Crisis Management: Ewood Park Stadium - Case Study Example

Crisis Management Assignment: Ewood Park Stadium Course Name and Code Institution Name Faculty Name Student Name Student ID Instructors Name January 8, 2009 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction - Analysis of Stadium…………………………………………..3 2.0 Legislation Control…………………………………………………………..3 3.0 Crisis Management in the Stadium…………………………………………..4 3.1 Level of Crisis………………………………………………………..4 3.2 Structure of Control………………………………………………….5 3.2.1 Responsibilities during Major Incidents……………………5 3.2.2 Media……………………………….………………………5 3.2.3 Liaison……………….……………………………………..6 4.0 Stakeholders Agencies………………………………………………………7 5.0 Evacuation…………………………………………………………………..7 6.0 Injured Persons/Medical Considerations……………………………………8 7.0 Decontamination Plan………………………………………………………9 8.0 Workers Training………………….………………………………………..9 9.0 Recovery and Reconstruction……………………………………………..10 10.0 Conclusion…………………………………………….………………….10 11.0 Recommendations………………………………………….…………….11 12.0 Bibliography…………………………………………..………………….13 1.0 Introduction - Analysis of Stadium The structural design of Ewood Park has four sections. Three of the sections are two tier stands and are Blackburn End Stand, Jack Walker Stand and the Darwen End Stand. The fourth section is a single tier stand, which is the CIS stand. The stadium is located in Blackburn at the Ewood Park next to Nuttall Street. The stadium that was built in 1882 has a capacity of 31,154 (Contingency Plan). Ewood Park stadium is used as a football ground with the football pitch measuring 105m (115 yards) by 69m (76 yards) (Blackburn 2009). In Women Euro 2005 competition, the stadium hosted three matches – two group stage matches and the final. The stadium has the capability of hosting both daytime and night matches. It is the 14th largest holding capacity in the Premiership and attracts the highest percentage of town capacity. The population of the town is about 105,085, thus the attendance is about a quarter of the entire town’s population (Blackburn 2009). 2.0 Legislation Control There are many licenses and legislates that controls the way in which the stadium manages and gathers for safety. Some of the legislatives that are in place include General Safety Certificate, Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975, Safety at Sports Grounds and Club Safety Policy (Fire Service Inspectorate 2002). The legislative is based under the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide) which lays details concerning playgrounds. Some of details are provisions for gangways, adequate structure, crash barrier designs and fire escapes. This will ensure that the stadium can control crowd, structural stability, means of access and access for persons with disability. All these provisions are contained in the Act. The Act ensures that the management has a framework that ensures safety in stadium and a guideline that guides developing the stadium policies (Fire Service Inspectorate 2002). 3.0 Crisis Management in the Stadium 3.1 Level of Crisis The emergency set is able to tackle a variety of emergency or hazards that may occur. The emergency plan can control minor to catastrophic disasters. Minor emergencies include postponement of matches to the major including bomb threats and other suspect items e.g. CBRN items. Collaboration with other bodies and the way that they approach an incident makes it able to be ready to address any arising issue. For example, abandoned luggage is inspected in certain way to ensure that its contents are verified with minimal consequences or exposure. There are specific measures that ensure that diverse equipments are in place to ensure that incidents chances are minimal. Spectators on the stand are grouped such that they will not cause overloading on the stand. Moreover, exit means and internal emergency system e.g. fire system alarms and sprinklers ensure that minor emergency can be easily addressed. Thus, the threats that are reflected in the assignment brief are factored in the contingency plan. There are plans to control fire incidents, bombs, chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. These are examples of incidents that may occur. Moreover, with the help of steward and officers, they monitor the development of emergency incident and report to the relevant authorities. Stewards are strategically placed such that they may easily notice any complications concerning the safety of spectators. Nevertheless, the support of CCTV and radio calls ensures that the development and nature of the emergency is easily analyzed. 3.2 Structure of Control The management and emergency control of the stadium is under the charge of the Nominated Safety Officer – Safety Officer. During an emergency, the Safety Officer works in conjunction with Police Commander under an agreement in the Statement of Intent. The Statement of Intent guides the way that the Stadium collaborates with police department. 