely on fire alarms alone.

They need robust communication infrastructure and coordinated response systems. For example, the ability to direct people to shelter in place in one building while evacuating another has become essential for modern public safety management.

3. Technology is essential for modern, coordinated emergency and crisis management

The absence of digital tools during the Cube Fire meant no real-time data, no shared situational awareness, and no reliable record for post-incident review. Staff contacted each other via phone calls and WhatsApp groups, leading quickly to fragmented information. Decision-makers lacked comprehensive views of response activities or evolving needs.

This mirrors challenges where emergency responses still relies on phone trees, paper checklists, and scattered channels. Modern crisis management requires integrated solutions providing live incident logging, alerting capabilities, and centralized coordination. Digital platforms enable teams to document decision-making in real-time, ensuring comprehensive data about what worked and what didn’t. They solve communication challenges (i.e. reaching students in particular buildings, passengers in specific zones, or staff in designated areas) while creating accessible repositories of emergency information.

By recording how decisions were made and what informed them, digital platforms transform emergency management from reactive improvisation into evidence-based practice. This creates defensible decisions with a clear audit trail that satisfies insurers, stakeholders, and regulatory requirements.

4. Regulations like Martyn’s Law are raising expectations across all sectors

Following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing that killed 22 people, Martyn’s Law (the Terrorism Protection of Premises Act) was passed in April 2025, mandating terrorism preparedness across the UK. The legislation establishes tiers based on capacity: under 200 people are exempt; those that can reasonably expect 200-799 (standard tier) need documented plans; 800+ (enhanced tier) must submit a full suite of security and public-protection measures to the regulator.

Universities fall into the enhanced tier. Penalties are designed to focus attention: up to £18 million or 5% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. With implementation required by April 2027, organizations across sectors face pressure to develop comprehensive crisis management capabilities. The legislation covers temporary events too. For example, Glastonbury Festival must develop event-specific plans despite only operating for a short amount of time each year.

However, the Security Industry Authority hasn’t published official guidance, leaving organizations uncertain with less than 18 months remaining. The tension between immediate planning needs and absent regulatory standards creates significant uncertainty for compliance efforts.

Do you believe that a digital platform is the best way forward? Do you think paper and Excel sheets might be the best way for? I mean, single agency is going to have their preferences. Obviously, it might seem like an obvious answer that digital is the best solution, but sometimes they don’t have that resource available to them. And so, ideally, do you think that would be the best solution for everybody to proceed? Or, you know, is there anything else that can maybe you can recommend from your experience and your understanding? Yeah. So I think it has to be. And I think what what what’s the reason why we started by looking at the cube was that we didn’t have a digital mechanism. It’s really what’s driving my need for a solution here because what I you know, the cube finished and we have no data Right. As to what happened. Yes. What was going to happen was the end of twenty nineteen, when it all, you know, all wound down around about the Christmas break, then early twenty twenty, we were all going to get together and review what had happened. But guess what happened in early twenty twenty? This little virus appeared. And, you know, eighteen months later, everybody forgot about the cube. Mm They’d almost forgotten about most of the stages of COVID. We we just survived it. And so, it was kind of, you know, we’ve got no data, some people have left and so on in order to say, well, that was a good decision or not. So one of, I think, one of the great advantages of D4H is the ability to live capture what you’re doing, your decision making. Yep. But also to try and communicate to meaningfully to the groups of people who need the information and have a repository of information in there for particular types of event. And it doesn’t have to be a huge fire or a multinational pandemic. It can be a gas leak or on occasions the header tanks above the ceiling will overflow and we’ll lose a couple of lecture theaters. And we only know about this at three o’clock in the morning. And the people who were there, if they’ve got information to hand, they’d have to phone the duty manager who’s asked to scrape themselves out of bed to come to switch the tap off. So, it’s having that ability to communicate but also mass communication.

5. Proactive crisis management protects lives and reduces long-term costs

Leadership teams often hesitate to invest in crisis preparedness, viewing it as “paying for the ambulance not to turn up.” Yet the Cube Fire demonstrates the financial reality of being underprepared. Despite not owning the building, the incident cost the University of Greater Manchester £1.25 million in emergency accommodation, donation coordination, response activities, and reputational management.

