ESSMA Safety & Security Management Workshop: the Highlights
This year’s Safety & Security Management Workshop was organised at Signal Iduna Park, home of Borussia Dortmund. Over 60 members from 14 countries could learn more about crowd management, pyrotechnics, ingress and egress and other safety & security related topics.
Here are some points discussed by the workshop speakers in Dortmund.
Fan Behaviour
Clifford Stott, professor in Social Psychology at Keele University, explained the principles of crowd psychology, its dynamics and the importance of dialogue. He emphasized that we need to leave the ‘common sense’ assumptions we have of crowds behind us and that managing (football) crowds asks for a new and specific approach.
The presentation of Benjamin Kandler, Deputy Head of Fan Affairs at the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) focused on good hosting and best practices of Supporter Liaison Officers (SLOs).
Stewarding
The first speaker in terms of stewarding was Hendrik Grosse Lefert, Safety Officer at Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB). He clarified the position of DFB towards professional and volunteer stewards and the importance of quality and ongoing education.
Phivos Constantinides, General Manager at GSP Stadium, highlighted the ‘Three S’s of a successful sports event: service, safety and security and underlined the importance of an integrated approach.
The last speaker on stewarding was Oleksii Zhukovin, Head of Sports Events at FC Zenit. He explained the transition in the stewarding system from the old Petrovsky Stadium to the new Saint-Petersburg Stadium and the preparations for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Crowd Management
Kai Ruben, Security Officer at Borussia Dortmund, presented the famous Gelbe Wand, the biggest stadium standing area in Europe and the impact it has on the safety and security working of the club.
Ken Scott, Chief Inspector at Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA), described that today's focus is on impacts of counter terrorism measures on stadium design and management. Things to consider: external factors like the spectator journey, egress security and staff deployment; evacuation vs invacuation and making sure you don’t create additional hazardous situations; crowd modelling/simulations and how this can help you.
Pyrotechnics
Mickel Lauritsen, former Director of Stadium Operations and Security at Brondby IF, clarified how the Danish club is working together with their fans to develop safe and legal flares for stadium use.
The incident case of PSV, with supporters using smoke bombs inside the stadium was shared by the Safety & Security Officer of the club, Mark Van De Laar. The message was that the right technology – in this case CCTV – AND operators (human aspect) can help you in the process of identifying the suspects.
Participants could take a lot of insights back home. Additionally, Kai Ruben and the Borussia Dortmund staff showed the ESSMA members around the stadium with a further explanation about safety and security in and around Signal Iduna Park. During the tour, Brondby IF showcased their safe and legal flares. Stadium Partner Pitagone exhibited their mobile barriers and Dallmeier gave more details on their CCTV solution at the stadium.
Go to our ESSMA Flickr account for more pictures.