Crowd Safety Management Report
Part 1
Visit the Crowdsafe website www.crowdsafe.com
Task
- List five major crowd control problems that have led to significant numbers of casualties at rock concerts.
Part 2
Visit an event venue (of your choice) and evaluate the emergency plan in terms of:
- the venue’s physical features and likely emergency risks
- the venue map, emergency equipment and access for emergency services
- entrances and exits for the event audience
- clarity of roles for staff involved
- reporting relationships
- communication technologies
- record-keeping
- other legal compliance or adherence to Standards.
Provide a written summary of your evaluation clearly addressing each of these points along with supporting evidence including floor plans, signage and photographs.
Part 3
You are going to hire a venue for a fashion parade.
Important information:
- The venue you have in mind is an old theatre that lends itself well to the event, with excellent sight lines for the audience.
- However, the decor and lighting planned by your Artistic Director for your fashion parade may compromise safety.
Drapes over the ceiling area will obscure the normal lighting and prevent the fire sensors and sprinklers from working correctly.
There are a number of props that may hinder access to and out of the venue.
- On the other hand, the audience expected is quite small.
Answer the following questions:
- What are some of the safety risks associated with this event?
Include completed risk assessment documentation (complete this prior to developing the evacuation plan)
- Who is responsible for the safety of the venue and the audience?
- With whom should you discuss the risks associated with your event concept?
- How could the risks be reduced?
- What sorts of contingency plans could be developed?
- What should the evacuation plan include?
Performance Criteria
- Analyse risks associated with large crowds
- Develop crowd management strategies
- Develop crowd management operational plan
- Develop Emergency crowd management procedures
- Evaluate crowd management plan and procedures
Risks Associated with Crowds
Crowd Management
Contingency plans need to be in place in case of emergencies at an event and, clearly, easy access for emergency services is one of the first aspects that needs to be considered.
Evacuation and spectator management are others
Australian standards Examples:
- 4 pyrotechnics – outdoors
- 2.3 lighting for outdoor football
- As/nzs2293.3 emergency evacuation lighting for buildings
- AS1680 interior lighting – safe movement
Transport
There are also many considerations in relation to transport to the event site, parking and access to the venue. An outstanding website, travelsmart, provides extensive guidelines in this regard and also lists the relevant legislative guidelines and policies for the states and territories.
See the travel smart Australia Website:
http://www.travelsmart.gov.au/
Find the special events toolkit.
Special events involving street closures require careful planning and negotiation with the authorities (such as the roads and traffic authority, local council and the police) many months before the event takes place.
Class 1 Event: impacts major traffic and transport systems, disrupts the non-event community over a wide area
Class 2 Event: impacts local traffic and transport systems, disrupts the community in the area around the event
Class 3 Event: Does not impact local or major traffic systems, disrupts immediate area only
Class 4 Event: Small street event requires police consent only
Consideration of event transport and access should cover:
- Pedestrian facilities
- Cyclist facilities
- Public Transport facilities
- Access for people with mobility or visual impairments
- Car parking
Crowd Management Considerations:
- The number of people at the venue (the event audience, staff and contractors)
- The likely behaviour of spectators
- The timing of the event, including session times and peak periods
- The layout of the venue and/or other facilities
- The security services to be provided or contracted
- The legal requirements and general guidelines
Crowd Management Plans
- Estimate the level of attendance for specific days and times
- Estimate the number of people using public corridors, specific entrances, specific aisles and seating at particular times
- Estimate the number of ushers and service and security personnel needed for spectator managements
- Establish the requirements for crowd control measures, such as barriers
- Identify the areas that need to remain restricted
- Develop accreditation plans for restricted access by specific staff
- Identify particular hazards (for example, scaffolding, temporary structures)
- Identify routes by which emergency services personnel will enter and leave the site
- Establish the means of communication for all staff working on the site
- Establish a chain of command for incident reporting
- Check safety equipment (e.g. the number of fire extinguishers and also that inspections have been carried out according to legal requirements)
- Identify the safety needs of specific groups of people, such as people with disabilities, children and players/performers
- Identify first aid requirements and provision
- Develop an emergency response plan (ERP)
- Develop an evacuation plan and initiate training and drills for the staff concerned
The major incidents that need to be considered in relation to evacuation include:
- Fire, smoke
- Bomb threat, terrorism, threats to VIPs
- Flood, earthquake or other natural disasters
- Heat, failure of air-conditioning or lighting
- Gas leaks or biological hazards
- Crowd crush, overcrowding, congestions
- Riots, protests
- Vehicle accidents
- Collapsing fences or other structures
Once the risks have been identified, the circumstances that may lead to negative or destructive behaviour in these contexts needs to be analysed. The risks then need to be prioritised and plans put in place to avoid them (known as preventative measures) or to deal with them should the occur (known as contingency measures).
