Effective Crowd Management: The Role of Temporary Fencing and Barricades in Public Events
As event organisers, the importance of effective crowd control and management cannot be stressed enough. Crowd safety is the most critical consideration of any public event and the key to ensuring effective management of such risks and hazards is through the right fencing solutions.
Temporary fencing and barricades play a crucial role in managing large gatherings, events and crowds. These versatile barrier solutions allow for order, safety, and everyone to have a good time.
In this article, we explore when, how and why temporary crowd control barriers can help you successfully execute your next event.
Applications of Temporary Fencing and Barricades
Temporary fencing solutions can be utilised across many different event types.
1. Festivals and Concerts
Music festivals, concerts and the like experience large crowds, high energy and a lot of activity. Temporary fencing can be essential for preventing crowds from getting out of control, rushing and losing order.
Many sites of festivals and concerts do not have sufficient permanent barriers and fencing, with such solutions being impractical for long-term installation when they are just needed for a few hours or days. Temporary fencing and barriers, strategically deployed and placed at entry points, around stages, and near exits, can ensure organisers of the music event can maintain order, minimise the risk of overcrowding and reduce hazards.
Temporary fences also allow for flexibility in creating designated areas backstage for artists, authorised access only spaces, or even VIP zones for attendees.
2. Street Parades and Marches
Events that take place in city centres require barriers and fencing that can easily but effectively be deployed and just as quickly be packed up.
That’s why, during street parades and marches, temporary barricades are invaluable for maintaining order and keeping the route clear for participants.
Temporary fencing allows for effective pedestrian directing and even traffic safety by making clear demarcation between the event and its attendees and the public.
3. Sporting Events
Sporting events require fencing barrier solutions for multiple purposes. For one thing, it ensures crowd safety by separating spectators from the playing field. For another, it prevents unauthorised access to areas people are not supposed to be. It also ensures that the game or match can take place without disruptions.
The right temporary fencing solutions can make setting up for, managing the actual playing of, and the packing up after the game easy, safe and effective.
Even for permanent venues, such as arenas and stadiums, using temporary fencing can help to direct crowds into and out of the venue safely and without congestion.
4. Markets and Fairs
Markets and fairs can be deceptive in their crowd safety and management needs. While these events may lack some of the high intensity energy of the other examples, temporary fencing is still important in managing capacity, ensuring safe entry and exit points, and reducing the risks of overcrowding.
Many markets and fairs also have strict safety regulations and temporary fencing solutions allow for the event organisers to meet all of these requirements and more throughout the day.
5. VIP Areas and Backstage Access
Safety is most certainly important, but temporary fencing and barriers can also be used for other purposes. Setting specific VIP-only areas, backstage access for performers or involved personnel can be tricky. With easy to instal fencing or barriers, it can be easy for event organisers to clearly demarcate where each and every attendee should and can go.
6. Organising Queue Flow
While not necessarily an ‘event’ in the same way as examples one to five, extensive public queuing can easily get out of hand without the right barriers. Take, for example, medical testing required during a public health emergency.
Temporary fencing and barriers allow for quick and effective solutions to reduce confusion, maintain social distancing and ensuring public health and safety. You can use the fencing to organise the queue itself, designate waiting areas, and keep everyone where they need to be and where they need to be going.
Using Temporary Fencing to Enhance Safety
How can you use temporary fencing in your management of crowd safety?
Manage the flow of your crowd
One of the primary benefits of temporary fencing is its flexibility and ability in ensuring foot traffic moves in the most effective, intended and safe direction.
Strategically placed barriers keep lines organised, prevents bottlenecks and ensures dangerous overcrowding doesn’t occur. Plus, as an added bonus, the clarity and smooth movement will help to make the event attendees happier with their experience overall.
Ensure security at all times through access control
Temporary fencing is an excellent solution for ensuring both restricted access to certain areas but also for allowing authorities and security officers to quickly access the spaces they need to go.
Safety and security are about maintaining order, and in high-risk or sensitive scenarios, such order can make all the difference to the health and wellbeing of participants.
Complete preparedness for emergencies
No one wants an emergency, but it pays to be prepared. Temporary fencing and barriers allow for event organisers to plan for the best while hoping for the best.
With strategically placed barriers, emergency exits can be kept accessible, pathways and routes unobstructed and rapid response officers able to get wherever they need to as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Protecting the Public and Event Equipment
A lot of crowd management and safety focuses, understandably, on the attendees of the event. But many events take place in public areas or at least are accessible to the general public. Temporary fencing allows organisers to safeguard an unsuspecting public by cordoning off things like power generators, electrical equipment or temporary infrastructure needed for the event.
The reliably secure, physical barrier of a temporary fence ensures that people are kept out of hazardous circumstances where they might be at risk of accident or injury.
Tips for Using Temporary Fencing and Barricades
To maximise the effectiveness of your crowd control with temporary fencing, here are some invaluable tips:
- Always choose the right type of fencing for the specific event at hand
- Plan how you intend on laying out the fencing based on crowd size and movement
- Ensure the fencing is provided by a reliable supplier and installed professionally
- Conduct regular inspections throughout the event
- Consider using a combination of fencing and crowd barriers, which offer numerous benefits:
- They are lightweight and easy to manoeuvre as required during the event
- Assembling barriers doesn’t require any tools or extensive knowledge
- The hook-and-hole mechanism is an innovative and intuitive design anyone can use
WA Temporary Fencing Supplies – the premier provider of temporary fencing Perth wide
If you are looking for the ultimate in temporary fencing and crowd control barriers for your next event, enjoy peace of mind with WA Temporary Fencing Supplies. We tailor our solutions to suit our customers’ needs and the specifics of their event.
Our team knows how important crowd safety is and we are here to help make sure your event goes off without a hitch. Contact us today for a cost-free and obligation-free quote!