3.2.1 Responsibilities during Major Incidents When there is a major incident, there are responsibilities that are supposed to be fulfilled by each member. The different members contribute depending on their position in the stadium and level in the emergency organizational structure. Deputy Safety Officer ensures that the right people are at the right place at the right time. Chief Steward assists supervisors during evacuation and keeps track of stewards during the incident. Assistant Chief Steward assists the tunnel staff, directors and guests in safe evacuation and also receives causalities and liaises with next of kin of injured people. Perimeter Track Supervisor and Logistics Officer are responsible for the perimeter track and initiates forward evacuation through ensuring that all the perimeter exit gates are open and the kick boards are dropped. Assessors’ assists evacuation of special needs spectators and follows the directives of team leader. Section Heads control evacuation and liaison areas with the Control Room. Additionally, they ensure that the players’ relatives are safe and after the incident they search executive areas such has the cloakrooms and kitchens. 3.2.2 Media Information should be passed discreetly when an emergency occurs, this will prevent panic from the spectators and other people. The emergency plan has various ways that ensures that information is passed to the Safety Officer including the use of internal telephone extension, emergency telephone or even radio transmission. Moreover, there is fire system alarm which when activated initiates evacuation through opening of doors and broadcasting of announcements through Public Address System. The fire system alarm is usually off during match time so that management of emergency is easy and is usually manual in its operation (Haddow & Bullock 2007). Additionally, loudhailers that are located at the Gate Office and Security Office support the Public Addressing System. Moreover, the radio system is composed of five channels: Safety, Commercial, Management, Emergency and Catering that can be used at a time of emergency. The stadium is also equipped with a CCTV surveillance that records all happenings in the stadium. 3.2.3 Liaison Media management is important during an occurrence of incident. Media organizations are usually present during the matches and may try to obtain ‘action’ pictures. The Club should release accurate information concerning the incident to minimise likely inaccurate broadcast by the media organizations. The Club in question should have a spokesperson to speak authoritatively on the behalf of the Club (Gustin 2007). Communications network ensure that the right people are informed regarding the development of the incident. Radio communication and 999 calls ensure that the Local Authority is informed concerning the emergency issue. Moreover, they are able to communicate with other emergency services such as the health and medical services. 4.0 Stakeholders Agencies During an emergency and it is evident that multi-agency is required, the senior officer concerned with the emergency service reports to the Control Room. The Fire service will be called through the 999 while the senior Ambulance Officer will be contacted through the radio. Stakeholders play an important role in any emergency, a case that is applied in Ewood Park Stadium. The police force and Local authority plays an important role (Coombs 2006). They provide additional resources such as fire fighting machines and security. The local authority ambulance provides extra parametric ambulances that ensure patients and spectators are rushed to hospital facility at the earliest time possible. Voluntary aids play an important role. St John Ambulance and Red Cross are usually ready to offer first aid services. The media plays an important role in communicating the development of the emergency incident. The local authority also plays an important role in ensuring that they have structural and architectural designs of the stadium that will assists in any emergency if it occurs. 5.0 Evacuation Any decision concerning evacuation is determined by the Club, under the guidelines of the Safety Officer or the Police Command under the terms that are set in the Statement of Intent. The way that evacuation will be commenced will depend on the nature, location and severity of the emergency. Method and means that will be used will be obtained through dynamic risk assessment accounting to all risks exposed to the public. The exit gates are controlled by electro-magnetic mechanism that is controlled from the Control room. The gates are also controlled by steward and have the capability of over-riding the mechanism at the time of evacuation. The doors have their own batteries that back up the electricity. There are measures in place that prevents the authorized public from entering the pitch. If there is such evidence, additional