Crowd safety at events should be the priority of every event organiser. Customers who purchase tickets for events are making a realistic assumption that the event they are attending will be safe; they also expect to be kept free from harm. Legislation dictates that event organisers should take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of their customers and staff. If they fail to do so then they are held accountable.
For many years, the term crowd control has been loosely used to describe keeping a crowd under control and an event secure. The introduction of the new legislation provides extra liabilities for event organisers, therefore making the need for more proactive professional crowd safety management and planning more apparent.
The recognised definition of crowd safety management is the, “systematic planning for, and the supervision of, the orderly movement and assembly of people”. Crowd management is the assessment of the people-handling capabilities of a space prior to its use. This includes the evaluation of projected levels of occupancy, adequacy of means of ingress and egress, processing procedures such as ticket collection, and expected types of activities and group behaviour.
To achieve this, robust crowd safety management plans must be written by the event manager or crowd safety provider, detailing every element of crowd safety during both normal and emergency conditions.
Our consultants work and advise at some of the world’s largest events and are available to bring their experience to you. Analysing and critiquing your current plans, our team will ensure that they are fit for purpose, highlighting any potential areas of improvement and working with you to make your event the safest it can reasonably be.
Our customers often tell us that they do not know exactly what they should be looking for when reading and assessing crowd safety management plans that are presented to them by contractors or even their own managers. That is where we come in.
Our crowd safety consultancy team are able to provide a range of services to transport hubs, major tournaments, sporting arenas, football/rugby stadiums and greenfield sites such as festivals or concerts.
These can include services such as: