Safety & Security

The foundation of a successful event must be a robust safety plan that strives to keep all participants and spectators safe from harm.

In March 2021, we published the revised ‘International Cricket Council Tournament Safety Planning Framework’ which sets out the minimum standards expected of host nations for ICC events which are safe, secure, safeguarded and spectacular.

The objective of this framework is to develop a consistent ICC minimum standard of safety plans that are resilient, proportionate, and appropriate and that are understood, owned by and communicated to all relevant parties delivering events.

Importantly, this framework seeks to shift tournament planning from a narrow focus on physical security to a more holistic view of the development of a broader safety strategy for participants and the attending public at ICC events. Plans and planning should be responsive and appropriate to the national and international safety and security environment and context

This approach is based on international best practice and ICC/host nation learning from recent events/tournaments. The planning cycle articulated in the framework seeks to develop safety processes for ICC events/tournaments founded on a mature appreciation of intelligence; these are ‘living’ documents that will be reviewed at regular intervals in response to learning from tournaments.

It is critical that we strive to ensure that that there is a clear line of sight between a comprehensive intelligence risk assessment that informs the formulation of tournament safety plans.

In addition, we have issued guidance for the management of bio-safe cricket within the context of the COVID 19 pandemic. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been profound and persistent across nations and societies throughout the world. Different population groups within a single society have experienced the pandemic disproportionately; there is no single pandemic experience across the world. This disproportionate impact has also been seen in other sports; there is no ‘one size fits all' approach to managing elite, professional or recreational sport. This guidance builds on the ‘ICC Back to Cricket Guidelines’ first published in May 2020. It cannot be neither prescriptive nor exhaustive due to the different national regulatory environments and our evolving understanding of COVID-19; but the ICC seeks to provide guidance and have a common understanding of the position as we know it at the current time.

The policy frameworks place a strong emphasis on adopting a collegiate, collaborative approach to safety planning underpinned by appropriate exercising, testing and debriefing processes.