The 17th century British clergyman and writer Thomas Fuller observed that “the mob has many heads but no brains.” This is as true today as it was 400 years ago, judging by the number of “crowd crazing” incidents at venues ranging from soccer matches to holiday sales events.

Stampedes and crowd issues at sports stadiums and entertainment venues have claimed 1,952 lives worldwide since 1988, according to data compiled by Crowd Dynamics, a U.K.-based consultancy. During that same period, 2,586 died in tramplings at religious events, primarily in Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.

Problems at retail venues, while less frequent, have also taken tragic turns, including the well-publicized death of a part-time employee at the Walmart store in Valley Stream, N.Y., during Black Friday 2008.

Some academics have recommended that so-called “doorbuster” sales be eliminated entirely to avoid herd mentality, while others favor issuing tickets or bracelets in a manner similar to that used at concerts. But the key is a hands-on approach to crowd management by making it central to operational planning.

“The more pro-active you are, the better,” says Angélica Rodriguez, senior director of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation. “The precautions depend on the size of the event and where it’s taking place, but it’s very important to forge relationships and keep the lines of communication open between loss prevention, mall security and law enforcement.”

Gary Weksler, executive vice president of Elite and JMS Investigations, a New York City-based firm that handles security and crowd control for a multitude of special events, says “the last thing you want to do is keep [law enforcement] out of the loop until the last minute. Without proper advance planning they might only have limited resources on hand. With planning, they can have a task force on alert.”

Most retailers have protocols for assessing the environment for Black Friday or other major events, says Joe LaRocca, NRF’s senior advisor for asset protection. “But crowds fuel themselves: One person pushes and another feels obligated to push back. Whenever people have to stand in line there is a propensity for that to happen.”

This makes knowing the crowd’s pressure points all the more important, according to Keith Still, consultant and visiting professor at the Center of Crowd Management and Security Studies at Bucks New University in Buckinghamshire, U.K.

Control is key
If a retailer creates a first-come-first-served situation, it becomes a competition to get in as quickly as possible. “Unless you take precautions, the crowd will push forward en masse and that leads to progressive crowd collapse,” Still says. “A competitive element without control is a recipe for disaster.”

Overall, “crowd crazing” is on the increase, a consequence of massive media coverage, excessive bargains and the downturn in the economy. “The media often reports these events as a ‘stampede’ or ‘crowd panic,’” Still says. “These are two elements in crowd dynamics that management should never let happen.”

Panic, he says, “is a consequence of a crowd having no other options available. But getting caught in a crush and trying to move away from danger is not the crowd’s fault — it’s a failure to keep the crowd calm, managed and controlled.”

First and foremost, any competitive environment like a store event requires creating an orderly queue. Crowd surge should be handled by erecting a barrier system, “a snaked queuing system which zigzags to the front,” Still says. “You also need people managing the queue to make people realize there is no advantage to pushing because those who have been waiting the longest will get in first.”

Chuck Garelick, vice president of special events for Elite and JMS, recommends that retailers “start monitoring lines eight to 12 hours before the doors open, depending on the advertising and the client base.”

The ideal queue, he says, is “a chute no more than three or four people across at the entrance of the store. Then widen it out to six people for another 20 feet and then 10 people for the remainder of the line. This creates a chute that allows the crowd to be controlled better by a security person or access controller.”

Communication a priority
Maintaining safe exits is just as important. “If people don’t have a way to leave safely you are creating the same dangerous situation in reverse,” Garelick says. “Most people will follow the path they know, and that means making their way to the front door.”

At the center of any crowd management situation is communication “with customers, employees, mall management, law enforcement and other retailers so these events don’t take anyone by surprise,” Rodriguez says.

A positive example she cites was last year’s January 20 event — or J-20, as it’s come to be known — during which 2,000 department stores distributed $175 million in free cosmetics. “Some stores decided to hand out the cosmetics in their customer service departments,” she says. “A lot of thought was given to where the lines should be formed, and there was great signage and separate lines for different products.”

Immediately following last year’s Walmart incident “we started taking steps to avoid similar occurrences this year,” says Detective Sergeant Anthony Repalone of the Nassau County (N.Y.) Police Department’s public information office. “Retailers are responsible for security, but we can make certain suggestions when they anticipate large crowds in order to avoid problems.”

LaRocca, however, believes Nassau PD could have done more to avoid and defuse last year’s ultimately fatal situation. “They are quick to point out it was Walmart’s problem, but it was an opportunity for everyone to work together. Police are trained to deal with large crowds and emergency situations: They arrived at the store before it opened, addressed the crowd and then left.

“If they had an opinion about a better way to operate they should have worked with the store to make that happen,” LaRocca says.