CONTENT
EVACUATION PLANNING
CROWD MONITORING/ COUNTING
ONLINE JOURNAL (JCSSM)
Referencing to assist crowd safety managers in relation to events within the United kingdom. We have gathered together relevant referencing material to assist your planning and research.
Pyrotechnics in crowded places
Section 134: Possession of pyrotechnic articles at musical events (applies to England and Wales)
The Policing and Crime Act 2017 (“the 2017 Act”) received Royal Assent on 31 January. The 2017 Act contains a wide range of measures to:
- improve the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces, including through closer collaboration with other emergency services;
- enhance the democratic accountability of police forces and fire and rescue services;
- build public confidence in policing;
- strengthen the protections for persons under investigation by, or who come intocontact with, the police;
- ensure that the police and other law enforcement agencies have the powers they need to prevent, detect and investigate crime; and
- further safeguard children and young people from sexual exploitation.
FSF.org.uk – Fact Sheet – Football fans, smoke bombs and flares
What is the law governing smoke bombs and flares at football matches?
The Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985.
It is on offence for a person to enter or attempt to enter a football ground while in possession of a flare, smoke bomb or firework. The sentence for these offences can be as much as three months in prison, and in many cases, fans who have no previous convictions are being given prison sentences for attempting to enter a football ground with a smoke bomb in their pocket as the courts take these offences very seriously.
There are two different offences (1) possession in the football ground; and (2) possession while attempting to enter. Although logically, attempting to enter a football ground seems to be less culpable than a fan who has managed to get the smoke bomb, flare or firework into the football ground, in real terms the courts do not consider one offence to be more serious than the other. Fans searched prior to entering the football ground and found to be in possession of a firework, flare or smoke bomb, have still been given custodial sentences.
Pyrotechnics safety warning for football fans
Policing minister: You’re putting supporters’ safety at risk.
Laser Pointers
Guidance Notes Concerning the use of Laser Pointers
Laser pointers are small battery operated devices which emit a thin powerful beam of light for distances of about 100 meters or more, and are intended for use by teachers and lecturers as hand held pointers. The beams themselves are invisible but appear as brilliant spots when they hit a screen or other surface. When considering the safety implications of the laser beam an important parameter is the amount of power in the beam divided by the crosssectional area of the beam. This is called the irradiance and is usually quoted in watts per square metre or W/m2. The pointers are cheap and readily available from certain shops and market stalls.
Laser pointer safety guidance
Laser Pointer Safety Guidance
Laser Pointers are widely and cheaply available, but care needs to be taken to ensure that pointers used, both within and outside the College, are safe. The following information is also available to download Laser pointer safety guidance.
ASSESSING THE RISK TO CIVIL AVIATION FROM LASER ATTACKS T12
Adrian Cheuk Hei LeeDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London
INTRODUCTION
Lasers are important in our world and their use is increasing. They are useful and powerful devices under normal and responsible operations, but misuse of lasers can pose significant threat to the society, especially in an aviation environment. The potential threat of laser attacks depends on factors including: type and power of the laser device, how the laser is operated, phase of flight, flight operation, pilot awareness of laser hazards, time of the year and geographical location. One of the objectives of this study is to deliver a meaningful description and accurate analysis of the MOR data, with a view of assisting the development and implementation of risk mitigation measures that will protect the UK public.
The safety of laser pointers: myths and realities John Marshall
John Marshall
Over the past few months an increasing number of reports have appeared in the popular press, describing incidents in which individuals claim to have suVered eye injury as a result of misuse of laser pointers.1 Such reports usually include a degree of media hype, together with descriptions of unlikely symptoms from indignant victims. The claims and counterclaims of occupational health and environmen- tal safety agencies unfortunately do not attract the same degree of media interest or coverage. Motivation for the claims of individual victims are varied and include fear, ignorance, and perhaps avarice. Past experiences have shown that many individuals are truly fearful of the poten- tial consequences of having momentarily viewed a laser beam and, therefore, seek professional advice or counsel. Other individuals are ignorant of any potential health eVects, but are moved to seek advice by the group counsel of colleagues. Finally, some individuals may entertain the hope that litigation could give rise to large sums of money in settlement of personal injury claims. Given both the confusion generated by media coverage and the resultant demand on ophthalmic services in accident and emergency units, it may be helpful to review laser pointers and their interactions with ocular tissues, together with the potential confusions in international laser safety criteria.
Laser-induced retinal injury following a recreational laser show: two case reports and a clinicopathological study
BOOSTEN K, VAN GINDERDEUREN R, SPILEERS W, STALMANS I, WIRIX M, VAN CALSTER J, STALMANS P.
Unmanned Ariel Vehicles
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Commercial and recreational drone use in the UK Twenty-Second Report of Session 2017–19
Summary
Drones—also referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAs) or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs)—have been the focus of significant media attention. Reports of drone sightings at Gatwick Airport in December 2018 caused significant disruption and highlighted the need for further recognition of the substantial rise in the purchase and use of commercial and civilian drones more widely.
HOUSE OF LORDS European Union Committee 7th Report of Session 2014-15 Civilian Use of Drones in the EU
SUMMARY
Drones, or remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), as they are described in this report, are no longer used solely by the military. In the UK alone, there are now hundreds of companies, mainly SMEs, using RPAS to provide a range of services, including photography, land surveying, building inspection and crop analysis. RPAS will revolutionise what the aviation industry can achieve and how it is regulated. Europe must act now in order to reap the future benefits of this exciting new technology.
Guidance to Officers on DRONES Legislation and dealing with misuse 2015
This guidance supports individual Force Policies for the prosecution and recording of incidents involving drones.
SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT OPERATION IN JERSEY A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE FOR THE SAFE OPERATION OF MODEL AIRCRAFT, SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT, UAVs, DRONES & SMALL SURVEILLANCE AIRCRAFT IN JERSEY
Introduction
This guide has been put together by Jersey Air Traffic Control in conjunction with the Jersey Director of Civil Aviation (DCA) and the Jersey Model Aero Club to provide guidance to operators of Small ‘Unmanned’ Aircraft (SUA) and Small ‘Unmanned’ Surveillance Aircraft (SUSA) who wish to operate on Jersey.
Vision-based drone flight control and crowd or riot analysis with efficient color histogram based tracking
Thomas Mu ̈ller and Markus Mu ̈ller
Fraunhofer Institute IOSB, Fraunhoferstrasse 1, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
ABSTRACT
Object tracking is a direct or indirect key issue in many different military applications like visual surveillance, automatic visual closed-loop control of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and PTZ-cameras, or in the field of crowd evaluations in order to detect or analyse a riot emergence. Of course, a high robustness is the most important feature of the underlying tracker, but this is hindered significantly the more the tracker needs to have low calculation times. In the UAV application introduced in this paper the tracker has to be extraordinarily quick.
In order to optimize the calculation time and the robustness in combination as far as possible, a highly efficient tracking procedure is presented for the above mentioned application fields which relies on well-known color histograms but uses them in a novel manner. This procedure bases on the calculation of a color weighting vector representing the significances of object colors like a kind of an object’s color finger print. Several examples from the above mentioned military applications are shown to demonstrate the practical relevance and the performance of the presented tracking approach.
An Amateur Drone Surveillance System Based on Cognitive Internet of Things
Guoru Ding, Qihui Wu, Linyuan Zhang, Yun Lin, Theodoros A. Tsiftsis, and Yu-Dong Yao
Abstract
Drones, also known as mini-unmanned aerial vehicles, have attracted increasing attention due to their boundless applications in communications, photography, agriculture, surveillance and numerous public services. However, the deployment of amateur drones poses various safety, security and privacy threats. To cope with these challenges, amateur drone surveillance becomes a very important but largely unexplored topic. In this article, we firstly present a brief survey to show the state-of-the-art studies on amateur drone surveillance. Then, we propose a vision, named Dragnet, by tailoring the recent emerging cognitive internet of things framework for amateur drone surveillance. Next, we discuss the key enabling techniques for Dragnet in details, accompanied with the technical challenges and open issues. Furthermore, we provide an exemplary case study on the detection and classification of authorized and unauthorized amateur drones, where, for example, an important event is being held and only authorized drones are allowed to fly over.
Thinking Rather than Panicking about the Current Drone Threat
Dr. Tom Foley & Dr. Tyrone Groh
College of Security and Intelligence, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University A Paper Presented at the
Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace International Research (A3iR) Conference Phoenix, AZ
Thinking Rather than Panicking about the Current Drone Threat
Drones pose a number of threats to venues with large crowds. To better prepare and respond to these threats, the problems drones may cause should be broken down to allow different actors with different interests to develop different strategies for dealing with these threats. To maximize efficiency and effectiveness, the variety of strategies should be complementary and synergistic. This document seeks to establish different strategies for the interested parties and provide some insight for how to formulate and operationalize counter- drone strategies.
From a Bird’s Eye Perspective: Aerial Drone Photography and PoliticalProtest. А Case Study of the Bulgarian #resign Movement 2013
HENRIKE SCHMIDT
Humboldt-Universität Berlin
Abstract:
Aerial drone photography has become popular throughout the first decade of the 21st century, with the technology getting ever more affordable and easy-to-use. It is employed for a variety of goals, ranging from military and surveillance tasks to the so-called drone and citizen journalism, from sports coverage to artistic usages and even product delivery. In the present article I analyse the usage of aerial drone photography as a means to monitor, docu- ment and survey political protest movements, taking the Bulgarian #resign movement as a case study. After a short sketch of the Bulgarian protest movement of the year 2013, which has received less coverage in European and international media and academia than the com- parable events in Russia 2011-2012 or the Euro-Maidan in Ukraine 2013-2014, the case study explores a sample of protest videos, focusing on their artistic composition which combines a“bird’s perspective” with the specific photographic technique of the fisheye lens distortion ef- fect. My argument is, that aerial drone photography as a means to document protest move- ments evolves from a pragmatic tool of alternative informational footage to an instrument for shaping visually the self-perception of the protesting crowd.
UAV-Based IoT Platform:A Crowd Surveillance Use Case Naser Hossein Motlagh, Miloud Bagaa, and Tarik Taleb
Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles are gaining a lot of popularity among an ever growing community of amateurs as well as service providers. Emerging technologies, such as LTE 4G/5G networks and mobile edge computing, will widen the use case scenarios of UAVs. In this article, we discuss the potential of UAVs, equipped with IoT devices, in delivering IoT services from great heights. A high-level view of a UAV-based integrative IoT platform for the delivery of IoT services from large height, along with the overall system orchestrator, is presented in this article. As an envisioned use case of the platform, the article demonstrates how UAVs can be used for crowd surveillance based on face recognition. To evaluate the use case, we study the o loading of video data processing to a MEC node compared to the local processing of video data onboard UAVs. For this, we developed a testbed consisting of a local processing node and one MEC node. To perform face recognition, the Local Binary Pattern Histogram method from the Open Source Computer Vision is used. The obtained results demonstrate the efficiency of the MEC-based o loading approach in saving the scarce energy of UAVs, reducing the processing time of recognition, and promptly detecting suspicious persons.
