The Causes and Prevention of Crowd Disasters

Crowds occur frequently, usually without serious problems. Occasionally venue inadequacies and deficient crowd management result in injuries and fatalities. Major crowd incidents are described. Extreme crowding results in individual loss of control, and both psychological and physiological problems. A simple model with the acronym "FIST" is proposed to provide a basic understanding of crowd disasters. The acronym elements are defined as the crowd Force (F); the Information (I) upon which the crowd acts; the physical Space (S) involved, both in terms of individual density and larger scale architectural features; and Time (T), the duration of the incident. The model is used to illustrate crowd characteristics and to develop guidelines for the prevention of crowd disasters. It is concluded that real time information and communication are key factors in preventing crowd disasters. The formal certification of crowd manager for venues of 500 persons or more is recommended. CROWDING IS A COMMON EXPERIENCE Crowds, or large concentrations of people, occur frequently in modern society. A major sporting or entertainment event can attract 70,000 avid fans. Large transportation terminals such as New York Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station accommodate 200,000 passengers each weekday. The former New York World Trade Center office and retail complex was reported to have up to 50,000 employees and 80,000 daily visitors. Two transit stations were within the complex, and three other transit stations were nearby. More than 1 million spectators view the annual Tournament of Roses parade along a 9km.(5.5 mi.) route in Pasadena, California. Usually these large gatherings of people occur without serious problems. Occasionally the combination of inadequate facilities and deficient crowd management results in injury and death. EXAMPLES OF CROWD DISASTERS The lethal potential of crowds is illustrated by descriptions of major crowd incidents. This sampling shows that crowd incidents occur in a wide variety of venues and different circumstances. Minor incidents resulting in crowd induced falls and other injuries occur much more frequently. Air Raid Shelter In 1943 during World War II, 173 persons died of compressive asphyxia and 92 injured in a London Underground air raid shelter after someone fell on a lower level entry stair. Excited by the sounds of bombing, people at the surface continued to press forward. This resulted in tangled mass of humanity on the stair that took rescuers 3 hours to unravel. [1]