A Model To Facilitate The Development Of An Appropriate Risk Assessment Methodology And Instrument For Crowd Safety At Outdoor Music Festivals
Price
Free (open access)
Transaction
Volume
134
Pages
10
Page Range
79 - 88
Published
2014
Size
1,002 kb
Paper DOI
10.2495/SAFE130081
Copyright
WIT Press
Author(s)
A. Raineri
Abstract
Attendance at outdoor music festivals is associated with an increased risk of injury and death. A considerable proportion of crowd-related risks are attributed to irrational and high-risk behaviour by patrons, especially in the general admission, or standing room only areas in front of stages, or ‘mosh pits’. Risk assessments for music festivals and mass gatherings generally tend to deal with the traditional hazards and risks found at most workplaces, without taking into account the dynamics of the crowd or those factors that influence its behaviour. Influences on crowd behaviour are little understood and generally ignored, leaving a significant source of risk at this type of event unaccounted for. A comprehensive approach to crowd safety assessment, design and management needs to integrate both psychological and engineering frames of reference. This paper outlines a model that can be used as the basis for developing a contextualised methodology and instrument for assessing crowd related risks at outdoor music festivals. Keywords: outdoor music festivals, crowd safety assessment, crowd behaviour.
Keywords
outdoor music festivals, crowd safety assessment, crowd behaviour