Whether you are at a concert, political rally, or sporting event, being in a large crowd can be exhilarating. However, the ebb and flow of a crowded venue can pose serious risks of injury and death by asphyxiation and crushing. Such accidents, called crowd surges or crowd crushing, can occur anywhere people are pushed together tightly.
Understanding how crowd surges occur, factors that contribute to surges, and potential injuries can help event organizers and venue managers plan for crowd safety at large gatherings. Learn how to recognize a crowd surge and discover measures for preventing crushes, including crowd control strategies, venue safety protocols, and event organizer responsibilities for safeguarding attendee safety.
What Is a Crowd Surge?
A crowd surge is a mass movement of people that occurs when a dense crowd is tightly packed together. Crowd density plays a key role in surges. When an event triggers excitement or panic, people may try to move in one direction or another, creating a ripple effect that can crush those in the crowd.
Some of the world’s largest crowd crushes include:
- A 2005 pilgrimage near the Mandhradevi temple in India that killed 265 people
- A 2010 music festival in Germany in which 21 people died and more than 650 were injured in a tunnel that was the sole access point
- A 2021 festival in Cambodia that killed more than 300 people during a panicked crowd crush
- A 2015 hajj pilgrimage that killed at least 2,411 Muslim pilgrims when the crowd surged
- A 2021 music festival in Houston that killed 10 people during a surge toward the stage
- A 2022 Halloween festival in South Korea in which 146 people died due to a crowd crush on a narrow street
Crowd surges often occur when large groups of people gather in confined spaces for an event or gathering. Sudden and intense movement within the crowd can lead to dangerous pressure on individuals, particularly in the middle and around the edges where walls or other obstacles further confine movement.
Why Crowd Surges Are Dangerous
Victims of crowd surges report being unable to breathe, turn their bodies, or move their arms. Pinned between people, walls, doors, gates, or the ground, people in a crowd surge may not be able to expand their ribs to breathe. Eventually, they lose consciousness, and if pressure isn’t relieved, they may die.
In addition to asphyxiation injuries, victims may trip or fall unconscious, dropping to the ground. There, they can be trampled underfoot or crushed by the crowd.
Causes of Crowd Surges
Crowd surges generally require a trigger to create a sudden shift from a tightly packed standing room to a deadly crush. Panic, fear, excitement, and anticipation can all lead to crowd surges in poorly controlled environments. For example, if a fight breaks out in a mosh pit, people may move to avoid the violence. This causes a ripple effect that leads to crushes and stampedes.
Excitement and anticipation are as dangerous as panic in a tight group of people. For instance, shoppers at a Black Friday event may surge toward the doors when they open, crushing people in the doorway. Similarly, excitement when an artist comes onstage at a concert can create a surge that crushes people against the stage, barriers, and walls of a venue.
Crowd Surge vs. Crowd Stampede
The terms crowd surge and crowd stampede are often used in similar contexts, but they differ slightly. A crowd surge typically refers to a large group of densely packed people pressing toward something like a stage or door. This causes the crowd to become compacted, leading to crushing injuries and asphyxiation.
A crowd stampede, on the other hand, occurs when people try to run or move quickly. There is typically more space to move when a crowd stampede occurs, and the primary source of injuries is people trampled underfoot when they fall to the ground.
Key Moments That Trigger Crowd Surges
Crowd surges don’t always occur in dense crowds. Typically, there is a moment or circumstance that triggers the surge. For example, a critical moment during an event, such as the arrival of an artist or speaker, can trigger a crowd crush as excited attendees surge toward the stage. Similarly, a crowd surge can occur when the doors open during a big shopping event.
Large crowds can also reach a dangerous point in bottlenecks and pressure points. Bottlenecks occur when the crowd surges forward into a narrower point, like a tunnel or doorway. The pressure of people squeezing together through the bottleneck can create immense pressure. A pressure point is a spot in the crowd with a higher concentration of people. In a surge, these points can become dangerous for those in the most concentrated areas.
Prevention Strategies for Crowd Rushes
Many crowd surges can be prevented using crowd control measures and modern technology.
