A review of the management of crowd safety at outdoor street / special events

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr790.pdf

A review of the management of crowd safety at outdoor street/special events
Professor Chris Kemp Teresa Moore
Buckinghamshire New University High Wycombe Campus Queen Alexandra Road High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP11 2JZ

Objectives
The focus of the study was the safety of the crowd and the identification of factors that enabled this, including the planning that goes into effective crowd management, the organisational arrangements that need to be in place and the operation of the plans to ensure that, on the day, the crowd experiences a safe event.
The researchers studied four distinctive, well known events that took place on streets and/or other public open spaces: Flaming ‘Tar Barrels’ at Ottery St Mary, ‘Hogmanay’ in Edinburgh, ‘Cheese Rolling’ at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire and Notting Hill ‘Carnival’ in London. These four very different events provided a wealth of information and gave a useful indication of significant factors in crowd safety. Good practice identified at the events formed the basis of a generic checklist to assist in supporting the safe management of special outdoor events.


HSE, in collaboration with the event industry and other key stakeholders, is about to begin the revision of the existing Events Safety Guide, HSG 195. This report will contribute to the body of information to be considered during revision of those parts of the guide relating to crowd management. The findings of the report will also be considered during revision of related HSE guidance and will assist in identifying the need for new guidance in this area.
This report contains the results of a study of the management of crowd safety at four outdoor events in England and Scotland. These were traditional annual events that took place at different times of year and in different public open space settings.
Each event was visited by the research team, where observations were made, in-depth interviews were conducted with key players connected with crowd safety for the events and questionnaires were carried out with members of the public attending the events. The results were written up as case studies.
The examination of the events focussed on the identification of factors that contributed to crowd safety. These aspects included how the events were organised and roles and responsibilities of those involved. Specific hazards, such as fire, electricity and slips and trips were examined and how they were managed was scrutinised. Other factors were also researched that could be included for specific types of events, to enhance crowd safety. The findings from the case studies were amalgamated to produce a basic checklist containing aspects that seemed to make a significant contribution to crowd safety at a range of events.
This project was carried out by Buckinghamshire New University on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive. Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy. RR790
www.hse.gov.uk