WEBVTT - How Does Crowd Control Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren vog obam here. On November five, fans

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<v Speaker 1>of rapper Travis Scott poured into Houston's Energy Park for

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<v Speaker 1>the third annual Astro World Festival. As Scott took to

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<v Speaker 1>the stage, a massive crowd surged forward, crushing nine concert

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<v Speaker 1>goers to death and seriously injuring many others. The Astro

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<v Speaker 1>World Festival is far from the first crowded concert to

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<v Speaker 1>turn fatal. Similar tragedies occurred just for example, in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventy nine at a concert by The Who, and in

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<v Speaker 1>at an a C d C show. These crowd disasters

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<v Speaker 1>sadly are more frequent and deadlier at major pilgrimages and

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<v Speaker 1>sporting events, but experts say they don't have to be.

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<v Speaker 1>For the article, this episode is based on how Stuff Works,

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<v Speaker 1>spoke with Stephen Allen, a professional safety and security consultant

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<v Speaker 1>and the founder of the UK crowd management agency Crowd Safety.

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<v Speaker 1>He likens crowd management at a concert to piloting a

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<v Speaker 1>passenger jet. The passengers on any commercial airline trust that

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<v Speaker 1>the company has safety regulations in place, autopilot capability, back

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<v Speaker 1>up engines, flotation devices, and emergency landing gear and but

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<v Speaker 1>in accordance with Murphy's law, anything that can go wrong

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<v Speaker 1>eventually will in a mass failure situation. Alan said, that's

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<v Speaker 1>when you have a team on that flight deck, and

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<v Speaker 1>for me, that's your show stop team. As the name suggests,

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<v Speaker 1>the show stop team's job is to stop the show.

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<v Speaker 1>When they give the signal, the house lights come up,

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<v Speaker 1>filling the space with pure white light. The artists should

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<v Speaker 1>then instruct the crowd that there has been an incident,

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<v Speaker 1>not to panic, and to proceed to the exits. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a strategy designed to let the often inebrated crowd know

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<v Speaker 1>unambiguously that the party is over. The tricky part is

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<v Speaker 1>knowing when or whether to send the show stops signal.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the most important components of the job, according

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<v Speaker 1>to Alan, is being able to spot a potentially dangerous

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<v Speaker 1>situation when it arises, and part of that involves familiarity

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<v Speaker 1>with different types of concert etiquette. Un knowing, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>that you're more likely to encounter a mosh pit at

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<v Speaker 1>a punk show than a Dolly Parton concert. Then there's

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<v Speaker 1>recognizing that even in rowdy crowds, most mash pits are

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<v Speaker 1>relatively safe Alan explained that they've got their own rules

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<v Speaker 1>and they know what they're doing, but what you're looking

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<v Speaker 1>for is that sign of distress in their faces. When

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<v Speaker 1>a crowd starts to move in a frenzy, things can

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<v Speaker 1>quickly take a turn for the dangerous. The force of

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<v Speaker 1>a rushing crowd can exceed a thousand pounds that's four

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty kilos, which is great enough to bend steel.

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<v Speaker 1>Folks trapped in the middle of the crush can have

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<v Speaker 1>the air forced from their lungs, or if they're knocked

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<v Speaker 1>to the ground, can be trampled under foot by the crowd.

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<v Speaker 1>In the early nineteen nineties, crowd safety researcher John J.

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<v Speaker 1>Frewin developed an easy acronym for the four elements to

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<v Speaker 1>monitor in a potential crowd disaster situation. It's called FIST

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<v Speaker 1>that stands for force, information upon which the crowd acts,

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<v Speaker 1>space involved, and time or the duration of the incident.

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<v Speaker 1>Frewin wrote that if one of these elements seems off,

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<v Speaker 1>say a person falls and doesn't get back up, the

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<v Speaker 1>show should stop. As a result, the security team must

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<v Speaker 1>be constantly scanning for people making involuntary movements or adopting

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<v Speaker 1>uncomfortable body language. People climbing or trying to over the

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<v Speaker 1>front stage barrier NonStop is another sure sign to stop

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<v Speaker 1>the show. The biggest danger, according to Alan, is crowd collapse,

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<v Speaker 1>when a group of people falls down and the people

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<v Speaker 1>behind them continue to surge forward. He said, Thankfully, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a rare occurrence. The problem is when it does happen,

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<v Speaker 1>it can be had a traffic Unfortunately, all of these

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<v Speaker 1>occurred at astor World. So what went wrong? As the

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<v Speaker 1>show went on? The dense, excited crowd grew increasingly panicked.

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<v Speaker 1>Video footage shows one concert goer climbing up the stage

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<v Speaker 1>scaffolding and attempting to notify a camera operator that people

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<v Speaker 1>are dying. However, Scott performed his entire set. The production

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<v Speaker 1>team never stopped the show. From the time security declared

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<v Speaker 1>a mass casualty event until the concert actually ended. A

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<v Speaker 1>full thirty seven minutes elapsed after World's fifty six page

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<v Speaker 1>safety plan did not address a deadly crowd surge situation.

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<v Speaker 1>An investigation by Houston Public Media subsequently revealed the document

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<v Speaker 1>outlined safety procedures for several different scenarios, from lost persons

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<v Speaker 1>to bad weather to a mass shooting event, but the

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<v Speaker 1>potential for crowd crush stood out as a noticeable omission.

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<v Speaker 1>Crowds Afty expert Paul Wertheimer, who reviewed the document after

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<v Speaker 1>the fact, told Houston Public Media that's all you need

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<v Speaker 1>to know about the plan. It didn't even address the

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<v Speaker 1>crowd live nation. The concerts promoter indicated in a recent

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<v Speaker 1>statement that it had released all surveillance footage to the

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<v Speaker 1>Houston Police and Fire departments, who are currently investigating the incident.

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<v Speaker 1>The company faces multiple lawsuits in the wake of the disaster,

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<v Speaker 1>and Scott himself is being sued as well. Scott also

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<v Speaker 1>canceled his headlining appearance at the Las Vegas Festival grounds

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<v Speaker 1>on November In the end, according to Alan, the real

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<v Speaker 1>tragedy is that this catastrophe could have been avoided with

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<v Speaker 1>proper preparation. He said, I love live music. I love

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<v Speaker 1>live events. That's why I got involved. Concerts can be

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<v Speaker 1>managed safely, they can be run safely. It's about everyone

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<v Speaker 1>accepting and understanding you know that this can actually happen.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article why Astro World

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<v Speaker 1>was a recipe for deadly crowd crush on houstuffworks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Joanna Thompson. Green Stuff is production of I

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio and partnership with how stuff works dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts for

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<v Speaker 1>my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.