Up in the Air: A Global Estimate of Non-Violent Drone Use 2009-2015
Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
University of San Diego
Dana Chavarria Elizabeth Cychosz John Paul Dingens Michael Du ey Katherine Koebel Sirisack Siriphanh Merlyn Yurika Tulen Heath Watanabe Tautvydas Juskauskas John Holland Lars Almquist
Key Findings
- We report on 1,145 discrete cases of drone use, drawn from careful analysis of 15,000 news reports covering six years (2009-2015) of all uses except weaponized military use.
- Drones are being used in more than half of the world’s countries (108) and by a growing number of international actors and everyday individuals.
- e year 2012 was a breakout period that saw non-military use overtake military use.
- e United States sees more reported drone use every year than any other country.
- Government users represent the single largest category of users.
- Scienti c Research represents the single largest category of use.
- Commercial, emergency services, health and public safety, and environmental conservation sectors are growing.
- Legislation is sparse and uneven, but growing.
- Twenty-eight U.S. states have passed forty-one UAV-related laws.
- Several dozen countries have some form of legislation covering drones, with the majoritypassed recently.
- Most regulations focuses on controlling weight, altitude, distance, no- y zones,and operator certi cation.
- ere is no consensus policy on non-military drone use.
Crowds and Crowd Management
Assessing crowd safety risks: a research into the application of the risk assessment principles to improve crowd safety management and planning in major public venues
SIU YAM ZACHARY AU
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.
THESIS SYNOPSIS
This thesis considers the subject of crowd safety and investigates how the application of risk assessment can provide support for decision making in crowd safety management and planning. The focus is on major public venues and events where large crowds arc a normal part of the operation.
Conventional methods of assessment tend to be ad hoc, reactive and rely on individual experiences. The risk assessment approach, which is comprehensive, systematic and pro-active, can help to overcome these shortfalls. Risk assessments have already been successfully applied in many workplaces, ranging from high hazard industrial plants to the office environment. However, this thesis argues that for it to be of benefit, the risk assessment must be appropriate to the nature of the operation and the nature and the extent of the hazards involved. The existing risk assessments are inappropriate to crowd safety in this respect and a more suitable methodology is required. Therefore, the specific aims of the thesis are:
(i) To show that risk assessment can be applied to crowd safety and that it can improve on the conventional crowd safety assessments.
(ii) To investigate, through the development of a risk assessment methodology for crowd safety, how risk assessment can be best applied to support crowd safety management and planning.
(iii) To demonstrate that the methodology, which takes into consideration the nature of crowd safety risks, can lead to further improvements in crowd safety assessment.
The thesis describes the research work carried out to achieve these aims and presents the outcomes. The first part of the research is devoted to identifying the differences in terms of the hazards between the various work environments and crowd safety. It also looks at the assessment of crowd safety hazards and their risks. As there is little published research knowledge on the subject, two case studies and a survey of public venue assessors were conducted to collect the necessary information and data. A task analysis was also performed to examine the tasks involved in assessing crowd safety risks and identify the factors that enable the assessors to successfully complete their tasks. It has found that crowd safety hazards are very different to those encountered in other contexts where existing risk assessments are applied. In addition to the kind of hazards one would normally encounter in a work situation, the presence of large crowds also presents a set of hazards that are unique to major public venues. Findings
of the venue survey suggest that existing risk assessments are inadequate, particularly in dealing with this type of crowd and behaviour related hazards, and venue assessors are experiencing difficulties in identifying such hazards and assessing their risks. As a summary of the research findings so far, a set of criteria was drawn up to highlight what is needed in a risk assessment suitable for crowd safety.
In order to identify the methods and tools that could provide the potential solutions to the problems of assessing crowd and behaviour related hazards, a review of other risk assessments was conducted. It has highlighted a number of techniques and tools that could be applied to assess crowd safety risks. Based on the criteria mentioned above and the findings of this review, a prototype crowd safety risk assessment methodology was developed. A series of trials were conducted to evaluate the validity and usability of the prototype. Revisions were made accordingly to produce the final draft.
Experiments and a questionnaire survey were then carried out on the final draft to test and verify the methodology. In general, they show that the methodology has led to an improvement in most aspects of crowd safety risk assessment. In the experiments that compared the methodology against methods representing the existing risk assessments and the conventional way of assessing crowd safety, subjects using the methodology tend to perform better in most areas. More hazards were identified. In the evaluation of risks, better consistency was achieved between individuals using the methodology. However, their judgements appeared to be less consistent over time. The use of a larger rating scheme with more choices available in the methodology could have an impact on consistency in risk evaluation. Another key factor could be that the subjects who took part in the experiments were all novice assessors. Possible learning effect may have occurred in between experiments, which could have resulted in a
change of mind over time. If this is the case, this result could be an indication that the methodology is more sensitive to changes in risks or risk perception. It will be interesting to find out if experienced assessors can achieve better consistency. In the questionnaire survey where only a small number of experienced assessors were involved, the results were also favourable to the methodology. All assessors regarded the hazard identification and risk evaluation methods in the final draft as useful or very useful. Compared to their own risk assessment methods that they were using at the time, the vast majority of them found that the proposed methods were either better or much better.
By and large, the experiments and questionnaire survey have served to verify, at least in part, the arguments that risk assessment is better than the conventional assessment method and that there are more benefits to be gained when the risk assessment is more appropriate to the nature and the extent of the crowd safety hazards that could arise in major public venues. Nevertheless, it is important to recognise that the research work presented in this thesis is merely the first step towards a crowd safety risk assessment
methodology. There are outstanding issues yet to be resolved, not least the issue of the apparent lack of consistency over time in risk evaluation. This thesis has identified the research and development work that is required to resolve these issues and to further the benefits that risk assessment could bring to crowd safety.
A model to facilitate the development of an appropriate risk assessment methodology and instrument for crowd safety at outdoor music festivals
A. Raineri
School of Human, Health and Social Sciences CQ University, Australia
Abstract
Attendance at outdoor music festivals is associated with an
increased risk of injury and death. A considerable proportion of
crowd-related risks are attributed to irrational and high-risk
behaviour by patrons, especially in the general admission, or
standing room only, areas in front of stages, or ‘mosh pits’. Risk
assessments for music festivals and mass gatherings generally tend
to deal with the traditional hazards and risks found at most
workplaces, without taking into account the dynamics of the crowd
or those factors that influence its behaviour. Influences on crowd
behaviour are little understood and generally ignored, leaving a
significant source of risk at this type of event unaccounted for. A
comprehensive approach to crowd safety assessment, design and
management needs to integrate both psychological and engineering
frames of reference. This paper outlines a model that can be used as
the basis for developing a contextualised methodology and
instrument for assessing crowd related risks at outdoor music
festivals.
Analysis of Jumping Crowd on Stadium Stands Through Image Processing to Security Purposes
Alfredo Cigada, Emanuele Zappa
Abstract- The goal of this paper is to introduce an innovative and quantitative measurement technique, useful for the estimation of the people motion on stadia stands, at least under a statistical point of view. The authors propose and qualify here an image based people motion estimation: the idea is to measure the “motion level” of the people through the analysis of images grabbed with common video cameras or with an infrared thermal imager. Cameras working in the visible wavelength range usually have a higher resolution than thermal cameras and are much cheaper, due to this reasons they are often preferred for the estimation of people motion in case of events held during the day (i.e. with stable lighting conditions); nevertheless thermal cameras have various important advantages in some applications, as during concerts; in these cases, in fact, lighting is mainly projected on artists, leaving the audience in an almost completely dark atmosphere. In this scenario the use of a common camera often leads to poor quality images; for this reason in this research a thermal camera has also been used, in order to acquire sequences of infrared images of the jumping crowd. In this way more reliable results can be obtained even in case of very low lighting.
Crowd Management Strategies and Safety Performance among Sports Tourism Event Venue Organizers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor
Norazlina Rahmat, Kamaruzaman Jusoff, Norzaidah Ngali, Noorazlin Ramli, Zetty Madina Md Zaini, Azlina Samsudin, Fatimah Abd Ghani and Munirah Hamid
Abstract: High risk of injuries and accidents among attendees at event, especially Sports Tourism Event has become one of the major concerns to researchers and practitioners. One of the major strategies to ensure attendees safety is by practicing effective crowd management strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of crowd management strategies and safety performance practices among sports tourism event venue organizers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. The sample included 40 of safety or operation manager attached to sports tourism event venue organizers. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that the correlation crowd management strategies had significant relationship with safety performance. Since the findings may not have utilitarian value to other event venues in Malaysia, future studies might consider using a national sample rather than the local sample.
Crowd science – A planning approach to safety at mass gatherings and events
Dr Aldo Raineri
Abstract
Mass gatherings are planned or spontaneous events where the number of people attending is sufficient to strain the planning and response resources of the host. They are characterised by the concentration of people, generally on a predictable basis, in venues or precincts that are open or enclosed. Examples include sporting (e.g. Summer and Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup) and religious (e.g. Hajj, World Youth Day) events, cultural festivals and music festivals. Mass gatherings can also occur at train stations (e.g. London Underground, Paris Metro), shopping complexes (e.g. IKEA opening in London, annual store sales), business precincts and tourist attractions. A number of studies and official inquiries have identified inadequate planning as a major contributory factor to deficiencies in crowd safety at mass gatherings.
Proper planning involves an assessment of attendant safety risks using traditional risk assessment methods. These generally tend to deal with the hazards and risks usually found at most workplaces without taking into account the dynamics of the crowd or those factors that influence its behaviour. Insufficient attention to the way that people behave in a crowd, and the relationship between behaviour and system design, are major factors in crowd disasters. Due to the sheer number of attendees, the nature of activity and potential patron behaviour, risk is always shifting and changing throughout the course of a mas gathering event. How crowd-related safety risks can change over time is difficult to both visualise and articulate in the conventional risk assessment process. This paper presents contemporary and innovative approaches to risk analysis and monitoring for crowd safety which provide a more relevant, meaningful and valuable contribution to the assessment of (dynamic) crowd-related risks.