Crowd-safe guidelines (examples)
- Provide easy exits from the mosh pit area
- Ban stage diving, body surfing/swimming
- Provide specially trained private security and ‘peer security’
- Pad the floor and all hard surfaces, including barriers and railings
- Seek assistance from the performers in managing or preventing moshing
- See crowd management strategies at http://www.crowdsafe.com/mosh.html
Emergency Planning and Implementation
Emergency Planning
Standards are almost universal:
- DR00180 emergency control organisation and procedures for buildings (standards Australia)
- Do not try to create a new system for emergency planning
Emergency planning committee (EPC) should be convened to:
- Establish the emergency response plan (ERP)
- Ensure that appropriate people are assigned to specific roles, such as chief warden, and that their responsibilities in the emergency control organisation (ECO) are clarified
- Arrange training for all members of the ECO team
- Arrange for evacuation drills
Considerations
- Peak numbers of people in the venue
- Assembly and evacuation routes, and signage
- People with disabilities
- Lifts and escalators (assume that these are not used, except by fire authorities)
- People check (making sure everyone has left)
- Marshaling points (especially for very large venues)
- Safeguarding of cash and valuables
- Communication systems (emergency warning and emergency intercom system – AS2220.1 and AS2220.2) as well as public address systems
- Emergency equipment
- Control and coordination point/s (location/s) for emergency response by the Chief Warden and liaison with emergency services
- Coordination with other agencies such as council and emergency services
The Emergency Control Organisation (ECO) is the team responsible for responding to the emergency. This team includes the following personnel:
- Chief Warden
- Deputy Chief Warden
- Communications officer
- Floor/Area Wardens
- Wardens
In general terms, the people selected for roles in the ECO should be in attendance during the hours of operation, should show leadership qualities and sound judgment under pressure and should be able to communicate clearly. The first of these attributes is the most problematic in the event business.
In order to effectively implement emergency procedures, the following steps should be taken:
- Review implementation issues and integrate them with all other event operational plans
- Ensure broad awareness of the procedures
- Use signage and well-designed communication materials in a simple format
- Train all staff
- Test the procedures by conducting evacuation exercises
- Review procedures the check effectiveness
Fire Procedures
There are four major steps that ideally should be initiated concurrently:
- Ensure the safety of everyone within the vicinity of the fire
- Call the fire brigade in any circumstance in which there is suspicion of fire
- Conduct evacuation
- Fight the fire with appropriate equipment or retreat and close all doors
Evacuation Procedures
The evacuation procedure for most venues follows the same process: the chief warden uses the tone BEEP …BEEP …BEEP for alert and WHOOP…WHOOP…WHOOP for evacuation on the public address system
The warden intercommunication phone (WIP) is used to advise the chief warden of danger in specific areas. All staff should be trained in their specific roles in this situation.
In the event of an evacuation it is important for staff to:
- Remain calm
- Be observant
- Listen to and follow instructions
- Provide information and instructions to staff and spectators when advised to do so
- Maintain radio protocol (do not block channels)
- Follow all safety precautions (such as not using lifts in case of fire)
Bomb Threat
Details are available from the Australian Bomb Data Centre, which publishes a handbook, giving standard guidelines that can be kept near all telephones. These include:
- Evaluation (deciding whether or not to take action, and whether to search, with or without evacuation)
- Notification (police should be advised)
- Search (the aim is identification of the suspicious object, which should not be touched or moved)
Summary
Unfortunately there are many examples of events at which people have lost their lives through a fire or riot, and there are many examples of near misses. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare both a spectator management plan and emergency response plans for crowd control and evacuation in case of fire or other major risk.
Evaluate Crowd Control Plans and Procedures
Crowd management features:
- Planning process
- Transportation
- Access/entry and exit
- Seating arrangements
Crowd management involves:
- Use of barriers
- Ushers
- Signage
- Crown controllers
- Monitoring and screening practices
When evaluating crowd management plans it is important to consider:
- Ease of access, including restricted areas, exits and aisles
- Evacuation procedures, training and simulation