In recent years, incidents involving large crowds of people have grown in frequency worldwide. Whether it’s a popular night club hosting a party, a jam-packed stadium for a championship game, or a common work zone during rush hour – any location where a large number of people and/or vehicles converge has catastrophic potential. For this reason, it is imperative that the appropriate steps be taken to ensure order and safety at every event. Public safety and crowd control is not typically a topic on the mind of the general public, yet its importance can be a matter of life or death.
How We Can Prepare for the Worst?
A great way to illustrate the difference that effective crowd control makes is to think of visiting a stadium.
It may not be obvious, but guests are at the mercy of whatever crowd control solution has been put in place long before they ever enter the venue.
Where to park? How to get into the stadium? What about snacks? All of these questions and more present a prime opportunity for crowd control solutions.
Where to Park?
One way a stadium can ease the crowd and formulate an efficient parking strategy is by having signage and traffic cones.
- Convey a warning message to slow down
- Bright, eye catching colors allow them to be seen very easily
- Appropriate signage (ENTER, EXIT, NO ENTRY, etc.) guides people to the smoothest route
These simple solutions will keep the hassle of parking to a minimum (unfortunately we can’t do anything about those prices!)
How to Enter?
Now that the sports fans have safely parked, they need to get into the building. In fact, A LOT of them need to get in to the building, preferably quickly and definitely SAFELY. Metal detectors and turnstiles are one of the most popular and effective security measures available.
- Serves to reduce the risk of someone entering with dangerous weapons, ultimately allowing everyone to have an enjoyable, safe experience.
- Control access at their entrances and exits
Tickets, Please?
The countdown is on to game time and there’s a line of diehards at will call. How is this going to work? Stanchions with retractable belts will keep the line flowing and orderly.
- Control the flow of crowds
- Provide a pleasant experience for those waiting.
It may be counter intuitive, but a one line system can shorten the wait time for everyone. Plus, having one orderly line with multiple servers ultimately creates fairness and eases anxiety, so even when that one guy who has no idea what he is doing holds up the line, no one needs to miss kickoff!
Snacks?
Tickets are obviously important, but snacks and a cold beer are a close second (a bathroom break may also make the list.)
Surprise! There’s more lines.
However, with the right solutions in place, those lines will be moving pretty quickly and smoothly. Steel barriers will keep everything in order.
- Separate lines
- Optimize the efficiency of a line
- Can be optimized in appearance by having them painted in the home team’s colors.
- Add something about jackets
So even while purchasing snacks, (we also cannot control those prices) and potty breaks, the benefits of effective crowd management are abundant.
Take a seat – and stay there!
It’s game time! The home team is dominating and the people are going crazy! Maybe TOO crazy – like maybe someone wants their 15 minutes of fame and decides to take a lap on the field. Although we’ve all seen it happen, venues need to do their best to take precautions to protect the safety of the fans and players. Oftentimes you will see gates surrounding the event.
- to protect the perimeter of the field
- ensure no one can have access in
Crowd Management Is Not Easy, But It Is Essential
When it comes to crowd control planning, Murphy’s Law certainly comes into play. It’s a serious job with serious consequences if things don’t go as planned, but being properly equipped will minimize the potential risks.