Crowds inside out: Understanding crowds from the perspective of individual crowd members’ experiences
JIE LI
Abstract
With the growth of global population, the big cities become increasingly crowded. It is not rare to see large crowds in public transportations and events with masses of visitors, such as music festivals and football matches. The question “How to deal with crowds” is receiving attention, both from academia and practical crowd management.This thesis aims at contributing to a better understanding of crowds from the perspective of individual crowd members’ experiences, including their well- being, emotional experiences and action tendencies. In addition, we want to understand the emotional contagion effect between groups in crowds. To achieve this, we chose to go into the crowds, get in touch with the crowd members, and try to find out what factors sustain their well-being, how their emotional experiences can be measured in a playful and non-intrusive manner, what they tend to do when they have certain emotions, and how the grouping behavior reflects their experiences.
Crowd turbulence: the physics of crowd disasters
Dirk Helbing, Anders Johansson, HE Habib Z. Al-Abideen
Abstract
The panic stampede is a serious concern during mass events like soccer championship games. Despite huge numbers of security forces and crowd control measures, hundreds of lives are lost in crowd disasters each year. An analysis of video recordings of the annual pilgrimage in Makkah reveals how high-density crowds develop to turbulent dynamics and earthquake-like eruptions, which is impossible to control.
MANAGING CROWD SAFETY IN PUBLIC VENUES: A STUDY TO GENERATE GUIDANCE FOR VENUE OWNERS AND ENFORCING AUTHORITY INSPECTORS
S Y Z Au, M C Ryan, M S Carey and S P Whalley
No introduction provided
The Dynamics of Crowd Disasters: An Empirical Study
Dirk Helbing, Anders Johansson, Habib Zein Al-Abideen
Many observations in the dynamics of pedestrian crowds, including various self-organization phe-nomena, have been successfully described by simple many-particle models. For ethical reasons, however, there is a serious lack of experimental data regarding crowd panic. Therefore, we have an-
alyzed video recordings of the crowd disaster in Mina/Makkah during the Hajj in 1426H on January 12, 2006. They reveal two subsequent, sudden transitions from laminar to stop-and-go and “turbu-lent” flows, which question many previous simulation models. While the transition from laminar to
stop-and-go flows supports a recent model of bottleneck flows [D. Helbing et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.
97, 168001 (2006)], the subsequent transition to turbulent flow is not yet well understood. It is
responsible for sudden eruptions of pressure release comparable to earthquakes, which cause sudden
displacements and the falling and trampling of people. The insights of this study into the reasons
for critical crowd conditions are important for the organization of safer mass events. In particularly,
they allow one to understand where and when crowd accidents tend to occur. They have also led
to organizational changes, which have ensured a safe Hajj in 1427H.
The User Experience of Crowds
By
Victoria L. Kendrick
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
This thesis is concerned with the user experience of crowds, incorporating issues of comfort, satisfaction, safety and performance within a given crowd situation. Factors that influence the organisation and monitoring of crowd events will be considered.
A comprehensive review of the literature revealed that crowd safety, pedestrian flow modeling, public order policing and hooliganism prevention, has received the greatest attention with previous research on crowds. Whereas crowd performance, comfort and satisfaction has received less attention, particularly within spectator events (sporting and music for example).
Original research undertaken for this doctoral thesis involved a series of studies: user focus groups, stakeholder interviews, and observational research within event security and organisation. Following on from these investigations, the findings have been integrated with a tool to assist crowd organisers and deliverers during the planning of crowd events, and accompanying user feedback interviews following use of the tool. The overarching aim of the research within this thesis was to explore the complex issues that contribute to the user experience of being in a crowd, and how this might be improved.
The crowd user focus groups revealed differences in factors affecting crowd satisfaction, varying according to age and user expectations. Greater differences existed between crowd users, than across crowd situations, highlighting the importance of identifying expected crowd members when planning individual events. Additionally, venue design, organisation, safety and security concerns were found to highly affect crowd satisfaction, irrespective of group differences or crowd situations, showing the importance of these issues when considering crowd satisfaction for all crowd events, for any crowd members.
Stakeholder interviews examining crowds from another perspective suggested that overall safety was a high priority due to legal obligations, in order to protect venue reputation. Whereas, comfort and satisfaction received less attention within the organisation of crowd events due to budget considerations, and a lack of concern as to the importance of such issues. Moreover, communication and management systems were sometimes inadequate to ensure compliance with internal procedures.
In addition a lack of usable guidance was seen to be available to those responsible for organising crowd situations.
Eleven themes were summarised from the data, placed in order of frequency of references to the issues: health and safety, public order, communication, physical environment, public relations, crowd movement, event capacity, facilities, satisfaction, comfort, and crowd characteristics. Results were in line with the weighting of the issues within the literature, with health and safety receiving the most attention, and comfort and satisfaction less attention. These results were used to form the basis of observational checklists for event observations across various crowd situations. Event observations took two forms: observing the role of public and private security, and observing crowd events from the user perspective.
Observations within public and private security identified seven general themes: communication, anticipating crowd reaction, information, storage, training, role confusion, financial considerations and professionalism. Findings questioned the clarity of the differing roles of public and private security, and understanding of these differences. Also the increasing use of private over public security within crowd event security, and the differing levels of training and experience within public and private security were identified.
Event observations identified fifteen common themes drawn from the data analysis: communication, public order, comfort, facilities, queuing systems, transportation, crowd movement, design, satisfaction, health and safety, public relations, event capacity, time constraints, encumbrances, and cultural differences. Key issues included the layout of the event venue together with the movement and monitoring of crowd users, as well as the availability of facilities in order to reduce competition between crowd users, together with possible links to maintaining public order and reducing anti-social behaviour during crowd events.
Findings from the focus groups, interviews, and observations were then combined (to enhance the robustness of the findings), and developed into the Crowd Satisfaction Assessment Tool (CSAT) prototype, a practical tool for event organisers to use during the planning of crowd events. In order to assess ‘proof of concept’ ofthe CSAT, potential users (event organisers) were recruited to use the CSAT during the planning of an event they were involved in organising. Semi-structured feedback interviews were then undertaken, to gain insight into the content, usefulness, and usability of the CSAT. Separately human factors researchers were recruited to review the CSAT, providing feedback on the layout and usability of the tool.
Feedback interviews suggested the CSAT was a useful concept, aiding communication, and providing organisers with a systematic and methodical structure for planning ahead, prioritising ideas, and highlighting areas of concern. The CSAT was described as being clear and easy to follow, with clear aims, and clear instructions for completion, and was felt to aid communication between the various stakeholders involved in the organisation and management of an event, allowing information to be recorded, stored and shared between stakeholders, with the aim of preventing the loss of crucial information.
The thesis concludes with a summary model of the factors that influence crowd satisfaction within crowd events of various descriptions. Key elements of this are the anticipation, facilities, and planning considered before an event, influences and monitoring during an event and reflection after an event.
The relevance and impact of this research is to assist the planning of crowd events, with the overall aim of improving participant satisfaction during crowd events. From a business perspective the issue is important with competition between events, the desire to encourage return to events, and to increase profit for organisers. From an ergonomics perspective, there is the imperative of improving the performance of crowd organisers and the experience of crowd users.
On Current Crowd Management Practices and the Need for Increased Situation Awareness, Prediction, and Intervention
C. Martellaa, J. Lic, C. Conradob, A. Vermeerenc
Abstract
Recent accidents [News, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2015] show that crowded events can quickly turn into tragedies. The goal of crowd management is to avoid such accidents through careful planning and implementation. Crowd management practices are collaborative efforts between the different actors of the crowd management team and the crowd that depend on effective handling, sharing, and communication of information. Safety and comfort of a crowd depend on the success of such efforts. We have studied current practices and the role of technology through interviews to crowd managers. Our findings show that event planning and monitoring can be complex and sophisticated, but are operated with little support from technology. Crowd managers intend to increase their use of technology, but they have been so far dissatisfied by existing solutions. We provide recommendations for a bigger role of technology in crowd management.
Perceived Crowd Safety in Large Space Buildings: The Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Perceived Risk Variables
Mohammed Alkhadim , Kassim Gidado, and Noel Painting
Abstract
In crowded large space buildings, safety is one of the most important concerns for facilities managers. Within the built environment, safety has been classified into two main parts: objective safety (normative and substantive) and subjective safety (perceived). A lot of emphasis has been given to objective safety, but research has shown that subjective safety could be equally important and cannot be overlooked. A flow of risk factors within crowded large space buildings such as sports stadiums, concert halls, and religious buildings have resulted in crowd disasters in various venues across the world. Every user in such facilities during mass gathering can be exposed to safety risks, which can be mitigated by using effective risk management as a component of facilities management. This paper focused on subjective safety and aimed to validate the measurement model of latent constructs measuring 12 risk constructs of perceived safety in crowded large space buildings. Two theoretical frameworks (FIST and Six dimensions and loci of crowd disaster) and other relevant literature were used to generate items for the respective constructs. The research chose to use the Holy Mosque in Makkah as a case study (crowded large space building), which is 356,800 square metres with a maximum capacity of two million users (pilgrims). Data was collected using iPad devices via a group-administered questionnaire distributed to 1,940 pilgrims across 62 different nationalities. The data wasanalysed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) for descriptive analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) respectively. CFA has validated the measurement model of the 12 constructs for unidimensionality, validity, and reliability.
From Reactive Policing To Crowd Management – Policing Anti-Globalization Protest In Canada
Prof Dr Mike King
Summary
There has been some significant debate over the last decade concerning a purported trend in ‘Western’ public order policing policy and practices away from a primarily reactive, confrontational and protester dispersal model, to one that is based more within the notion of de-escalation of conflict, entailing intelligence-led policing, mutual communication and negotiated accommodation, i.e. towards the ‘management’ of crowds. The reasons for such a shift have been located variously within a general movement towards a more liberal democratic society in these countries, and the process of social change generally, resulting in an increasing movement from modern to advanced-modern society. Again, the reasons why the police are involved in this developmental change is seen as being due to their relationship with the state, concerns about legitimate action and their operating within an increasingly risk-based society. However, the police themselves are not solely effecting change by responding to external pressure, but also act as agents for change themselves on the basis of police knowledge and lessons learned.
Roar of the Crowd: Noise-Related Safety Concerns in Sport
Robin Ammon, Kimberly L. Mahoney, Gil Fried, Khadija Al Arkoubi, Dale Finn
Abstract
In sport the safety of staff, participants and spectators is of the utmost importance. Therefore,
sport venue and event managers should take every precaution to address safety concerns while planning for and executing events or activities. While venue managers have a legal duty to protect fans and participants, federal regulations exist to ensure a safe workplace for all employees, including those at a sports event. This is a conceptual article intended to assist practitioners to identify potentially unexpected hazards within the work environment, as well as strategies to eliminate or manage them. The authors examine existing federal regulations, current research associated with hearing/noise-related concerns and specific research undertaken in the sport environment. The article concludes with recommended prevention strategies for facility and event managers to assist them in meeting their professional and legal obligations.