Effective Crowd Control Measures
Crowd control refers to the management of people in large gatherings, usually by reducing the number of people in a given area and monitoring the state of the crowd, especially at bottlenecks and pressure points. Common crowd control methods include:
- Hiring security officers and crowd spotters to watch the crowd and monitor entry and exit points
- Separating the crowd into less dense groups using barricades, stanchions, and designated seating areas
- Creating multiple entry and exit points to prevent bottlenecks coming into or out of the event
- Establishing evacuation plans in advance
- Posting clear signage for entry and exit queuing
- Maintaining clear, consistent communication between organizers and security personnel throughout the event
Technology for Crowd Management
Keeping crowds safe during high-attendance events requires in-depth planning. Incorporate technology into your event plan to aid your crowd control methods from the start. Tools for crowd management include:
- Crowd sensors: Pressure sensors in floor pads monitor crowd density and pressure. When pressure reaches a certain threshold, managers and security personnel receive a notification with the pressure point location.
- Communication devices: Timely communication between event managers and security is crucial for ensuring crowd control methods are implemented quickly.
- Metal detectors: Bag checks and metal detectors at the entrance can prevent people from bringing items into the venue that could lead to panic. It also allows venue operators to keep disruptive individuals out of the event.
- Perimeter control: Security checkpoints and queue management at entrances and exits, along with clear signs and barriers, can help control excited attendees and prevent crowd surges.
Legal Responsibilities of Event Organizers
When setting up a large event, organizers have a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of attendees. Consider the following factors to ensure you meet all your legal requirements for an event.
Risk Assessments and Safety Protocols
Conduct a thorough risk assessment based on the crowd’s character and size. While any crowd can become out of control, some factors, such as drugs, alcohol, and social media influence, can lead to dangerous crowd behavior. Event organizers are responsible for determining the level of risk associated with an event and establishing safety protocols to mitigate those risks.
Capacity Management
Review the venue’s capacity and ensure you have sufficient staffing to monitor and enforce capacity. Consider dividing the crowd into smaller groups and add seating to control crowd size in certain areas. The event organizer is responsible for ensuring appropriate capacity management measures and enforcement.
Legal Accountability
In the event of a crowd crush, the event organizer bears significant responsibility. Poor event planning and management can lead to personal injury and wrongful death claims from injured attendees and their loved ones.
A premises liability lawyer can help you understand legal issues surrounding crowd control and event safety.
Common Injuries in Crowd Surges
Crowd surges are extremely dangerous and can lead to a variety of injuries ranging from minor to severe. While some attendees may escape the surge with minor bruises and scrapes, everyone in a crowd surge is at risk of serious injuries, including:
- Blunt force trauma
- Broken bones
- Crushing injuries
- Internal organ damage
- Puncture wounds
- Trampling injuries
- Restrictive asphyxia
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Victims of crowd surges have a legal right to recover compensation caused by the event manager’s negligence. Damages they could recover include medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. For those who lost a loved one in a crowd surge, wrongful death claims allow relatives to recover burial expenses, funeral costs, and other losses.
Navigating Crowds Safely
If you are attending a large event where an excited crowd may be present, you can take precautions to reduce the risk of being caught in a crowd surge.
Personal Safety Tips
Consider these personal safety tips when entering a venue to protect yourself in a large crowd:
- Notice security and management: If there are many organizers, managers, and security personnel on site, they will more effectively manage the crowd. In addition, check for barriers, signs, and other indications that show organizers have planned for a large crowd.
- Look for exits: Keep an eye out for entrances and exits, and identify safe places where you can step away if the crowd becomes too dense.
- Observe crowd density: More than four people per square meter can make it difficult for people to move, increasing the risk of crowd-related injury.
- Protect your ribcage: If you are caught in a crowd crush, keep your arms around your rib cage in a “boxer stance” to keep your lungs from being crushed.
- Stay standing: Try to keep yourself and those around you standing, as one person falling can create a domino effect and crowd collapse.
If you are caught in a crowd surge, you also have the responsibility to protect those around you. Do not push at others in the crowd or scream. Try to keep others around you standing. If possible, move away calmly from the center of the crowd, but keep away from bottlenecks like bridges, tunnels, or hallways.
Enhancing Crowd Safety Awareness
Whether you are planning a large event or attending one, crowd safety awareness is crucial for preventing deadly crowd surges. Morris & Dewett’s personal injury lawyers are familiar with crowd surges, the injuries they cause, and ways to prevent them. Contact us today with questions about your legal rights and obligations in a crowded event.
