Crowd Management

Crowd management
INTROUDUCTION TO CROWD MANAGEMENT
Crowd management is the management of the crowd to prevent outbreak of disorder and to direct the
crowd in the right direction. When density of people goes high in specific area there are several negative
outcomes such as chances of crimes, chaos and nuances.
As the crowd density increases, two sudden transitions are found from smooth flow to stop and go flow,
and further to leads crowd turbulence.
When volatile crowd density inflation takes place, smooth unidirectional flow breaks down into dynamic
waves and then further crowd is moved in a way that it causes havoc.
In case of peak hours there are numerous chances of chaos and it may lead to casualties and to prevent
such mishaps, there is need of preventive methods in order to control the crowd getting burst out. So,
crowd management is used to prevent such accidents and to that there is need of disaster management
plans.
CAUSES OF OVER-CROWDING
Being aware of behavioral patterns can help the understanding of why groups of people act in certain
manner, and it can help people to decide how to handle the situation in the best possible way. Sometimes it
only needs minor incidents to trigger a series of events which can rapidly escalate the crowd to go
notorious & situation could go out of control. Getting together for some common purposes give one sense
of identity and it can increase their enthusiastic levels to an extent. But that can also change their emotions
into horrific forms like anger, hatred etc.
Some of the emotions listed above are caused by the human bodys natural responses to unusual stress.
This is sometimes referred as the fight or fight syndrome. We also call it as adrenaline rush. The blood
flow increases to muscle and brain and the heartbeats & it can turn normal person to go nuts. Emergency
situation can bring heroic acts with total disregard for their own safety, which would normally be considered
totally out of character.. When we are considering about crowd management we must take some things into
account such as type of event, characteristics of the facility, size and demeanour of the crowd, ways of
entrance, communication, crowd control and questing etc. so there is need of proper management. It must
include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and evaluating, and more importantly quality of the
advance intelligence, and the effectiveness of the planning process.

To have effective plan, facility etc. management must be aware of the characteristics of the audience
attracted by a particular event. Once the facility operator, police and event organizer know the kind of crowd
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which will get attracted, they must plan accordingly. The way patrons perceive the environment and the
various sociological signals they receive at an event whether consciously can escalate or re-escalate
patron emotions and influence their behavior. for example ,the general attitude of the facility staff and of the
interior and exterior security and law enforcement personnel , as well as the promulgation an enforcement
of patron house rules combine to produce additional signals to influence patron behavior ,they can more
readily accept. It becomes crucial and can diminish discomfort and impatience.
Causes that can create crown management problems are:1-problems created by crowd within
2-problems created for crowd from outside
3-enviornmental catastrophe
4- Widespread rumors
One of the important things in crowd management in performing arts centre is that atriums should be large
enough to accommodate the capacity of people. There should be adequate provision for exit points and
entry points so that it wont get overcrowded at particular entry or the exit point. Way to enter the auditorium
and way to exit the auditorium has to be different. Passages provided should have adequate entry points
and exit points. Door opening should be large enough to accommodate visitors.

PREVENTIVE METHODS
There must be clear understanding with everybody involved that there has to be a chain of command and
the duties that every official is assigned to perform should follow it sincerely and important aid in this
endeavor of the event management. Plan produced with co-operation of public agencies that specifies
names, duties and the location of the officials involved at the event; lines of communication; contingency
plans; method implementation, equipment of procedure and characteristics and expected crowd size and
normal and emergency procedure. One of the most important thing in auditoriums is aisles provided in the
auditorium should be adequate to spread out the crowd equally.
Entertainers have influence over the promotions & and execution of their performances it varies with one
entertainer to another. There may be demand for particular seating. In such scenarios we have to
determine the no. of people getting entertained, set ticket prices and stipulate when doors will be open prior
to their show. Most entertainers realize that they influence crowd. To restrain crowd from drug or alcohol
abuse there has to be support facility.

There are some possible safety majors that can help to control the crowd which are as follows:-

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1-The sale of alcohol beverages should be prohibited at events where where high percentage of
audience is under the legal age for consuming alcohol.
2-Management should co-ordinate with police, fire and medical personals.
3-Entertaniner should co-operate with public safety laws.
4-Ushers should remain at their posts till the event is over.
5-Public education in crowd dynamics should be given equal importance.
6-Sufficient entrances should be provided and there has to be certain entry criteria.
7-When the demand for ticket is soaring and is likely to exceed the capacity of ticket sales; there is
need to implement the preventive care which will not pose problems.
FIVE SALIENT POINTS THAT ARE TO BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION:

Alcohol should be banned. in proposed campus and in nearby area of campus

There have to be sufficient entry and exit points. Entry & exit points have to be adequately
large.

There should be enough provision for aisles.

There must be provision for fire escape.

The atrium, entrance lobbies should be large enough to accommodate the crowd.

References
1) Author- Julia Rutherford(2007) TITLE- risk management at event page Crowd control, pubinternational association of auditorium manager -1995
2 ) -DR.john m, Kenny TITLE-crowd behavior & crowd control report
3)-crowd controls at events
www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/ pdf_file/.../crowd_control.pd
4)the causes and prevention of crowd disasters
www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/.../crowd_control.pd

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