Prediction and Diversion Mechanisms for Crowd Management Based on Risk Rating
Meihua Zhang, Yuan Yao, Kefan Xie
Abstract
Studies of past accidents have revealed that various elements such as failure to identify hazards, crowd behaviors out of controlling, deficiency of the egress signage system, inconsistency between process behavior and process plan, and environmental constraints, etc. affected crowd evacuation. Above all, the hu- man factor is the key issue in safety and disaster management, although it is bound to other factors inextricably. This paper explores crowd behaviors that may influence an urgent situation, and discusses the technique applied to the crowd prediction. Based on risk rating relative to crowd density, risk plans for different levels are proposed to dispose the potential threats. Also practical crowd management measures at different risk levels are illustrated in a case of a metro station in China. Finally, the strategies for crowd security manage- ment are advised that all stakeholders are amenable to form risk conscious- ness and implement safety procedures consistent with risk plans professional- ly and scientifically.
CROWD ANALYSIS USING VISUAL AND NON-VISUAL SENSORS, A SURVEY
Muhammad Irfan, Lucio Marcenaro, Laurissa Tokarchuk
ABSTRACT
This paper proposes a critical survey of crowd analysis techniques using visual and non-visual sensors. Automatic crowd understand- ing has a massive impact on several applications including surveil- lance and security, situation awareness, crowd management, public space design, intelligent and virtual environments. In case of emer- gency, it enables practical safety applications by identifying crowd situational context information. This survey identifies different ap- proaches as well as relevant work on crowd analysis by means of visual and non-visual techniques. Multidisciplinary research groups are addressing crowd phenomenon and its dynamics ranging from social, and psychological aspects to computational perspectives. The possibility to use smartphones as sensing devices and fuse this in- formation with video sensors data, allows to better describe crowd dynamics and behaviors. Eventually, challenges and further research opportunities with reference to crowd analysis are exposed.
PUBLIC HEALTH MANAGEMENT AT OUTDOOR MUSIC FESTIVALS
CAMERON EARL
Thesis Abstract
Background Information: Outdoor music festivals (OMFs) are complex events to organise with many exceeding the population of a small city. Minimising public health impacts at these events is important with improved event planning and management seen as the best method to achieve this. Key players in improving public health outcomes include the environmental health practitioners (EHPs) working within local government authorities (LGAs) that regulate OMFs and volunteer organisations with an investment in volunteer staff working at events. In order to have a positive impact there is a need for more evidence and to date there has been limited research undertaken in this area.
Exposure to cold weather during a mass gathering in the Philippines
Allison E Gocotano, Fidelita D Dico, Neil R Calungsod, Julie L Hall & Megan L Counahan
Introduction
Between January 15 and 19, 2015, Pope Francis visited the Philippines. On January 17 the Pope visited the cities of Palo and Tacloban, which coincided with the landfall of tropi- cal storm Mekkhala. During his visit in Palo and Tacloban, he conducted an open-air service, visited the archbishop’s residence and Palo Cathedral. e visit attracted large crowds and speci c planning was done ahead of time. e pre-event planning focused on hyperthermia, crowd safety and control, but had not considered the risk posed by cold weather. Due to security procedures, the only road in and out of the site was closed to vehicles 14.5 hours before the Pope’s arrival at 18:00 hours, e ectively trapping crowds in the area. Before the road closure, attendees were sent by the event organizers to a des- ignated drop-o point 2 km from the site; resulting in many people walking to the site and waiting for the service in the rain for around 19 hours. By 18:00 hours the evening before the visit, all 56 medical teams in the eld were prepositioned evenly in the area. e teams used paper logs to record patient consultations. e Philippines Department of Health advised medical teams to consider cold stress risks two days before the event but no additional measures were taken.
RISK MANAGEMENT: EVENT MANAGERS’ ATTITUDES, BELIEFS, AND PERCEIVED CONSTRAINTS
SACHA REID and BRENT RITCHIE
Abstract
Events draw large crowds of people together within defined spaces and as such have the potential to have significant impacts. Occupational health and safety requirements, legal duty of care, and the capacity of organizations to deal with risks and crisis are important considerations for the sustain- ability of event organizations and events themselves. To date there has been a paucity of research analyzing the adoption and implementation of event risk management by event organizers, and in particular the influence that managerial attitudes and beliefs may have on the implementation of risk planning behavior. This article aims to identify event managers’ attitude and beliefs concerning risk management as well as explore social influencers and perceived constraints to implementing risk management planning. The research adopts a qualitative methodology to address the research aim and uses Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a framework for exploring event managers’ risk, attitudes, beliefs, and perceived constraints. Semistructured interviews with 11 event managers were undertaken, drawn from South East Queensland, Australia. Respondents had positive event risk planning attitudes, which were influenced by beliefs relating to safety, compliance, decision making, and professionalism. However, seven perceived constraints were also identified as important in influ- encing risk planning in an event context. The findings suggest event managers’ attitudes, beliefs, and perceived constraints vary considerably based on previous experience, size of event organization, and level of professionalism. The article discusses these findings and recommends future research to inform more sustainable event practices in the future.
Managing egress of crowd during infrastructure disruption
Teck Hou (DENG Dehao) TENG, Shih-Fen CHENG, Nghia TRUONG TRONG, Hoong Chuin LAU
ABSTRACT
In a large indoor environment such as a sports arena or convention center, smooth egress of crowd after an event can be seriously affected if infrastructure such as elevators and escalators break down. In this paper, we propose a novel crowd simulator known as SIM-DISRUPT for simulating egress scenarios in non-emergency situations. To surface the impact of disrupted infrastructure on the egress of crowd, SIM-DISRUPT includes features that allows users to specify selective disruptions as well as strategies for controlling the distribution and egress choices of crowd. Using SIM-DISRUPT, we investigate effects of crowd distribution, egress choices and infrastructure disruptions on crowd egress time and measure efficacies of different egress strategies under various infrastructure disruption scenarios. A real-world inspired use case is used to demonstrate the usefulness of SIM-DISRUPT in planning egress under various operational conditions.
THE FLOW OF HUMAN CROWDS
Roger L. Hughes
Abstract
The modern study of a crowd as a flowing continuum is a recent de- velopment. Distinct from a classical fluid because of the property that a crowd has the capacity to think, interesting new physical ideas are involved in its study. An appeal- ing property of a crowd in motion is that the nonlinear, time-dependent, simultaneous equations representing a crowd are conformably mappable. This property makes many interesting applications analytically tractable. In this review examples are given in which the theory has been used to provide possible assistance in the annual Muslim Hajj, to understand the Battle of Agincourt, and, surprisingly, to locate barriers that actually increase the flow of pedestrians above that when there are no barriers present. Modern developments may help prevent some of the approximately two thousand deaths that annually occur in accidents owing to crowding.The field of crowd mo- tion, that is, the field of “thinking fluids,” is an intriguing area of research with great promise.
Action Recognition in Spectator Crowds
Arif Mahmood, Nasir Rajpoot
No introldoction provided
Needs, Concerns, and Future Challenges in Security Management of NCAA Division I Football Events: An Intercollegiate Facility Management Perspective
Stacey Hall, Lou Marciani, Walter Cooper and Jerry Phillips
Abstract
High profile sports events have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security as potential terrorist targets (Lipton, 2005). According to Webb (2007), college sports events attract huge crowds and are an inviting terrorist target for mass casualties and media coverage. In addition to terrorism, sport facility managers are concerned with inclement weather, alcohol problems, and crowd management issues (Fried, 2005). However, previous research indicates a lack of training and education for key personnel responsible for responding to emergency incidents at college sports events (Baker, Connaughton, Zhang, & Spengler, 2007; Beckman, 2006; Cunningham, 2007; Hall, 2006). The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the needs, concerns, and future challenges in security management at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I football events. The population for this study was limited to NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic facility managers (n=235). Athletic facility managers have been identified as one of the key personnel responsible for security management operations at college football events (Hall). A total of 83 complete surveys were returned for a 35.4% response rate. The survey obtained general information on the institution, football game day operations information, and a security management needs assessment. Findings determined that 61% of the institutions outsourced their security, fire, and medical personnel. Several key areas of need identified by Division I football athletic facility managers included: 1) access to timely security information to help prevent, detect, and respond to incidents, 2) assistance in conducting vulnerability assessments, 3) emergency response training, and 4) the provision of crowd control workshops. Assessing needs will assist athletic departments in their future planning of security systems and implementation of staff training and education. This promotes a safer environment for players, spectators, officials, and local community stakeholders.
Death, injury and disability from kinetic impact projectiles in crowd- control settings: a systematic review
Rohini J Haar, Vincent Iacopino, Nikhil Ranadive, Madhavi Dandu,Sheri D Weiser
Abstract
Objective We conducted a systematic review of the available literature on deaths, injuries and permanent disability from rubber and plastic bullets, as well as from bean bag rounds, shot pellets and other projectiles used in arrests, protests and other contexts from 1 January 1990 until 1 June 2017.
SPATIAL LAYOUT DESIGN FACTORS DURING PANIC SITUATIONS
Najihah Ibrahim and Fadratul Hafinaz Hassan
ABSTRACT.
Crowd management is the human-traffic problem-solving for crowd control to manage the crowd activities by monitoring, simulating and designing model. This concept paper is to discuss on the crowd management and discover the major contributing factors that lead towards casualties dur- ing panic situation. Crowd management activity has a close relation with spatial management that gives a high impact towards the movement of pe- destrian during a certain situation and space. Hence, this concept paper pro- vides a validation on effect of the behavior reflection based on the spatial layout design during panic situation.
IN WITH THE RIGHT CROWD crowd movement and space use in Trafalgar Square during the New Year’s Eve celebrations
Mark David Major, Alan Penn, Georgia Spiliopoulou, Natasa Spende, Maria Doxa and Polly s.p. Fong
Abstract
The paper describes a three-year study of the crowd behaviour in Trafalgar Square and central London during the New Year’s Eve celebrations. The objectives of the study were to: identify the characteristics of crowd movement, density and congregation, and how this might be related to spatial layout; evaluate how this might impact on issues of public safety, in consultation with risk management experts; and, develop effective crowd management measures in preparation for the 1999 Millennium New Year’s Eve celebrations. The study is a useful demonstration of how the well- established observational techniques of the Space Syntax Scientific Research Programme (SRP) have evolved in recent years to enable researchers to investigate the relationship between crowd behaviour and urban morphology. This evolution was necessary because of the inherent problems associated with studying crowds. The resolution adopted was a more balanced approach to data collection, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative observations, the benefits and limitations of which approach are discussed.
