Large crowd gatherings through the ages have heralded huge potential for crushing injuries and deaths. Just type ‘crowd crushing incidents’ into your search engine and it is clear to see the huge scale of accidents that happen every year. In many cases these are situation that involve innocent people who have no intent to cause harm to themselves or others, they are just caught up in and incident they have no control over.
No amount of planning or foresight can predict when it will happen and little can be done to lessen its effect once a surge in a crowd begins.
Given our experience and expertise in advising on personal safety issues in crowd situations, Prime have decided to compile our own definitive guide to maximising your safety in a crowd environment, particularly if it is becoming volatile. These guidelines can be utilised as general good practice when attending any large crowd event.
- Consider what you are wearing- In particularly footwear , something that is comfortable, secures to the foot not slip on and has some protection. As nice as those 4 inch stilettos look they are guaranteed to hamper you should things go wrong. Also be aware of loose baggy clothing, hoods, anything around your neck and jewellery.
- Arrive at the event in plenty of time – This will give you the opportunity to have a good look around and allow you to consider both personal and safety requirements when selecting your position.
- Know how you are going to get out – Under pressure we will naturally resort to what we know. In a crowd this will normally result in people trying to leave a location the same way they came in to it. A classic example of this was the terrible accident in a Northampton nightclub in 2011 which left 2 women dead after hundreds of people tried to squeeze through a double door in panic ignoring other options for escape. Consider your options and plan an alternative exit!
- Be wary of damage or collapse of temporary structures – Do not underestimate the damage the sheer weight of numbers or less numbers in a confined space can cause.
- If you are with others agree a rendezvous point in case you are split up –Try to select a prominent and immovable point, away from the immediate vicinity of the event.
- Try and move to the edges of the crowd during a surge – Being aware of crowd movement and repositioning yourself to avoid a crush is often easier if you are on the edge of the crowd. Also, if appropriate consider removing yourself to a safer place, maybe a building. Most deaths in a crush situation are as a result of asphyxiation rather than trampling as is widely reported following these incidents. Studies have shown that forces generated within a crowd can be enough to bend steel crowd control railings. Exposure to this level of force will most probably result in a huge restriction on peoples respiratory systems leading to them literally suffocating.
- Be aware of petty criminality – this kind of behaviour may ruin your night but also criminal activity can often be a source of confrontation where weapons may be used. This in turn has a huge potential to create panic in a crowd if it becomes violent.
- If a situation occurs :-
- Try and stay on your feet – Being on the floor in a stampede really is the last place you want to find yourself! If you are with others try holding on to one another to give yourselves a bit more support. If you do end up on the floor and you can’t get back to your feet try to crawl in the direction the crowd is flowing.
- Leave anything you drop – Regardless of its value, trying to retrieve items from the floor is likely to see you severely compromise your own safety.
No matter what happens try and remain calm and in control don’t panic – The ability to think rationally and make informed decisions in extreme situations is undoubtedly what will save you. Continually conducting a dynamic risk assessment will assist with this and improve your safety.
Following these simple steps will at the very least give you an awareness of the potential for danger during large crowd events and hopefully give you the basis to form some kind of strategy should things go wrong leaving you safe in the knowledge that you can enjoy your night out with the peace of mind that you know what to do in the worst case scenario.
For more information and advice on personal safety visit our resource centre and blog on our website www.primeinfo.co.uk or contact us for professional support and advice on these matters.
James Spensley.
Training and Security Consultant.
