Health and Safety Training: Its Importance at Music Concerts Part 2

In one of our previous articles, we went over only a few of the tragedies that had unfortunately occurred at music festivals throughout recent history, namely the Astroworld 21 and Woodstock 99 music festivals, which each had several hundred injuries occur to attendees, some requiring hospitalisation throughout the course of the events. Concerts of any kind that are expected to draw huge crowds should never be taken lightly. We at EMCARE understand this and so bring you a few more examples of safety failures to have occurred at recent music concerts and other organized large-scale gatherings, all before getting started on your own health and safety training course for yourself.

Recent Concerts and Shows that were in Need of Health and Safety Training

When it comes to the process that leads up to the start of any concert or show, it can be an incredibly exhausting and lengthy process. This process is often extended over months or even years, requiring event organizers to set up dates, artists, food and drink vendors, locations, etc. This can then lead to days or even weeks of hard labour that requires the concert stage, scaffolding, food and drink vendors, etc. to be set and built up in time before concert-goers and attendees begin to show up. It is during this process that a lot can go wrong, as corners are often being cut, minor details are being overlooked and health and safety protocols are being ignored, and so on.

This is when an officer who has undergone an adequate amount of health and safety training is needed, not only for the protection of themselves and their team but for the protection of concertgoers and attendees alike. Too many times throughout recent history, we have seen disaster after a disaster occur at concerts and shows around the world, each of which tends to occur due to their own unique reasons, but were still in need of plenty of officers with enough health and safety training. Starting off, we have the Love Parade EDM Concert disaster that had occurred in Duisburg, Germany in 2010.

This was a concert that was made entirely free to the public, which was reported to have attracted roughly 200 000 to 1.4 million attendees over the course of a single day, requiring an estimated 3 200 police officers to remain on standby. The events leading up to the tragic incident that would go on to define this festival are fairly strange, due to the area in which they had occurred. This festival was set up as a parade that would lead the crowd through various sections of the town of Duisburg, under bridges and through tunnels, with vendors and stages placed all the way along.

Leading to the main festival area, was a 240m long tunnel with an eastern and western ramp that would serve as the only entry and exit points. It may already be incredibly easy to see where things can go wrong in this situation, even without there being anything to spark the flames within the crowd. While crowded, not much else that would be considered dangerous had occurred up until it was announced that admittance into the festival grounds would be postponed from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.

As this was a fairly last-minute change to the schedule, tens of thousands of attendees had already gathered and police had to then start working to relieve the severe amount of overcrowding that had begun to occur inside the tunnel. Over the loudspeakers, police officers would begin informing people that the main exit was barred off, requiring everyone to turn around. Despite these instructions, a majority of the crowd would still continue to squeeze into the confined spaces within the tunnel. This caused panic amongst the crowd, with many of the attendees then making efforts to escape.

This would then lead to the deaths of 21 people, all of whom had succumbed to crushed ribcages that were caused by phenomena referred to as 'crowd turbulence'. Alongside these tragic losses, were the injuries of an estimated 500 people. This was all the result of severe overcrowding and lack of planning and could have all been avoided if enough care and attention was placed on these matters. For instance, if the location of the event had been different, perhaps moved to a venue that has been confirmed to hold larger crowds without risk of injury, the disaster that had occurred could have been easily avoided or minimized significantly.

By looking at the main festival area, which had previously been used as a freight station, it was confirmed that it only had a max capacity of 250 000 people. If the health and safety officers and event organizers had taken the time to look at the average turnout of previous Love Parade festivals, it would have been made obvious to expect crowds of up to 1 million to show up. With this simple detail in mind, the event could have gone far differently as organizers could have hired more security staff, medics, police officers, etc.

The layout of the parade could have been organized differently, providing more entry and exit points wherever needed by extending the route of the parade leading up the tunnel. If this change in the layout were not a possibility, then a different venue and path could have been used within the city, or a different city could have been used entirely. It is because of this negligence and overall lack of planning, in terms of crowd safety at least, that led Love Parade to be cancelled shortly afterward for all future events, in order to minimize the risk of disaster from occurring to such a scale again.