EXPLORING AND ANALYZING A RISK MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR AN INFLUENTIAL SPORTING EVENT CASE: WORLD MASTERS ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIP – JYVÄSKYLÄ,FINLAND
Anastasia Belopol
INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Just as any project planning process event production involves a tremendous amount of uncertainties in various areas and stages of planning: unpredictable weather conditions, equipment failure, sponsorship withdraw, emergency cases, artists’illnesses and etc. Bowdin (2011, 4) fairly pointed out that there is no event without risks. Event industry is a fast growing business which can easily influence other areas. Risk, as one of the components of event planning and handling, can not only destroy normal progress of an event, but also cause harm to prospective economic benefits and social benefits of a whole community at the same time. Image of the community in many ways can be created or destroyed within success (or lack of it) of events organized in this community or by this community. In addition, sometimes risks contained in big sporting events or influential entertainment events even bringdanger to the political image of the host country. Therefore “success” has to be managed by analyzing pitfall areas and boundaries beforehand and mitigating or avoiding them.
ASSESSMENT OF CROWD MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES USED FOR FOOTBALL EVENTS IN GOVERNMENT-OWNED SPORTS STADIA IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA
MANDU AGNES WANJIKU
ABSTRACT
Spectator violence in stadiums is part of a larger set of problems related to misbehaviour in football and it has resulted into deaths and injuries during football events, especially where rival football clubs are playing. This is especially exacerbated where fans seating arrangement is not properly demarcated. The purpose of this study was therefore to assess crowd management strategies applied by the management of government-owned sports stadia in Nairobi County, Kenya.
The management strategies the study sought to assess were mainly on security arrangements in terms of the pre-event, event and post-event preparations and arrangements.
The target population for the study comprised of 64 staff working at Moi International Sports Centre (MISC) and Nyayo National Stadium (NNS), 24 Football Kenya Federation (FKF) officials at National and Nairobi County levels, 304 police officers stationed at Kasarani Police division, Ngomongo Police Post, Langata Police division and Nyayo National Stadium Police Post. Sample size for football fans was calculated at 384 using Fishers’ formula since the total population for both MISC (60,000) and NNS (30,000) was estimated at 90,000.
Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the respondents, to ensure a fair representation of all the target groups. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data collected was summarized into descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages. Data presentation was carried out using graphs, bar- charts, tables and pie-charts. The null hypotheses were tested using chi-square at p < 0.05 level of association/agreement using SPSS version 20.
Findings revealed there was a level of agreement between the security/safety service personnel and football fans on the adequacy of stadia safety features where a higher proportion of both were of the opinion that the safety features were partially adequate. On pre-event strategies the findings revealed that the strategies used were viewed by a high proportion of the respondents as partially effective, with a departure on facility maintenance which was viewed as effective and advertising of penalties for misbehaviour while in the stadium which was indicated as ineffective. The stadia security/safety service personnel and the football fans generally agreed that the strategies used to manage crowds during football matches in the two sports stadia were partially effective. For the post-event strategies security/safety personnel and football fans were of the opinion that the strategies used to control crowds after a football match were generally partially effective. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the management of the two sports stadia should improve on all the strategies used to manage crowds during football matches. Further studies on crowd management strategies for football events need to be carried out in other government- owned and non-government owned sports stadia in Kenya.
Designing for Crowd Well-Being: Current Designs, Strategies and Future Design Suggestions
Jie Li, Huib de Ridder, Arnold Vermeeren, Claudine Conrado, Claudio Martella
Abstract:
This paper introduces the concept of crowd well-being and the needs for sustaining it. Crowd well-being can be interpreted as crowd members’ evaluations on their emotional reactions, moods and judgments they form about their satisfactions, goals or needs fulfillment in a crowded situation according to the definition of subjective well-being by Diener and his colleagues. Higher level needs, i.e. relatedness and autonomy in Sheldon’s two-level hierarchy are essential to the enhancement of crowd well-being when safety is guaranteed. Needs for safety become prominent in case of emergencies. Furthermore, it investigates three representative crowd management designs and strategies and how they fulfill the needs of crowd members through ten crowd expert interviews. We conclude that the current strategies and designs mostly focus on the effortful planning and preparation for the potentially unsafe situations, which tend to be coercive instead of fully respect crowd members’ autonomy. A number of technologies are applied to monitor the crowd behaviors externally due to the security concerns rather than approach and assess them locally, understand their needs and provide real-time feedbacks to support their well-being. We suggest that future designs should allow the measuring to go into the crowds and place an emphasis on improving crowd members’ higher level needs on the premise of security.
A REVIEW: MONITORING AND SAFETY OF PILGRIMS USING STAMPEDE DETECTION AND PILGRIM TRACKING
S. K. Shah, Sharley Kulkarni
Abstract
At present, there are so many problems regarding the crowd control, medical emergencies, security issues, identification and tracking of the pilgrims in the holy areas. Especially during pilgrimage, the pilgrimage authority finds it difficult to manage the situation. Thus, in order to identify, track and monitor pilgrims a system is needed. In this system camera is used to monitor continuously and to find high density with the help of image processing. The communication with base station is done through GSM. As soon as pre-stamped starts, people around pre-stamped, camera detect the picture and compare the density and message is send to the police if very high density is found. This embedded system is divided into two parts stamped detection and pilgrim monitoring unit. In Stamped detection unit continuous monitoring of the stamped scenario using Image processing via MATLAB software is implemented. The MATLAB software continuously takes snapshot at every 10 seconds and will analyse the scenario for stamped threshold. If the people gathered in a particular area are more than the threshold then stamped warning is sent to ARM microcontroller via RS232 and simultaneously we send an indication to the Pilgrim unit via GSM. In Pilgrim monitoring unit continuous monitoring of the status of pilgrim using the health parameters of pilgrim and sending the GPS Co-ordinates along with the health parameters is initiated.
Crowd control by multiple cameras
L.J.M. Rothkrantz, Z.Yang
Abstract
One of the goals of the crowd control project at Delft University of Technology is to detect and track people during a crisis event, classify their behavior and assess what is happening. The assumption is that the crisis area is observed by multiple cameras (fixed or mobile). The cameras sense the environment and extract features such as the amount of motion. These features are the input to a Bayesian network with nodes corresponding to situations such as terroristic attack, fire, and explosion. Given the probabilities of the observed features, by reasoning, the likelihood of the possible situations can be computed. A prototype was tested in a train compartment and its environment. Forty scenarios, performed by actors, were recorded. From the recordings the conditional probabilities have been computed. The scenarios are designed as scripts which proved to be a good methodology. The models, experiments and results will be presented in the paper.
An energy based method to measure the crowd safety
Haodong Yina, Dewei Li, Xuanchuan Zheng
Abstract
How to evaluate crowd safety in crowded areas is a tough, but important, problem. According to accident-causing theory, uncontrolled release of hazardous energy among overcrowded pedestrians is the basic cause of crowd disaster. Therefore, crowd energy is modeled in this paper, which takes both pedestrian kinetic energy, pedestrian potential energy and pedestrian internal energy into consideration. Furthermore, the crowd energy is discussed in an empirical study of subway station based on videos. The result shows that the crowd energy can be used to evaluate crowd safety performance.
Risk communication for religious crowds: preferences of Hajj pilgrims
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe empirical research intended to gauge the channels of risk information and their perceived effectiveness expressed by Hajj pilgrims in 2013 to better inform risk-reduction strategies at crowded religious events.
Managing flows during mega-events: taking account of internal and external flows in public order policing operations
Chad Whelan & Adam Molnar
Abstract
The article examines the configurations and organisational dynamics of policing mega-events through the metaphor of ‘flows’. Using the Brisbane 2014 Group of 20 Summit (G20) as an explorative case study, we suggest that the metaphor of flows may not only hold value with regard to understanding how objects of policing are rendered visible and manageable, but also how it might enable us to take stock of internal flows of data, information and intelligence within public order policing operations. We examine how police pursued their goal of containing and controlling protest flows as well as managing rapid intra– and inter-organisational flows. In particular, we examine how police and security actors designed what we call ‘flow-based’ architectures and the underlying organisational and situational contingencies shaping how these structures and systems form and function. The article concludes by calling for greater attention on internal dynamics of policing operations which, we argue, can potentially be advanced by drawing on the metaphor of flows.
Mortality at Music Festivals: Academic and Grey Literature for Case Finding
Abstract
Objective: Deaths at music festivals are not infrequently reported in the media; however, the true mortality burden is difficult to determine as the deaths are not yet systematically documented in the academic literature. Methods: This was a literature search for case examples using academic and gray literature sources, employing both retrospective and prospective searches of media sources from 1999-2014. Results: The gray literature documents a total of 722 deaths, including traumatic (594/722; 82%) and non-traumatic (128/722; 18%) causes. Fatalities were caused by trampling (n=479), motor-vehicle-related (n=39), structural collapses (n=28), acts of terror (n=26), drowning (n=8), assaults (n=6), falls (n=5), hanging (n=2), and thermal injury (n=2). Non-traumatic deaths included overdoses (n=96/722; 13%), environmental causes (n=8/722; 1%), natural causes (n=10/722; 1%), and unknown/not reported (n=14/722; 2%). The majority of non-trauma-related deaths were related to overdose (75%). The academic literature documents trauma-related deaths (n=368) and overdose-related deaths (n=12). One hundred percent of the trauma-related deaths reported in the academic literature also were reported in the gray literature (n=368). Mortality rates cannot be reported as the total attendance at events is not known. Conclusions: The methodology presented in this manuscript confirms that deaths occur not uncommonly at music festivals, and it represents a starting point in the documentation and surveillance of mortality. Turris SA , Lund A . Mortality at music festivals: academic and grey literature for case finding. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(1):1 6.
(PDF) Mortality at Music Festivals: Academic and Grey Literature for Case Finding.
Big data and disaster management: a systematic review and agenda for future research
Shahriar Akter, Samuel Fosso Wamba
Abstract
The era of big data and analytics is opening up new possibilities for disaster management (DM). Due to its ability to visualize, analyze and predict disasters, big data is changing the humanitarian operations and crisis management dramatically. Yet, the relevant literature is diverse and fragmented, which calls for its review in order to ascertain its development. A number of publications have dealt with the subject of big data and its applications for minimizing disasters. Based on a systematic literature review, this study examines big data in DM to present main contributions, gaps, challenges and future research agenda. The study presents the findings in terms of yearly distribution, main journals, and most cited papers. The findings also show a classification of publications, an analysis of the trends and the impact of published research in the DM context. Overall the study contributes to a better understanding of the importance of big data in disaster management.
