Critical Aspects Of Installing Crowd Control Barriers For Event Security
During events with huge crowd turnovers, the security of the organizer’s staff as well as the one of the attendees constitute a major concern. Black Fridays blowout sales, concerts featuring popular entertainers, movie premieres and conferences are all bound bring an impressive number of people together in the limited space of the venue where they’re being held.
Why should you set up crowd control barriers (CCB)?
To ensure that you won’t have to deal with an unruly and confused crowd, delimiting the routes with crowd control barrier hire is highly recommended. These barriers are also practical in terms of marking the focal points of the event, entrances in and exits in use, merchandize stands and other attractions. Finally, the crowd control barriers separate the performers or speakers from the audience, to eliminate potential unwanted incidents. Following the proper guidelines in terms of planning and installing the barriers, and staffing the key points of the delimitation is critical for the success of your event.
Planning and implementing the event security
As previously mentioned, you can’t just start spreading out crowd control barriers around the venue and hope for the best. You’ve probably been to a major event and noticed that the positioning of these delimiters appears somewhat random, but rest assured it’s the result of well thought out strategy. Let’s elaborate.
1. Don’t wait for the day of the event to plan the CCB layout
Planning the positioning of the crowd control barriers takes a lot of time, and you’ll also need to know in advance the number of staff members that have to be stationed in their proximity. Based on the tickets sold, social media feedback and other factors, you should have a pretty good estimate of the attendance a week before the event.
2. Provide clear and consistent directions for the crowd
The barriers aren’t just supposed to stop the attendees from entering a certain restricted area, but also to guide the crowds towards the points of interest. Therefore, in addition to stationing personnel at various locations along the CCBs, remember to install directional signs.
3. Hire specialized staff to perform the crowd management
Dealing with crowds is not exactly easy, and there is always the chance of a violent outburst triggering spontaneous conflicts. The more people present, the higher the risk that a simple argument escalates to epic proportions. As of such, crowd management should be handled by security personnel with extensive experience in diffusing conflicts in a diplomatic, yet firm manner before chaos ensues.
4. Have the crowd control barriers set up at least one day in advance
In addition to creating a functional crowd control barrier outline in advance, you’ll also want to have these pathways in place 24 hours ahead of the actual event. Logistical issues, a disparity between the space and the setup strategy, insufficient barriers, and many other problems can occur when you’re trying to set your plan in motion. You won’t have enough time to deal with them if you begin arranging the barriers an hour prior to the event.
5. Use curbed pathways to prevent trampling
People attending crowded venues often display a tendency of pushing the others ahead of them, thinking that this way they’ll reach the point of interest faster. You can tell them it won’t move the line any faster, but the pleas generally fall on deaf ears. By installing joints and curbs along the crowd control barrier pathways, you can decrease the risk of attendees being trampled, because pushing forwards doesn’t produce any results.
6. Select the CCB type and materials according to the crowd and the venue
Velvet ropes may constitute a suitable crowd control barrier for a gala, but they are certainly not feasible solutions for a rock concert, where your best bet would be to install metal barriers. Remember to base your CCB selection process on the type of public you’re expecting at the event.
7. Ensure separate pathways and exits for personnel and event attendees
The staff providing services will be required to constantly move around the premises, and using the same access ways as the attendees inevitably causes bottlenecks. To avoid this inconvenience, designate different paths for the personnel and the audience.
8. Update the staff with detailed instructions regarding the schedule
Any deviation from the original scheduling should be communicated to the staff, because they will have to adjust the public’s traffic accordingly. Furthermore, organizers need to verify that every employee on the perimeter knows exactly how things are expected to go down.
9. Restrict entrance once maximum occupancy has been reached
The venue becoming overcrowded is among the main reasons why conflicts and accidents occur at events. Know the maximum capacity of the space, request frequent updates from the personnel at the entrances and close the doors once the occupancy limit has been reached. Otherwise, the hazards of trampling grow exponentially.
