After decades of campaigning, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, widely referred to as the Hillsborough Law, is going through UK Parliament with the aim of placing accountability and honesty at the core of public service, says Lloyd Major, pictured, CEO of the incident and ops recording software developer Halo Solutions.
It represents a fundamental change in how organisations are expected to act both before and after serious incidents. For stadium safety professionals, the question is not whether this matters but how it changes daily operations. What does it mean in practice and what steps should operators take to embed openness and responsibility across the sector?
Transparency and responsibility
Legislation that strengthens public safety and reinforces accountability should always be welcomed. No family should be left to deal with confusion, deflection or blame after losing a loved one. The positive reception of the Hillsborough Law reflects this reality. It formalises a long overdue expectation that honesty and transparency must guide every response to major incidents.
As a result, stadiums and live events operators across the UK are now reassessing their safety processes and reporting frameworks. Other sectors such as aviation have long demonstrated how robust governance, regulation and compliance can significantly improve safety outcomes. The expectation is that the events industry will achieve similar gains by introducing clearer processes and more centralised record keeping.
Operational systems that log activity and generate accurate time stamped records allow organisations to demonstrate exactly what happened and when. In the event of an incident, this level of clarity supports those in accountable roles who may need to speak publicly, while also meeting insurer requirements and offering reassurance to regulators and audiences alike.
Operational reality
For operators seeking to adapt and ensure compliance with the Hillsborough Law, a useful first step is to ask some simple but revealing questions. Can you see what is happening across your venue in real time from a single dashboard? Can that information be trusted and can its accuracy be proven if challenged? If the answer is no, then there are underlying structural or procedural gaps that need addressing through improved communication, stronger data management and visible leadership commitment.
Making digital record keeping, time stamped evidence and data integrity part of everyday operations ensures that safety and accountability are embedded rather than treated as an afterthought. Leadership plays a defining role here. Senior teams must demonstrate the behaviours and standards they expect throughout the organisation.
Crucially, businesses should avoid responding to new legislation with a reactive or compliance only mindset. A box ticking approach rarely delivers meaningful change. Instead, organisations should focus on building a lasting culture of safety excellence that naturally aligns with the intent and obligations of the Hillsborough Law.
Technology underpins trust, compliance
Digital platforms are central to delivering transparency and supporting compliance. When safety processes are recorded as they happen and stored in a single auditable system, they become easier to review, analyse and learn from. This approach reduces duplication, improves efficiency and establishes a clear and verifiable source of truth.
The data generated by these systems can also highlight patterns, support training programmes and strengthen proactive risk management. Over time, this helps create an environment where accountability and safety are part of everyday decision making rather than responses to crises.
Conclusion
For far too long, families affected by tragedy have had to fight simply to uncover the truth. The new duty of candour acknowledges what many across the industry already understand. Transparency and honesty save lives, protect organisations and rebuild trust. However, candour is only meaningful when it is supported by evidence.
Clear, time stamped records and well defined systems allow organisations to show not only what decisions were taken but also the reasoning behind them. This is how lessons are properly learned and confidence is restored. The industry now has an opportunity to go further by adopting a holistic approach to safety operations, one where nothing relies on memory or assumption and where accountability is built in from the outset.