Another incident whose organizers were all in serious need of more health and safety training would have to be the Cromañón Fire, a devastating event that occurred at the República Cromañón double-story rock club in Barrio Once, Buenos Aires, Argentina, a venue that had its 1 500-person max capacity be exceeded by double that amount on the night of the event. From the onset, the descriptions of this rock club may lead you to believe that crowds could have easily been escorted to safety in the event of a fire breaking out, containing 6 doors at the main entrance with an emergency exit by the main stage that connects to a nearby hotel.

On the night of the fire, however, four of the six main entrance doors were locked shut for fear of people sneaking in without paying. The emergency exit was also blocked off with fencing, presumably to create a barrier between the crowd and the main stage. Adding to the lack of safety protocol that had already been broken that night, the rock club was reported to have been without any fire alarm system, fire suppression equipment or any emergency lighting, with only five of the fifteen fire extinguishers being in working condition due to pressure failures. To top things off, the rock club�s fire safety license had also been expired for a month leading up to the fire.

The fire was started shortly after the band "Callejeros" had begun performing, which was the same band that was the first to perform when the nightclub had originally opened. A pyrotechnic flare was set off, launching towards the ceiling where it then lit up the flammable materials that were used during construction, such as wood, plastic netting, foam, acoustic panels, and so on. The plastic netting was the first to catch fire, which started to melt shortly after, turning into a rain of fire down onto the crowd below.

As the flames grew, a mass panic amongst the crowd of 3 000 people began to surge as many struggled to escape through the only two doors that were not chained or fenced closed. This fire led to the deaths of 194 people, and the injury or roughly 1 492 more, something that could have been avoided through extensive but highly necessary inspections, additions, and improvements throughout the rock club's health and safety features.

The immensely tragic events that occur far too often at these concerts and festivals should not be taken lightly by any officer that has or is still to undergo health and safety training, but rather as an example of what can go wrong when their vitally important job is not done with the care and attention it deserves

Where to Go to Get Started on Your Own Health and Safety Training

If the health and safety of others is of great importance to you, so much so that you would potentially be interested in pursuing it as a career path, or even as something to have a firm understanding of to protect yourself and those around you during your day-to-day life, then look no further than EMCARE. Here, we are able to provide you with health and safety training courses, which include OHS1-13, LO, LL, SSS, WHB, and SHSA courses.

Alongside our health and safety training course, we even provide training in the following fields:

• Emergency and Medical courses
• Health Care courses
• Fire and Hazmat courses
• Rescue courses
• Hand tool Operator courses

To help assure you that each of our many courses are filled with absolutely everything you would need to succeed, and at a level of quality that is worth the money that is required for admission, we have attained the accreditation and affiliations of the following organizations:

• EduCert Certificate Solutions
• Health and Welfare Sector Educational and Training Authority (HWSETA)
• Republic of South Africa Labour Department
• The Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA)
• South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)
• Train, Learn, Develop (TLD) Trust
• Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (ISASA)
• Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA)
• South African Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Saiosh)
• Fire.Fit

It is through all this support behind us and our Health and Safety training courses, as well as the quality that we provide within each of our different lessons and training sessions, that we have managed to become South Africa's leading provider of training in the many fields that have been listed above. This is also the result of how easy it is to get started with your own lessons from the moment you are ready. This is all thanks to our abundance of branches that can be located in each of the country's major cities.

By visiting our website, you are even provided with a number of options regarding how you would like to make contact with our helpful consultants. For instance, each of our 8 different branches across South Africa has its own contact numbers for phone calls and text messages, as well as email addresses too. We even provide you with an option to make contact through our website directly, which can be achieved by filling in the query form that can be located through the 'Contact Us' button that can be found via the drop-down bar located at the top right side of the website's homepage.