1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren vog obam here. On November five, fans 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: of rapper Travis Scott poured into Houston's Energy Park for 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: the third annual Astro World Festival. As Scott took to 5 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,919 Speaker 1: the stage, a massive crowd surged forward, crushing nine concert 6 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: goers to death and seriously injuring many others. The Astro 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: World Festival is far from the first crowded concert to 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: turn fatal. Similar tragedies occurred just for example, in nineteen 9 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: seventy nine at a concert by The Who, and in 10 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: at an a C d C show. These crowd disasters 11 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: sadly are more frequent and deadlier at major pilgrimages and 12 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: sporting events, but experts say they don't have to be. 13 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on how Stuff Works, 14 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: spoke with Stephen Allen, a professional safety and security consultant 15 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 1: and the founder of the UK crowd management agency Crowd Safety. 16 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: He likens crowd management at a concert to piloting a 17 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: passenger jet. The passengers on any commercial airline trust that 18 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: the company has safety regulations in place, autopilot capability, back 19 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: up engines, flotation devices, and emergency landing gear and but 20 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: in accordance with Murphy's law, anything that can go wrong 21 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: eventually will in a mass failure situation. Alan said, that's 22 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: when you have a team on that flight deck, and 23 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: for me, that's your show stop team. As the name suggests, 24 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: the show stop team's job is to stop the show. 25 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: When they give the signal, the house lights come up, 26 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: filling the space with pure white light. The artists should 27 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: then instruct the crowd that there has been an incident, 28 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: not to panic, and to proceed to the exits. It's 29 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: a strategy designed to let the often inebrated crowd know 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: unambiguously that the party is over. The tricky part is 31 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: knowing when or whether to send the show stops signal. 32 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: One of the most important components of the job, according 33 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: to Alan, is being able to spot a potentially dangerous 34 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: situation when it arises, and part of that involves familiarity 35 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: with different types of concert etiquette. Un knowing, for example, 36 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: that you're more likely to encounter a mosh pit at 37 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: a punk show than a Dolly Parton concert. Then there's 38 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: recognizing that even in rowdy crowds, most mash pits are 39 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: relatively safe Alan explained that they've got their own rules 40 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: and they know what they're doing, but what you're looking 41 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: for is that sign of distress in their faces. When 42 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 1: a crowd starts to move in a frenzy, things can 43 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: quickly take a turn for the dangerous. The force of 44 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,840 Speaker 1: a rushing crowd can exceed a thousand pounds that's four 45 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: and fifty kilos, which is great enough to bend steel. 46 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: Folks trapped in the middle of the crush can have 47 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,639 Speaker 1: the air forced from their lungs, or if they're knocked 48 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: to the ground, can be trampled under foot by the crowd. 49 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: In the early nineteen nineties, crowd safety researcher John J. 50 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: Frewin developed an easy acronym for the four elements to 51 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: monitor in a potential crowd disaster situation. It's called FIST 52 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: that stands for force, information upon which the crowd acts, 53 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: space involved, and time or the duration of the incident. 54 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: Frewin wrote that if one of these elements seems off, 55 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: say a person falls and doesn't get back up, the 56 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: show should stop. As a result, the security team must 57 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: be constantly scanning for people making involuntary movements or adopting 58 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: uncomfortable body language. People climbing or trying to over the 59 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: front stage barrier NonStop is another sure sign to stop 60 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: the show. The biggest danger, according to Alan, is crowd collapse, 61 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: when a group of people falls down and the people 62 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: behind them continue to surge forward. He said, Thankfully, it's 63 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: a rare occurrence. The problem is when it does happen, 64 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: it can be had a traffic Unfortunately, all of these 65 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: occurred at astor World. So what went wrong? As the 66 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: show went on? The dense, excited crowd grew increasingly panicked. 67 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,799 Speaker 1: Video footage shows one concert goer climbing up the stage 68 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: scaffolding and attempting to notify a camera operator that people 69 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: are dying. However, Scott performed his entire set. The production 70 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: team never stopped the show. From the time security declared 71 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: a mass casualty event until the concert actually ended. A 72 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: full thirty seven minutes elapsed after World's fifty six page 73 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: safety plan did not address a deadly crowd surge situation. 74 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:47,679 Speaker 1: An investigation by Houston Public Media subsequently revealed the document 75 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: outlined safety procedures for several different scenarios, from lost persons 76 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,720 Speaker 1: to bad weather to a mass shooting event, but the 77 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 1: potential for crowd crush stood out as a noticeable omission. 78 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: Crowds Afty expert Paul Wertheimer, who reviewed the document after 79 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 1: the fact, told Houston Public Media that's all you need 80 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: to know about the plan. It didn't even address the 81 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:13,679 Speaker 1: crowd live nation. The concerts promoter indicated in a recent 82 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: statement that it had released all surveillance footage to the 83 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: Houston Police and Fire departments, who are currently investigating the incident. 84 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: The company faces multiple lawsuits in the wake of the disaster, 85 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: and Scott himself is being sued as well. Scott also 86 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: canceled his headlining appearance at the Las Vegas Festival grounds 87 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: on November In the end, according to Alan, the real 88 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: tragedy is that this catastrophe could have been avoided with 89 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: proper preparation. He said, I love live music. I love 90 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: live events. That's why I got involved. Concerts can be 91 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: managed safely, they can be run safely. It's about everyone 92 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: accepting and understanding you know that this can actually happen. 93 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article why Astro World 94 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: was a recipe for deadly crowd crush on houstuffworks dot com, 95 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 1: written by Joanna Thompson. Green Stuff is production of I 96 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: heart Radio and partnership with how stuff works dot com, 97 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts for 98 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 99 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.