A NEW FRACTIONAL ORDER DYNAMIC MODEL FOR HUMAN CROWD STAMPEDE SYSTEM
Ke-Cai Cao, YangQuan Chen, Dan Stuart
Abstract
Tragedies due to people’s crushing or trampling have been observed in recent years. In order to understand the reasons that lead to these accidents, a lot of research has been conducted in modeling or predicting the behavior of crowd pedestrians. A new kind of fractional order dynamic description for crowd-pedestrian system has been developed in microscopic scale in this paper for a better understanding of human collective behavior where fractional order in time domain has been introduced. Due to the freedom provided by Fractional Calculus, a lot of characters of pedestrians can be considered in this fractional order modeling framework, such as memory effects, long range interactions and heterogeneity of each individual. Simulations results using Matlab in microscopic are also presented to show the effects of integer order and fractional order on evacuation time which is useful in evaluating the evacuation process or predicting crowd stampede that is going to occur. Copyright © 2015 by ASME Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Young Children and Association With Material Stature Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early childhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal…….
Panic at “The Who Concert Stampede”: An Empirical Assessment
NORRIS R. JOHNSON
In life-threatening situations, such as a fire in a movie theater, we might expect people to put their own safety first and behave in ways that might unintentionally harm others. Media accounts of the injuries and deaths that occurred at a 1979 rock concert were consistent with this common-sense explana- tion. However, as Norris Johnson’s research revealed, concert goers did not “stampede” as the media contended. Instead, they actually tried to help one another. This article explores some of the forces behind unexpected human behavior.
Mecca Bound: The Challenges Ahead
Ziad A. Memish and Qanta A. A. Ahmed
Each year some 2 million Muslims perform the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. This mass migra- tion has its own attendant risks of infectious and non- infectious hazards. This review examines the medical risks of traveling to Mecca during the hajj and gives advice for appropriate prophylactic measures to ensure a safe trip. Special attention is given to the considerable noninfec- tious insults the pilgrim traveler may face.
Cambodian Bon Om Touk Stampede Highlights Preventable Tragedy
Edbert B. Hsu, MD, MPH; Frederick M. Burkle, Jr., MD, MPH, DTM
Abstract
The tragic nature of the human stampede that took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 22, 2010 claimed the lives of 347 people during the three-day-long Water Festival, known as Bon Om Touk. Described as the greatest tragedy that Cambodia has experienced since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge, the Bon Om Touk stampede ranks among the deadliest human stampede disasters during the past 30 years, a Class IV event exceeding 100 fatalities according to a recently proposed scale.1 From the perspective of global health, the event shares many characteristics with preceding major crowd disasters and failures in event planning. It is essential for the international community to officially monitor human stampedes as it does other major disasters. Additional research on human stampedes is needed to improve our collective understanding of the causes of crowd disasters and how best to prevent them. EB Hsu, FM Burkle Jr. Cambodian Bon Om Touk stampede highlights preventable tragedy.
Research on Risk Assessment System of Mass Crowded Stampede-trampling Accidents in Stadium
Li Menglong, Peng Hongjian, Zhang Xinkang1, and Deng Luoping
Abstract:
Objective: Researching the main factors causing mass crowded stampede-trampling accidents in stadium and establishing a risk assessment system of mass crowded stampede-trampling accident in stadium. Method: Analyzing and studying the risk of mass crowded stampede-trampling accident in stadium in the way of logic inference, Delphi method, AHP, comprehensive analysis and demonstration analysis. Conclusions: The risk assessment indicator system of mass crowded stampede-trampling accident in stadium established with four first-level indicators and twenty-nine second-level indicators are highly scientific and effective. it’s feasible to assess the risk of mass crowded stampede-trampling accident in stadium by using fuzzy comprehensive assessment method.
Disaster Risks in Crowded Situations: Contemporary Manifestations and Implications of Human Stampede in Nigeria
Okoli, Al Chukwuma
Abstract
Crowded situations are inherently disaster-prone. This is more so where there is no efficient contingency measures to ensure effective control of the crowd as well as efficient utilization of the hosting space. This paper examines human stampede as a typical instance of crowd disaster in Nigeria with a view to making recommendations for its mitigation. By way of qualitative discourse, predicated on relevant secondary sources, the paper observes that the occurrence of human stampede in Nigeria is as a result of failure or inadequacy of crowd management cum control in mass public events and gatherings. The paper posits that human stampede is a veritable threat to public safety and/or security in Nigeria in view of its dire consequences. The paper recommends a proactive, contingency approach to crowd control and management as a panacea to the problem.
MAMA: Multi-Agent MAnagement of Crowds to Avoid Stampedes in Long Queues
(Extended Abstract)
Sindhu Kolli, Kamalakar Karlapalem
ABSTRACT
In places of reverence, wherein large crowds gather to have small time duration for individual solace, there is typically a long queue of people waiting for their turn. There have been cases of stampedes with significant loss of life and trauma during such situations because of lack of management of crowds. In this paper, we present MAMA a set of robotic agents that (i) can move at a height to (ii) provide direction and control the crowds to (iii) avoid situations for stampedes to occur. We modeled the problem, and built a multi agent simulation system to conduct experiments that show results of agents managing crowds at appropriate times to avoid possibility of occurring of stampedes.
Empirical study on unidirectional dense crowd during a real mass event
X.L. Zhang, W.G. Weng, H.Y. Yuan and J.G. Chen
Abstract
Many tragic crowd disasters have happened across the world in recent years, such as the Phnom Penh stampede in Cambodia, crowd disaster in Mina/Makkah, and the Love Parade disaster in Germany, showing that management of mass events is a tough task for organizers. The study of unidirectional flow, one of the most common forms of motion in mass activities, is essential for safe organization of such events. In this paper, the properties of unidirectional flow in a crowded street during a real mass event in China are quantitatively investigated with sophisticated active infrared counters and an image processing method. A complete dataset of flow rates during the whole celebration is recorded, and a time series analysis gives new insight into such activities. The spatial analysis shows that the velocity and density of the crowd are inhomogeneous due to the boundary effect, whereas the flux is uniform. The estimated capacity of the street indicates that the maximum flow rate under normal condition should be between 1.73 and 1.98 /m/s, which is in good agreement with several field studies available in the existing literature. In consideration of the significant deviation among different studies, fundamental diagrams of dense crowds are also re-verified, and the results here are consistent with those from other field studies of unidirectional flow, but different from the bidirectional and experimental results. It is suggested that the data from multidirectional flow and experiments cannot be directly applied to unidirectional dense flow in a real mass event. The results also imply that the density of a similar unidirectional marching crowd should be controlled to be under 5 /m2, which can produce optimal efficiency and have more possibility to ensure safety. The field study data given here provide a good example of a database for crowd studies.
Scene – Independent Group Profiling in Crowd
Jing Shao, Chen Change Loy, Xiaogang Wang
Abstract
Groups are the primary entities that make up a crowd. Understanding group-level dynamics and properties is thus scientifically important and practically useful in a wide range of applications, especially for crowd understanding. In this study we show that fundamental group-level proper- ties, such as intra-group stability and inter-group conflict, can be systematically quantified by visual descriptors. This is made possible through learning a novel Collective Tran- sition prior, which leads to a robust approach for group seg- regation in public spaces. From the prior, we further devise a rich set of group property visual descriptors. These de- scriptors are scene-independent, and can be effectively ap- plied to public-scene with variety of crowd densities and distributions. Extensive experiments on hundreds of public scene video clips demonstrate that such property descrip- tors are not only useful but also necessary for group state analysis and crowd scene understanding.
Stampede Management For Religious Events In India
Ankita Prasun, Prashansa Dixit
Traumatic asphyxia during stadium stampede
FD MADZIMBAMUTO, T MADAMOMBE
Abstract
Objectives: To present a series of cases of survivors and non-survivors of traumatic asphyxia from a single mass casualty incident in Zimbabwe and a review of the literature.
Design: Descriptive case review.
Setting: Parirenyatwa Hospital is a tertiary referral 1 000 bed teaching hospital in Zimbabwe.Results: Survivors (n = 4) displayed the classic signs of traumatic asphyxia of conjunctival haemmorhages, petechial blue-purple discoloration of head and neck and neurological findings of confusion or unconsciousness and convulsions. Non-survivors (n = 12) showed more varied signs but all showed petechiae and with a history of being crushed. On-site resuscitation and triage was absent, reducing the chance of identifying potential survivors at the scene.
Conclusion: The outcome in traumatic asphyxia is improved by rapid restoration of ventilation and circulation. The epidemiology of traumatic asphyxia in Zimbabwe is unknown but the conditions predisposing to it are present. Closer integration between hospital and pre-hospital services will permit better management of major trauma patients and mass casualty events.
CROWD CRUSH- HOW THE LAW LEAVES AMERICAN CROWDS UNPROTECTED
Tracy Hresko Pearl
Abstract
Crowd-related injuries and deaths are startlingly common both in the United States and worldwide. They occur in a wide range of situations and at a vast array of venues: at music concerts, sporting events, and retail holiday sales, and in and around airports, subway platforms, and parking lots, among other locations. These “crowd crush” incidents, however, are extremely underreported and rarely litigated, masking the seriousness of this issue and making it difficult for the few victims who pursue legal recourse to recover damages. Given that there is virtually no statutory law in the United States pertaining to crowd management and control, crowd crush cases are based entirely in common law, most often in the law of negligence. Unfortunately, courts have consistently made a number of analytical errors in these cases, creating a line of jurisprudence that is both scientifically and legally problematic and that reduces incentives for venue owners and event managers to take steps to reduce the likelihood of future crowd injuries. In this paper, I (a) identify the most significant of these errors, (b) explain why they contravene crowd science, and (c) make a series of recommendations designed to bring crowd crush jurisprudence in line with modern science and level the playing field between plaintiffs and defendants in these cases.
New Year´s Stampede Lan Kwai Fong 1993
Case Study Scenario: Hong Kong, January 2017
On a late January afternoon, Senior Officer Chan,1 of the Security Bureau of Hong Kong, strolled through Victoria Park. [Chan is a fictional character, but all other people named in this case are real and depicted as accurately as possible.] As he walked through the gardens, observing the afternoon crowds, his thoughts drifted to the upcoming Lunar New Year festivities. Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents and visitors would celebrate the Chinese New Year later that month, and their safety wasthe government’s prime concern.
