Stampede Events and Strategies for Crowd Management

Abstract

Public events, such as sports events, concerts, and firework shows, usually attract a large number of attendees; given this, evacuation during an emergency is more difficult than usual. Evacuation safety is an important part of fire protection engineering design. Stampedes usually occur at the entrances, exits, corners, and staircases in an evacuation route. This study examined incidents and related documents as references, and used Simulex software to set different parameters, such as the total number of people, density, and exit situation. The simulation conducted in the study is compared with data from literature review to address the factors of a stampede. On the basis of the findings, several suggestions are provided to improve strategies for management of the risks and increase the probability of survival.