resources are provided through consultation between the Safety Officer and Police Commander. Moreover, stretcher-bearers pursue individuals who enter the pitch with the help of studded footwear. If there is mass pitch invasion, the referee stops the game and the players are taken out of the field. Then, the tunnel access doors are secured. Depending on the available resources and analyzes of the crowd, other measures may be employed. The types of evacuation that are in the contingency plan include total evacuation and partial evacuation. Total evacuation is the total removal of all people from the stadium through safe egress routes. Partial evacuation is evacuation of affected areas and proper public addressing should be in place to prevent panic. This applies both on the stand and on the ground. When it comes to ground evacuation, it will require the removal of some sections on the pitch to enable the movement of the public. Additionally, the evacuation system supports evacuation of persons with disability through any nearest outlet (Smith & Millar 2002). 6.0 Injured Persons/Medical Considerations When there is an activity in the stadium, there is usually at least one spectator doctor. A designated steward assists and guides the doctor. The Steward and the doctor will be able to communicate directly with the Control Room Emergency Telephone Service. Three First Aid rooms are located in the three two tiers respectively. The doctor may decide to administer first aid at one of this places with assistance from voluntary First Aides e.g. Red Cross. Additionally, Lancashire County Ambulance provides at least two paramedic ambulances. When a major incident occurs and the medical emergency is required, ambulance service is conducted through the ‘999’ system. The ambulance that is located in the stadium will be deployed to provide transportation when the emergency is major. However, the team doctor and physiotherapists are responsible for the players and if there is a serious condition, the 999 system may be used (Ulmer & Seeger 2006). The contingency plan has not shown the way that it handles deceased persons. Thus, it may be assumed that the paramedic ambulance contains the facilities that can be administered to the deceased persons. 7.0 Decontamination Plan There are plans that monitors any contamination that is released and especially in the case of gas leaks. Valves and other measures are used to determine the way that the released gas is managed and communicating to the gas providers to interrupt the provision of the gas. However, the plans are not fully developed in such a way that the people within the area can decontaminate and other facilities in the area of the incident. 8.0 Workers Training The contingency plan has no defined way that deals with training of workers and stewards. The plan only plans on the way that emergencies should be contained. This is an important aspect and lacks in the contingency plan. However, because of the special people at site e.g. spectator doctor ensures that people are medical accounted for during playtime. 9.0 Recovery and Reconstruction The Club has no formalized way that allows the Club’s business to be transferred to an alternative location. However, there are plans through Management and Board meetings that are concerned about these matters and are developing a policy. The contingency plan has no well defined way that manages recovery and reconstruction. Minor provisions are in place that guides the way that emergencies can be corrected. The provisions can only manage minor to medium scale emergencies such ticketing and postponement of a match. However, there is no defined way to reconstruct after major or catastrophic incident 10.0 Conclusion Incidents and accidents usually occur at a time that it is not expected resulting in different levels of negative impacts. The aim of a contingency plan is to determine and draw a way that an emergency that can occur can be contained easily. Ewood Park Stadium contingency plan plays an important role in ensuring that spectators, workers and players are safe. Ewood Park has four tiers: Blackburn End Stand, Jack Walker Stand, Darwen End Stand and CIS Stand. The stadium has a capacity of 31,154 and follows the guidelines of the amendment Act: Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975. The contingency plan is able to manage different levels of crisis: minor, catastrophic and major. Moreover, there are well-defined plans that ensure that the incidents are controlled including means of combating fire, bomb and chemical emergencies. Stewards play important roles in ensuring that safety standards in the stadium are inline with regulations that guides it and ways that they can assist the spectators. Stakeholders plays important role in ensuring that the emergency is easily contained and derives ways that prevents future occurrence of the same problem. Media, volunteers, Local