Making a Music Festival Site Secure.

For large music festivals taking place on greenfield sites with no existing infrastructure the installation of robust security measures are essential to ensure the safety of all attendees on site. In addition, a secure festival site helps to prevent criminal activity and other external threats.

A music festival can attract thousands of festival-goers and their safety is always a high priority for organisers. In addition, artists can require substantial volumes of equipment to support their performances so numerous high value assets will also be on site. To keep everyone safe and to protect assets organisers implement comprehensive security measures to ensure only authorised individuals can access specific zones. Security teams are also used to prevent criminal activity by individuals whilst on-site and to assist with crowd control. How do festival organisers manage their site security to protect festival-goers and property during a busy event. 

Site Layout. 
Planning the site layout should take account of the terrain, total area size and perimeter length. Organisers plan the layout to identify access points which are easily managed and allow for vehicle and festival-goer flow without bottlenecks. The same principles apply to the internal layout when considering the placement of stages, camping zones, vendor areas and on-site facilities. The security teams are briefed on the site layout plans which will help identify the placement of personnel assigned to monitoring crowds to detect any incidents early and take the necessary action which could be crowd control issues or criminal activity. Organisers also now create ‘safe spaces’ protected by security staff for festival-goers who feel vulnerable due to assault or are suffering the effects of substance abuse for example. 

Physical Barriers, Fencing and Access Control. 
Music festivals can be expensive to attend, and this results in those unwilling to pay to attempt entry to the site avoiding gated entrances. The erection of secure high perimeter fencing is implemented to prevent unauthorised entry although numerous individuals always attempt to break through perimeter fencing. Perimeters are often patrolled regularly by security teams both internally and externally to detect potential breaches. Secure access control gates help to prevent entry by unauthorised individuals where a pre-issued RFID readable code is required for scanning. This secure access control is also used for backstage zones and other sensitive or secure areas where robust accreditation processes ensure only authorised individuals can enter. Security teams stationed at access control points are also responsible for festival-goer and bag searches to detect prohibited items (weapons or drugs) and increasingly behavioural analysis to detect unusual or suspicious behaviour. 

Security Teams. 
Festival organisers use the services of professional experienced security specialist organisations who are sub-contracted. They work closely with assigned volunteers and local police to ensure a secure and safe festival site. Security companies often provide training for their personnel that can include de-escalation techniques (minimising confrontation), first aid and CPR, recognising signs of distress, intoxication, and drug overdose plus counter-terrorism awareness. All individuals involved in security duties on a festival site will be required to have a customer service focus so that they remain approachable and helpful with a friendly demeanor. 

Technology Assistance. 
The modern music festival site can utilise technology to assist with overall security and the central command centre is where these assets can be monitored and controlled. CCTV with AI analytics can be installed throughout a festival site to detect crowd density issues as well as attempted unauthorised entry and potential criminal incidents. In addition, security teams are increasingly using drones to monitor areas that are not covered by installed CCTV cameras to give them eyes on an entire site. All security teams and support personnel are connected to each other using radio communication systems so that any incidents can be addressed rapidly. 

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by Trinity Kubassek via Pexels

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