What are the five must-knows when faced with the responsibility of crowd management and safety?

1 Measuring and monitoring crowd density is an important science

Crowd capacity and flow creates density and a level of one to two people per square metre is usually typical for an event space. That’s enough room for people to walk around relatively freely, while any more than three to four people per square metre and things start to become congested.

Some people measure density as the level of service per person – or area per person – which is effectively the inverse of people per square metre of density. However, as it can be difficult to visualise the area around someone, the most widely recommended approach is people per square metre.

Keeping density low is vital to keeping spaces safe. But there is a balance because venues and events are designed to boost the economy, but there is a danger in them being so busy that people can't move freely.

2 Technology is coming that will better track people’s movements

In places of public assembly, crowd density is generally not monitored, other than using CCTV cameras, which are often used to identify potential for crime, rather than density. But technology is emerging in this space, with the Belgian company, Crowd Scan, introducing density and flow measures for city centres. The advantage over some AI solutions, for example, is that the latter are also more concerned with monitoring and identifying crime and disorder.

But in the case of the Halloween crush in Itaewon, South Korea, there was a transport hub very close to the city centre but there were also a set of unfortunate circumstances – many people out after years of lockdown, who hadn’t been in big crowds in public spaces for some time and wanting to celebrate. Other places around the world could have been under similar risks and reducing that risk wouldn’t require a lot of technology, more a basic understanding of dynamics and event spaces.

3 Transport systems can play their part in controlling crowds

If the maximum capacity that a transport system can discharge exceeds the safe volume capacity of a road, route, area or centre of attraction, there is a potential problem. For New Years’ Eve in London, there are a couple of major stations very close to the event footprint. People arrive in train loads, but when they leave, the entire event discharges at once and then loads onto the stations. The most important element here is the management outside the stations to cope with crowds leaving a venue.

When the transport capacity is known, measures can be put in place, such as queueing systems to ensure that platforms don’t become overloaded, but people are kept in a hold and release mechanism. Queuing systems ensure that platforms don't become overloaded.

4 Proper preparation prevents potential problems

When event planning, there are certain essential elements that should be included in a crowd management plan. These include: an understanding of the area; the routes that lead to and from that area; the movement of people over time; nature; demographic and the people that will be coming to the area. Risk and congestion mapping. A basic understanding of density and crowd flow will provide a clearer idea of where the risks and problems might arise.

However in many large-scale events, safety doesn’t make profit. There’s a budget that people are fighting for and it's often the last thing on the list. What we see in the aftermath of these major incidents is either that people didn't know there was going to be an issue – or even that there could be an issue – or that the budget wasn’t available to incorporate such scenarios in the safety measures.

5 Never underestimate the power of education

It might not be a typical form of infrastructure investment, but one of the most effective measures to reduce the risk of incidents and accidents is education. Knowing what crowd dynamics means and what overcrowded looks like is not a huge investment, but it is a huge benefit. A basic education and training helps to understand the risks and where to concentrate on improvements. An external consultant will be able to advise on approaches such as an external barrier plan or a crowd management team for station entry points or a queueing system. But if you don’t know how much you don’t know, you don’t know where to put the money.

With thanks to Professor G Keith Still, a crowd safety expert and visiting professor of crowd science at the University of Suffolk, for his insights.

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