Crowd Control & Management

Introduction

Each event will be unique, you (businesses, retailers, managers, security, law enforcement) can apply these basic crowd management guidelines to help be more confident and prepared for your event.  The management of crowds requires good customer service, excellent teamwork, clear communication, cooridination between those responsible for the organisation and those dealing with the crowds face to face.

Course Objectives

• Understand principles of planning and preparing for events, including crowd management and control.
• Explain, understand and apply safety policies, procedures and legal requirements for events.
• Utilize Risk, Threat and Vulnerability assessments.
• Identify the different types of physical security equipment needed for crowd management.
• Understand the psychology of crowd science .

Course Outlines

Day 1: Crowd Dynamics and Behavior

• Types of behavior.
• The 3 D’s principle for crowd safety.
• Small, medium, and large pedestrian areas.
• Gas Kinetic model of pedestrian flows.
• Magnetic force model.
• Pooling model.
• Shockwave theory.
• Principles of Queue management.
• Intersecting flows.
• Bottlenecks and obstructions.
• Lane switching.
• Emergency lane formation.
• Social force model.
• Attractive interactions (Pied Piper of Hamelin syndrome).

Day 2: Introduction to Crowd Management and Control

• Roles and responsibilities of event staff.
• Types of events and gatherings.
• Planning and preparing for dealing with events.
• Physical Security Measures.
• Access and Egress control.
• Legal requirements.
• Venue safety policy and procedure.
• Venue control rooms.
• Health and safety procedure (safety signage, etc.).
• Response, safety, venue and event teams.
• Search procedures.
• Specific and generic threats to people and property.

Day 3: Spectator and Event Safety Planning

• Responding to emergencies and injuries.
• Emergency procedures.
• Emergency planning.
• Responding to terrorism.
• Safety planning.
• Security action plan.
• Evacuation procedure.
• Controlling density and capacity issues.
• Customer service and safety.
• Conflict resolution.
• Dealing with disability, equality, and diversity.

Day 4: Crowd Risk Analysis

• Crowd modelling.
• Emergency situations and the effects on the crowd.
• Last mile theory.
• Phases of an event (Ingress and Egress).
• Circulation theory.
• Boundaries and managing space.
• Crowd dispersal.
• Crowd movement throw flow rate.
• High density levels.
• Weather and environmental effects on the crowd.
• Risk Assessment process.
• Risk Mitigation.
• Risk Analysis.
• Media management (social media).
• Communication skills for crowd management.
• Crowd management plan exercise.

Day 5: Crowd Planning Exercise

• Security Action Plan.
• Emergency Plan.
• Crowd Safety Plan.
• Protect and Prepare.
• Identify and Disrupt.
• Control and Secure.
• Engage and Communicate.
• Incident Management.