RR790 - A review of the management of crowd safety at outdoor street/special events
This report contains the results of a study of the management of crowd safety at four outdoor events in England and Scotland. These were traditional annual events that took place at different times of year and in different public open space settings.
Each event was visited by the research team, where observations were made, in-depth interviews were conducted with key players connected with crowd safety for the events and questionnaires were carried out with members of the public attending the events. The results were written up as case studies.
The examination of the events focussed on the identification of factors that contributed to crowd safety. These aspects included how the events were organised and roles and responsibilities of those involved. Specific hazards, such as fire, electricity and slips and trips were examined and how they were managed was scrutinised. Other factors were also researched that could be included for specific types of events, to enhance crowd safety. The findings from the case studies were amalgamated to produce a basic checklist containing aspects that seemed to make a significant contribution to crowd safety at a range of events.
This project was carried out by Buckinghamshire New University on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive. Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.
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