Case Study

PRINCIPLES OF EVENT MANAGEMENT

Please answer the below question

1. As part of your risk management strategy, what would you do to manage the risk of moshing, skanking, crowd surfing, and stage diving without affecting the enjoyment of the crowd?

2. Bearing in mind the cultural significance of these actions, who should be responsible for putting this strategy into operation?

3. Please select the appropriate venue that should have this type of event. What are the criteria to select the event which maintains the experience of the concert and manages the risk?

Rock concerts Extract from Casual Rock Concert Events, by Mick Upton With the benefit of hindsight it is now possible to assess the level of risk presented by major casual concert events. The following table is the result of research for the period 19742002. It is not intended as a definitive list of fatal incidents that have occurred at concert events. It merely illustrates the level and type of incidents that have occurred in similar circumstances in countries thousands of miles apart. The list includes both indoor and outdoor venue types, the common link being that none of these fatal incidents have been fully explained. Consequently they have all been regarded as being caused by the crowd itself due to panic or irra- tional behaviour. Incidents such as fire, where it is known that fire exits were locked, and public disorder are not included here on the grounds that the root cause of the incident was established therefore preventative measures can be taken during planning for future events. Table of fatalities 1974 to 2002: Date Place Killed Activity 1974 1976 1986 1986 1987 1989 1991 1992 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 White City Cincinnati Long Beach Seattle Nashville Donington Salt Lake City Costa Rica South Korea Hong Kong London Israel Columbia Ireland South Korea Michigan Dsseldorf Brazil Belarus 1 11 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 1 1 7 53 F.O.S. crush Ingress crush Fell from balcony F.O.S. crush Ingress crush F.O.S. crush F.O.S. crush Ingress crush F.O.S. crush F.O.S. crush Stage diving Ingress crush Ingress crush FO.S. crush F.O.S. crush Fell from balcony F.O.S. crush Fell from balcony Egress crush 1996 1996 1997 1997 1997 1999 (Continued) Date Place Killed Activity 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001 2002 Austria Sweden Denmark Baltimore Indonesia Belgium Australia Venezuela 5 1 9 1 4 1 1 11 Egress crush F.O.S. crush FO.S. crush Fell from balcony P.A. egress crush Fell from balcony F.O.S. crush Ingress crush Total = 132 victims F.O.S. indicates front of stage. *Indicates egress-related P.A. crush indicates an egress from a public appearance by an artiste at a shopping mall. In order to gain a better understanding of the causes of these unexplained incidents, this research then focused on rock concert events from the emergence of the subculture termed Nu metal'. Nu metal emerged in the late 1980s as a subculture of punk rock. By the mid-1990s it had estab- lished itself as a fusion of black culture (Rap and Hip Hop) and new wave rock. Possibly the first indication that the culture brought with it serious crowd control problems was at the 1994 Woodstock (USA) festival. The press at the time reported that there were 4000 people treated by first aid, of whom 250 required treatment by the on site hospital. Many of these injuries were bruises, bloody noses or broken bones thought to have been caused by cultural behaviour. Nu metal rock culture has its own language for cultural activity for example moshing, skanking, crowd surfing and stage diving. Any of these activities can create localized, high-density, dynamic or lateral surging or a crowd collapse, yet the crowd regard these conditions as being perfectly normal The above table shows fatal incidences at concerts that have occurred worldwide over a 28-year period. (Printed by kind permission of Mick Upton, Head of the Centre for Crowd Management Studies, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, England.)