Security and crowd management consultant Hugh ‘Tony’ Duncan has written a paper for the Journal of Crowd Safety and Security Management (JCSSM), published by Bucks New University in the UK, investigating the relationship between artistes’ performance behaviour and set lists/song tempos, and their respective audience behaviour, using a pre-event, concert audience prediction system.
The purpose of the study is to determine whether this prediction system can enhance crowd safety at concerts. A case study approach was adopted, and qualitative research was conducted by systematically observing audience behaviour. Sampling was purposive, and audiences at two concerts were conveniently chosen. Secondary statistics regarding audience demographics were also used to aid in the analysis. The findings suggest that the pre-event crowd prediction system is a useful tool that can aid crowd safety efforts at these events. They also point to the need for properly qualified safety management personnel to conduct such a prediction system. Further research is suggested into crowd behaviour within a concert environment incorporating data on queuing systems, crowd arrival/dispersal, event specific ingress and egress patterns, and artistes’ behaviour.
The purpose of the research was to investigate whether a proposed pre-event audience prediction system can work alongside an event general risk assessment to inform crowd managers, security providers and emergency services, and help them plan for a more effective deployment of resources in a concert environment. The proposed system is based on artistes' performance behaviour, set lists/song tempos and their respective audience behaviour.
In the course of Muse performances (world wide 2002-2009), it was very difficult to convince promoters and security providers of the potential extreme audience behaviour that Muse performances might generate. There was no distinct method for conducting risk assessments taking into consideration the psychology of crowds in a concert environment. In the UK, it became necessary, as event guidance and legislation proliferated and to reduce the potential for vicarious liability at events, to obtain more detailed information on potential problems that may occur based on the artistes' previous performances.
The paper can be downloaded below, with the kind permission of Bucks New University.
About the Journal of Crowd Safety and Security Management (JCSSM)
The second issue (December 2009) of the Journal of Crowd Safety and Security Management (JCSSM) has now been published. The second issue includes students' edited projects, plus contributions from readers in Australia and the US.
If any MEI readers would like to be added into the distribution list for the Journal and/ or the Crowd Safety Management News articles, they can easily do so by simply e-mailing owen.grainger-jones@bucks.ac.uk with a request.
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