One of the biggest
concerns that large scale sporting events, music festivals and rock
concerts have in common is crowd control. Get it right and no one
will even notice that you’ve put measures in place. However get it
wrong and at best it’s going to be chaotic, but at worst you could
put people’s lives at risk. With this in mind, if you’re looking to
stage a large event, here are some great crowd control ideas you
might want to follow.
Planning
The best form of crowd
control starts with the planning. Firstly you should have a rough
idea of how many people are likely to be in attendance. If you’ve
sold tickets then this is relatively easy. However if it’s a free
event then for the purposes of security it’s always best to err on
the side of caution and go with the maximum amount of people. From
this an experienced security team will have a good idea of how many
security staff you’re going to need. If you are hiring an experienced
team then make sure that they have all the information necessary,
including plans and diagrams of entrance and exit points, so that
they can establish excellent crowd control protocol before the event.
Clear signage
Make sure that on the
day of the event you have clear signage. Entrances and exits should
be clearly marked and easily accessible. It’s no good having
bottlenecks when people are trying to get in or out of
your event, and barriers can be used to prevent this from happening.
Keep the crowd
moving
It’s imperative that
crowd flow is kept moving at all times. This is extremely important
especially when entering and exiting the event. The last thing you
want is a mass stampede towards the entrances or exits, or a bottle
neck for that matter. So make sure you employ enough security
personnel to process people into and out of your event.
Maintain designated
clear lines
It isn’t uncommon to
find lines of people waiting for toilets, concessionary stands,
tickets, souvenirs, and more besides at a large event. The trick is
to aid safety and keep these lines so that people queue in an orderly
fashion. Roping and barricades can help to maintain queue safety and
clear and visible signage will also make sure that people know
immediately where to queue, and more importantly, where the queue
starts.
Regular patrols and
good communication
In addition to static
security personnel if you want to ensure good crowd control it’s also
worth running mobile patrols. This way security personnel can see
first hand where bottlenecks and problem areas are building up and
from this (aided by excellent communication to a centralised control
point) they can take the necessary action needed before problems
occur.
At MA Services Group,
crowd control is the biggest service that our company offers and as
such we’ve acted as security for some of the largest events in
Melbourne. From licensed venues to music festivals and house parties
we make sure that your event runs smoothly. To find out more on how
we can help with your crowd control ideas contact us on 1300
020 406 today.