Disasters at Mass Gatherings: Lessons from History
Introduction
Reviews of mass gathering events have traditionally concentrated on crowd variables that affect the level and type of medical care needed. Crowd disasters at mass gathering events have not been fully researched and this review examines these aiming to provide future suggestions for event organisers, medical resource planners, and emergency services, including local hospital emergency departments
Traumatic Asphyxial Deaths Due to an Uncontrolled Crowd
James R. Gill, MD, and Kristen Landi, MD
Abstract:
Nine people died of traumatic asphyxia due to an uncon- trolled crowd at a community basketball game in New York City in 1991. We reviewed the circumstances, postmortem findings, and the causes of death. The majority of people had petechiae of the conjunc- tivae and face consistent with chest compression. There were minimal superficial blunt injuries and no fractures or acute intoxications. These deaths are often incorrectly attributed to blunt force injuries, while the cause typically is asphyxia due to chest compression.
Epidemiological Characteristics of Human Stampedes
Yu-Hsiang Hsieh, PhD, Ka Ming Ngai, MD, MPH,
Frederick M. Burkle Jr, MD, MPH, DTM, and Edbert B. Hsu, MD, MPH
Abstract
The potential for deadly human stampedes to occur at any mass gathering event highlights this unique form of crowd disaster as deserving of special attention from both scientific and planning perspectives. Improved understanding of human stampedes is indispensable in the mitigation of this type of mass casualty. With relatively few peer-reviewed reports on deadly human stampedes, information from news reports and the Internet is essential to increased collective understanding. Without incorporating nontraditional sources, no other way to reasonably acquire sufficient data is available. This study analyzed human stampede events from 1980 to 2007 to identify epidemiological characteristics associated with increased mortality. A LexisNexis search was followed by sequential searches of multiple Internet-based English-language news agencies. Date, country, geographical region, time of occurrence, type of event, location, mechanism, number of participants, number injured, and number of deaths were recorded. Bivariate analyses of number of deaths or injuries were conducted using a nonparametric Wilcoxon rank test. Multivariate regression was performed to determine the factors associated with increased number of fatalities during stampede events. A total of 215 human stampede events were reported from 1980 to 2007, resulting in 7069 deaths and at least 14,078 injuries from 213 events with available fatality information and 179 events with injury information. In bivariate analysis, stampedes occurring in the Middle East, in developing countries, outdoors, or associated with religious events had the highest median number of deaths. In multivariate analysis, events that occurred in developing countries and outdoors were associated with increased number of fatalities. Stampedes that occurred in the context of sports, religious, music, and political events, or that had a unidirectional mechanism, also increased the relative number of deaths. Several epidemiological features of human stampedes associated with increased mortality are identified. Standardized collection of epidemiological data pertaining to human stampedes is strongly recommended, and further study of this recurrent, distinctive disaster is warranted.
Crowd Behavior Analysis: A Review where Physics meets Biology
Ven Jyn Kok, Mei Kuan Lim, Chee Seng Chan
Abstract
Although the traits emerged in a mass gathering are often non-deliberative, the act of mass impulse may lead to irre- vocable crowd disasters. The two-fold increase of carnage in crowd since the past two decades has spurred significant advances in the field of computer vision, towards effective and proactive crowd surveillance. Computer vision stud- ies related to crowd are observed to resonate with the understanding of the emergent behavior in physics (complex systems) and biology (animal swarm). These studies, which are inspired by biology and physics, share surprisingly common insights, and interesting contradictions. However, this aspect of discussion has not been fully explored. Therefore, this survey provides the readers with a review of the state-of-the-art methods in crowd behavior analysis from the physics and biologically inspired perspectives. We provide insights and comprehensive discussions for a broader understanding of the underlying prospect of blending physics and biology studies in computer vision.
Crowd management implications of emotional fan involvement: the case of football and rugby
Andrea Petroczi, Robin Ammon, Tim Welland
Introduction
The importance of sport and entertainment events in our global society has caused public and media attention to be focused on many diverse events around the world. This increased scrutiny has not only augmented public awareness of the various host facilities, but has also illuminated various issues pertaining to proper crowd management strategies used at sport facilities. The main question this study aimed to answer was whether violence surrounding sporting events could be related to the violent nature of the sport itself? Two particular sports, European football and rugby, provided an excellent outlet to investigate the question. Although football and rugby originated from the same activity, they both developed their distinct features and now being labelled as “gentleman’s game” and “rough play”.
Far from the Madding Crowd: A Statutory Solution to Crowd Crush
Tracy Hresko Pearl
No introduction included
RESEARCH ON RISK CLASSIFICATION METHOD OF ASSEMBLY OCCUPANCIES
Hao Yu
ABSTRACT
Due to the densely population and mobility characteristics of the crowd, generally accidents happened in assembly occupancies will trigger a chain reaction, and then bring heavy casualties and property loss, and result disastrous consequences. In the context of safety regulation resources limited, building risk classification system of assembly occupancies is important for “scientific predicting, and hierarchical controlling” In this paper, a software with agraphical user interface is designed using MATLAB GUI to analyze and calculate risks of stampede accident caused by gathered crowds in the video. A velocity extraction method based on cross-correlation algorithm is adopted, and the risk characteristic parameters such as velocity variance is also applied. In this way, real-time analysis and early-warning for risks of stampede accident in time and space can be achieved. Also, the algorithm is applied to the surveillance video of the stampede in Shanghai and its feasibility is proved. Empirical research shows that, the assembly occupancies risk rating model built in this paper has good effectiveness, simplicity and practicability, applies to the government safety regulation and organization safety management, and can improve the safety situation of assembly occupancies effectively.
Mass gatherings in Italy: a study from the 2015 Milan Expo
Pietro Marino, Enzo Albergoni, Aida Andreassi, Gianluca Chiodini, Lucia Colombi, Cristina Corbetta, Gabriella Nucera, Marco Salmoiraghi, Alberto Zoli
Abstract
Introduction. A mass gathering (MG) is when a large number of people come together in a particular location for a specific purpose. Expo 2015 was an universal exposition hosted by Milan, Italy. The Pre-Hospital Emergency Company (AREU) of Lombardy Region (Milan-Italy) was involved in planning and managing the emergency rescue response inside the Expo 2015 area in Milan. In this paper, we review the AREU medical and public health response for the 2015 Milan Expo.
Methods. Existing risk-assessment processes for MGs were used (the Arbon Predictive Score and Maurer Score) to define the expected resources and the impact on the health systems. The objective of the plan was to reduce the impact of the event by adopting the model of First Aid Points (advanced medical posts) deployed in the event site acting as ‘first health filters’ for the hospital network in Milan.
Results. Our data indicate that 13,579 visitors were rescued in the ‘Red Area’ from 1 May to 31 October (with an average of 73 cases per day); 9,501 of them needed initial treatment or observation time at the First Aid Points, 1,289 of them were hospitalised (1% Red code, 29% Yellow code, 70% Green code); 65% of patients (57% female, with a mean age of 37 years old) had medical problems. Fatigue, light- headedness, dizziness, syncope, loss of consciousness and headache were the prevalent medical diagnoses.
Conclusions. Our study confirms that environmental factors, such as the weather, can contribute to large numbers of ill people at MGs. Overall, the AREU of Lombardy Region demonstrated excellent preparation for the Expo 2015 MG. Flexibility, integration and strong cooperation between the pre-hospital settings and hospitals were incorporated into the application of the plan. The final data showed the effectiveness of the adopted model and the reduced impact on the hospital network.
Effects of ICT and media information on collective resilience after disasters –from a virtual crowd to a psychological crowd – Part 1 – ICT and media information and collective resilience in an emergency situation [Draft paper]
John W. Cheng, Hitoshi Mitomo
Abstract
This paper is the first part of a two-part study that aims to examine the relationship between collective resilience and ICT and media information. Previous studies find that in disaster and emergency situations, most people are capable to remain coherent and to offer mutual help. Referred as collective resilience, this kind of collective behaviours has become an essential element in disaster resilience development. However, despite many studies show that ICT and media information can also motivate people in disasters, currently there are few studies that connect collective resilience with ICT and media information.
This paper focuses on the relationship between collective resilience and ICT and media information in an emergency situation using uses the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake as a case study. Specifically, it focuses on the tens of thousands of commuters who were stranded at the train stations for long hours because of the earthquake. Using a cluster analysis of data collected from an original questionnaire survey in Japan, we found that information from different media sources can contribute to people’s collective resilience behaviours. In particular, under the external threats posed by the disaster, people who were better informed were more likely to be associated with others, and also to give and receive help.
Defining Crowd Movement as Parabola and Classifying These Definitions
Murat AKPULAT , Murat EKİNCİ
Abstract:
Smart surveillance systems developed in recent years have made enormous contributions to providing safety and management of crowds. The aim of this study is to observe and try to understand how crowd movements presented in a video sequence show behaviour. For this end, the motion data at pixel level among the consecutive frames is obtained using optical flow initially. Then, this motion data is associated using the particle advection method and stable as well as moving areas in the image are obtained. After, the moving areas clustered using Mean-Shift method are described and classified as parabola, in addition to the studies in the literature. At the end of the study, the method developed was tested over UCF as well as Pets2009 datasets and the results are presented.
Exploration of design solutions for the enhancement of crowd safety
Nirajan Shiwakoti, Majid Sarvi, Geoff Rose
Abstract
The movement of large numbers of people is important in many situations, such as the evacuation of buildings, stadiums and public transport stations. Numerous incidents have been reported in the literature in which overcrowding has resulted in injuries and death during emergency situations. Modelling and empirical study of crowd safety under emergency conditions is imperative to assist planners and managers of emergency response to analyse and assess safety precautions for those situations. In this paper, we draw on the simulation tool for crowd dynamics to examine how those tools can enhance understanding about the development of safe design solutions for emergency escape. Particularly, it is shown that the adjustments of small structural features in an enclosed area can have large potential effects in terms of crowd safety.
How publics use social media to respond to blame games in crisis communication: The Love Parade tragedy in Duisburg 2010
Crisis communication scholarship has been criticized for its “managerial bias” and for its tendency to marginalize the perspective of publics and audiences. However, the under- standing of how publics cope with and interpret crises is crucial for developing the body of knowledge in crisis communication, from both critical and managerial/functionalist per- spectives. This case study of the Love Parade crisis in Germany 2010 aimed at exploring how publics perceived the crisis response of the festival organizers and how they used social media to communicate about it shortly after the outbreak of the crisis. A content analysis of 1847 postings at two relevant message boards produced support for the assumption that attributions of cause and responsibility are important predictors of publics’ evaluations of organizations in crisis situations. Findings also revealed that stakeholders actively engage in such attributional inferences spontaneously without being prompted by researchers. The analysis of responsibility perceptions as well as evaluative judgments over time supported the situational crisis communication theory. Blaming others and denying responsibility in the context of a crisis that was perceived as human error accident triggered negative reputational outcomes for the organizations involved in the Love Parade.