Across sectors, the pattern is clear: the cost of responding to emergencies without established frameworks almost always exceeds the cost of preparedness. With regulatory requirements like Martyn’s Law, the financial case becomes even stronger. £18 million in penalties makes preparedness investments look modest by comparison. The most important consideration is the potential loss of human lives. Beyond these costs, unprepared organizations also face reputational damage, operational disruption, potential litigation, and lost stakeholder confidence.

The business case for preparedness goes far beyond simply avoiding fines. It’s about building operational resilience and ensuring long-term sustainability.

6. Crisis plans must be flexible, trained, and continuously improved

No single plan addresses every threat, but organizations can prepare through flexible frameworks and regular training. Effective preparedness requires three elements: thinking through scenarios to identify critical decision points; regular training ensuring teams understand roles and can execute plans (extending beyond staff to students, customers, or passengers); and taking time after incidents to review what worked and what didn’t, transforming experience into valuable learning. This final step closes the loop by drawing actionable insights from real-world events and implementing them through adjusted plans and protocols, creating a cycle of continuous iteration and improvement.

But this is going to be a mandatory law in the UK. And so could you give a little bit of context for those who may not know what is Martin’s Law? And then we could talk about how that kind of fits into the context of the Cube Fire and how that kind of shapes the future. Absolutely. So Martin’s Law comes from the Ariana Grande Manchester Arena bombing in twenty seventeen. Right. I forgot about that. Yes. And so Martin Hett was one of the the victims. Twenty two people were killed in that attack. And her his mother, Feagan, was has campaigned long and hard to to try and ensure that venues and events are properly prepared and properly have proper plans for dealing with specifically terrorism attacks. And so in twenty twenty five, so in April this year, the Terrorism Protection of Premises Act was passed. And so in the UK, we have two years before this legislation becomes live. So they’ve decided to give everybody two years. And depending on the size of your venue or the size of your event will depend on how much preparation you need. So very basically, if you have less than two hundred people, so that’s a little village hall, then nobody’s going to worry about that. From two hundred to seven ninety nine, then that’s I think called the standard tier, and what that means is you have to have a plan in place for dealing with potential terrorism threat. Above seven ninety nine, so eight hundred and above, you have to not only have that plan but it has to be documented and it has to be sent to the Security Industries Agency who are going to be the regulator, and they have to approve your plan. Now, for universities, we’re all in the enhanced level. So that means that we’ve all got to, because if you add all the staff and all the students, then there are rarely times when you have less than seven ninety nine, so it makes sense. And so what it says is that if you’ve got a venue or an event which is over seven ninety nine, then you have to have these these things in place. Because what transpired from the Manchester Arena attack was that there was a lot of problems in terms of the the reaction and the response. And so, I think this this mandating of all event all all events and, all, venues will have a, you know, a well, it it should tighten up the potential response.

The Cube Fire demonstrated this challenge. Response review plans in early 2020 were overtaken by COVID-19. Without documented data about decisions and outcomes, valuable learning was lost. Continuous improvement requires creating readiness cultures where testing plans, identifying gaps, and refining approaches becomes standard practice. This means acknowledging what didn’t work without blame and recognizing preparedness as ongoing, not just a one-off tick box exercise.

7. Why choose D4H for modern crisis management?

The challenges discussed during Billy and David’s discussion represent exactly what D4H was designed to solve. As David noted: “One of the great advantages of D4H is the ability to live capture what you’re doing, your decision-making, but also to try and communicate meaningfully to the groups of people who need the information and have a repository of information in there.”

For organizations facing Martyn’s Law compliance or seeking to protect communities more effectively, D4H provides the integrated platform necessary for modern crisis management. From live incident logging and alerting to centralized coordination and comprehensive post-incident analysis, D4H transforms emergency response from reactive improvisation into evidence-based practice. The platform’s intuitive design and extensive customizability mean teams can focus on what matters rather than grappling with technology during critical moments. You’ll benefit from a system that adapts to your organization’s unique needs rather than forcing you to work around rigid software constraints.

As regulatory expectations rise and threats evolve, investing in proven crisis management technology isn’t just about compliance. It’s about protecting lives, reducing costs, and building organizational resilience. Get in touch with the experts at D4H today to book a demo and find out more.

About the author

Stephanie Fuller

Content Writer

Stephanie Fuller is a Content Writer at EcoOnline with a Master’s Degree in Journalism and over 10 years of agency writing experience across diverse industries. She is passionate about health and safety topics and is dedicated to helping employers create safer, more supportive workplaces.