Building Design Information and Requirements for Crowd Safety During Disasters
Aysu Sagun, Dino Bouchlaghem , Chimay J. Anumba
Abstract
Building design requires the consideration of interaction of people with each other and the space. It is essential to consider dynamic information on movements and behaviours of users in buildings in addition to the static data that specify shape and dimensions based on the numbers of occupants and objects within the space. In public buildings, ensuring the safety and security of the occupants is even more challenging, especially during emergency situations and disasters where speedy and safe evacuations of large crowds from densely populat ed areas is essential. This research seeks to establish the scope for enhancing the safety of building occupants through the improved design of the built environment to better cope with extreme events, focusing on design information that is based on crowd behaviour in emergency situations. Within this context, critical safety issues are explored such as way finding, crowd flow, control, management and communication. The lack of dynamic information in building design, the potenti al use of crowd modelling techniques in improving designs for the safety and security in large public spaces during emergency events are highlighted , and case studies conducted to collect data on exit preference of people during building evacuation are presented. The research is based on an extensive literature review and interviews with safety, security and building design experts. It identifies a methodology to integrate dynamic information in building design with regard to crowd safety during emergencies. These are expected to have an impact on the development of design guidelines, codes and standards for public buildings.
The Godavari Maha Pushkaram 2015 in Andhra Pradesh State – A study on good practices and gap analysis of a mass gathering event
Prabhakar Akurathi, N. Samson Sanjeeva Rao, TSR Sai
Abstract
Abstract Introduction: The Godavari River’s Mahapushkaram observed from 14th to 25th July, 2015 drew upto 10 lakh people to Rajahmundry city and neighboring towns. Due to the flocking of such masses, many problems were anticipated; traffic congestion, poor sanitation, air pollution due to vehicles, water pollution etc. There was also an increased need for proper food, milk and water. An effective mass management plan requires an assessment of the current system’s capacity and understanding of hazards and risks. A review of such events can enlighten us with good practices and identify gaps which can be addressed in future such events. Materials and Method: This qualitative study involved PRA techniques like transect walk on all the days and interaction with key informants and in depth interviews with officials, workers and pilgrims. Preparations made for the Pushkaram, good practices and gaps in the arrangements were observed and noted. The information was transcribed in MS word and identified themes are presented. Results and Discussion: Observations regarding planning, facilities, food and water, sanitation, communication, transport, crowd flow, security and safety revealed many good practices. However many gaps were also identified. On the first day a stampede took place at pushkar ghat with 29 people losing their lives. The stampede that took place revealed several lacunae in preparedness for mass casualty incidents. Conclusion: The state has a responsibility to make sure that adequate arrangements are made to meet the large inflow of pilgrims. Accommodation, food, water and sanitation needs were adequately met with good public private coordination. Lacunae were; need for better traffic regulations and diversions, addressing basic needs of people stuck in traffic for long hours and an emergency evacuation system in case of untoward incidents. On site health outposts must be of a reasonably higher level to manage causalities.
Sensegiving and Crowd Safety after the Pearl Jam Concert Accident
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal. It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using.
Policing Events
30 Years of Hurt: The Evolution of Civil Preventive Orders, Hybrid Law, and the Emergence of the Super-Football Banning Order
Mark James
Professor of Sports Law, Manchester Metropolitan University
Geoff Pearson
Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law, The University of Manchester
Abstract
The Football Banning Order was the first Civil Preventive Order (CPO), predating the many similar measures that followed the election of New Labour to government in 1997 by 10 years. CPOs have been held by the domestic courts to be preventive rather than punitive measures that do not need to follow criminal procedures to be compliant with Arts.6 and 7 of the
European Convention on Human Rights. After three decades of amendment and imaginative application, however, the original CPO has evolved into a punitive measure that is rarely utilised against those who orchestrate football-related violence and goes far beyond what is necessary to prevent low-level football disorder. It will be argued that in order to avoid breaching Arts.6 and 7, the imposition of this evolved CPO – a ‘super-Football Banning Order’ – should be restricted by amendment of ss.14A and B Football Spectators Act 1989. Further, and of wider interest, its previously undocumented incremental evolution should serve as a warning of how other CPOs could evolve similarly punitive impacts on their recipients.
Crowd Flight in Response to Police Dispersal Techniques: A Momentary Lapse of Reason?
CHRIS COCKING
University of Brighton
Abstract
There has been much debate about the use of certain public order policing tactics in Britain in response to the disorder seen in recent years. This paper explored the use of an indiscriminate public order tactic that has received comparatively less attention, that of crowd dispersal techniques. More specifically, the use of police charges (either by mounted police or on foot) and subsequent collective flight was investigated. An interview study was conducted with 20 participants who experienced such charges at protests in English cities. Thematic analysis of the data found that although participants reported fear and initial crowd scattering, these instinctive responses were quickly replaced by more socialised reactions, such as co-operation with others and an increased sense of collective unity. Furthermore, participants reported greater determination to resist what
were considered as illegitimate attacks by the police. This increased collective unity was explained in terms of a shared sense of experience that was similar to that found in previous crowd behaviour research. It was concluded that rather than fragmenting crowds, the tactic of crowd dispersal can unite previously heterogeneous groups to resist further police charges and so may be counter-productive as a public order policing strategy.
EVENT POLICING – DIALOGUE IN THE POLICING OF MASS EVENTS IN DENMARK
By
JONAS HAVELUND, DEPARTMENT OF SPORT SCIENCE, AARHUS UNIVERSITY
JØRGEN ILUM, COMMISSIONER EAST JUTLAND POLICE, AARHUS
MORTEN ANKER JENSEN, INSPECTOR EAST JUTLAND POLICE, AARHUS
BENT PREBEN NIELSEN, ASSISTENT COMMISSIONER,EAST JUTLAND POLICE, AARHUS
KRISTIAN RASMUSSEN, DEPARTMENT OF SPORT SCIENCE, AARHUS UNIVERSITY
CLIFFORD STOTT, DR., DEPARTMENT OF SPORT SCIENCE, AARHUS UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
Abstract
This article describes a training programme for the ‘Event Police’ developed through cooperation
between researchers at Aarhus University and East Jutland Police, Denmark. The Event Police
and the associated training programme is a research-based initiative. It is designed to enhance the
policing of major events and is an approach developed from the latest knowledge on the social
psychology of crowds and police good practice.
Chapter 10: Farewell to the Hooligan?
Modern Developments in Football Crowd Management
Geoff Pearson
University of Manchester
Clifford Stott
University of Leeds
Football crowd disorder and violence continues to pose challenges to police, security personnel, and football organisations globally. However the football crowd is often misunderstood and in much of the world the emphasis on crowd control, zero-tolerance, and ‘show-of-force’ policing has not only failed to control the problem, but in many cases has exacerbated it. This chapter seeks to challenge some of the traditional views about football
crowds and their behaviour and the best ways to manage them. Based on a substantial base of qualitative European research, it proposes that in order to reduce the risk of serious violence and disorder, police and security bodies should seek to engage in positive interaction and dialogue with supporters to increase their legitimacy amongst crowd members and ensure that their own interventions do not lead to an escalation of incidents. Furthermore, police, security organisations and football bodies need to work with existing crowd science to ensure that the most effective methods of football crowd management are employed, measured and rigorously re-tested.
‘Hooligans’ abroad? Inter-group dynamics, social identity and participation in collective ‘disorder’ at the 1998 World Cup Finals
Clifford Stott
University of Liverpool, UK
Paul Hutchison University of Kent, UK
John Drury
University of Sussex, UK
During the 1998 Football World Cup Finals in Fr ance, English supporters were, once again, involved in major incidents of collective ‘disorder’. Explanations for these incidents concentrated on the conflictual norms held by ‘hooligans’. In contrast, Scottish supporters attending the tournament displayed norms of non-violence, explained by the popular press in terms of the absence of ‘hooligans’. This study challenges this tendency to explain the presence or absence of ‘disorder’ in the context of football solely in terms of the presence or absence of ‘hooligan’ fans. Using data obtained from an ethnographic study of both Scottish and English supporters attending the tournament (N = 121), we examine the processes through which ordinarily ‘peaceful’ supporters would or would not become involved in collective conflict. In line with the Elaborated Social Identity
Model (ESIM ) of crowd behaviour, the analysis highlights the role of the
intergroup context. Where out-group activity was understood as illegitimate in in-group terms, in-group members rede ned their identity such that violent action toward out-group members came to be understood as legitimate. By contrast, where there was no out-group hostility, in-group members de ned themselves through an explicit contrast with the ‘hooligan’ supporters of rival teams. This analysis represents an advance on previous studies of crowd behaviour by demonstrating how the ESIM can account for not only the presence, but also the absence, of collective ‘disorder’.
How Conflict Escalates: The Inter-Group Dynamics of Collective Football Crowd `Violence’
Clifford Stott and Steve Reicher
No introduction provided
‘On the Lash’ revisiting the effectiveness of alcohol controls at football matches
Geoff Pearson and Arianna Sale
It has long been assumed that the problem of ‘football hooliganism’ is linked to levels of alcohol consumption by crowds of football supporters. As a result a number of laws and policing strategies have been developed that aim to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed by fans. This article is based primarily upon a 15-year ethnography of English football supporters and the effectiveness of social control policies upon them, and supported by interviews with police officials from the UK and Italy. Its conclusion is that alcohol restrictions are ineffective at reducing the level of drunkenness amongst fans, partly as a result of police under- enforcement. Furthermore, a by-product of a number of the restrictions is that the level of risk for violence between rival groups of fans is often increased. This article concludes that we need to revisit the use by police and football authorities
of alcohol controls to reduce crowd disorder and look to other methods of
reducing the problem of football hooliganism.
Public order and the rebalancing of football fans’ rights: Legal problems with pre-emptive policing strategies and banning orders.
Prof Mark James, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dr Geoff Pearson, Manchester University
Abstract
The policing of football supporters in the UK is resource-intensive and expensive, with football crowds seen by many forces as inherently prone to misbehaviour, disorder and violence. As a result they are regularly subjected to high-profile, heavy-handed and intrusive policing strategies that are often designed with the imposition of a civil “banning order” on
supposed “risk supporters” in mind. This article analyses underlying assumptions about the nature and risk of football crowds and, drawing comparisons with the ways in which political protests are policed and applying jurisprudence from a series of high-profile protest cases,
questions the legality of dominant policing approaches to football crowds under both English public law principles and the European Convention on Human Rights. It concludes by proposing how strategies could be developed in a way that both protects the public and the rights of supporters who may on occasion associate with those suspected of engaging in football-related disorder.