Authority and Police departments among others ensure that the stadium is within safety standards. Moreover, in case of a major incident and evacuation is commenced, there are well laid plans that ensures that it is successful. Three ways are there that the stadium uses to evacuate spectators. Total and partial evacuation ensures that spectators and players are moved out of the danger zones. Nevertheless, there are specific ways in which the persons with disability are evacuated. Special attention and assistance is given to these people. First aid and medication is important at the time of incident. Usually, there is a spectator doctor who administers first aid and voluntary aides such has St John Ambulance and Red Cross assist the doctor. Moreover, there are the emergency paramedics that are provided by the local authority ambulance that rushes injured to the hospital. In addition, the stadium is able to request for additional ambulances from government hospitals. 11.0 Recommendations The contingency plan has guided the way that emergency is managed. However, the contingency plan has not addressed all problems and issues that are associated with emergencies. There is no well-laid plan in which the stadium management can contact the next of kin of those people who are injured. There is no plan in which to contact relatives and people who are involved with the incident (Hart & Boin 2005). Training of workers and stadium attendance is an important aspect in ensuring that the emergency is easily controlled. Moreover, trained workers will ensure speedy way to counter emergency and pinpointing the likely cause of an emergency. However, there is no well-laid plan in which the stewards and other workers are trained (Borodzicz 2005). Reconstruction and recovery are usually useful in restoring the incident area. In the case of the Ewood Park Stadium, there is no well-laid plan in managing major incidents. The plan that is in place is restoring minor emergencies such has electricity and postponement of matches. Thus, the management of the stadium should develop ways in which major or large disasters and catastrophes can be managed. 12.0 Bibliography Borodzicz, E. (2005), Risk, Crisis and Management, West Sussex, John Wiley and Sons Ltd. Barton, L. (2007), Crisis Leadership Now, New York, McGraw-Hill. Contingency Plan, Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic Plc, Ewood Park Blackburn Coombs, T. (1999), Ongoing Crisis Communication, California, Sage Publications. Coombs, W. (2006), Code Red in the Boardroom: Crisis Management as Organizational DNA, Westport, Praeger Publishers. Dezenhall, E. 2003), Confronting high-profile attacks, New York, Prometheus Books. Dezenhall, E., & Weber, J. (2007), Damage control: Why everything you know about crisis management is wrong, New York, Portfolio Hardcover. Erickson, A. (2006), Emergency Response Planning for Corporate and Municipal Managers, 2nd Ed., Burlington, Elsevier, Inc. Fire Service Inspectorate (2002) Fire Service Operations: Incident Command. (Fire Service Manual 2.) London, Stationery Office Books. Fink, S. (2007), Crisis management: Planning for the inevitable, New York, Cambridge University Press. Gustin, J., (2007), Disaster and Recovery Planning: A guide for Facility Managers, 4th ed, Lilbum – Georgia, Fairmont Press Inc. Haddow, G. and Bullock, J., (2007), Introduction to Emergency Management, 3rd ed, London, Butterworth Heinemann. Heath, R., (1998), Crisis Management for Managers and Executives, Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Hart, P. & Boin, A. (2005), The Politics of Crisis Management, New York, Cambridge University Press. Information on Management Crisis in Fire and Rescue Services available at: www.hse.gov.uk www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk www.communities.gov.uk/fire [Accessed 8 January 2009] Information on Blackburn Rovers, available at: http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk [Accessed 8 January 2009] Mitroff, I. (2000), Managing Crises Before They Happen, New York, Prentice Hall Publishers. Mitroff, I. (2003), Crisis Leadership: Planning for the Unthinkable, New York, John Wiley. Mitroff, I. (2005), Why Some Companies Emerge Stronger And Better From a Crisis: Seven Essential Lessons For Surviving Disaster, New York, AMACOM Moore, T. and Lakha, R., (2006), Tolly’s Handbook of Disaster and Emergency Management: Principles and Practice, 3rd ed, London, Heinemann Butterworth. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2003), Our fire and rescue service. Cm 5808. London, Stationery Office Books. Smith, L. & Millar, D. (2002), Crisis Management and Communication, San Francisco, International Association of Business Communicators Smith, L. and Millar, D. (2002), Before Crisis Hits - Building a Strategic Crisis Plan, Washington, Community College Press. Ulmer, R. & Seeger, M. (2006), Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to Opportunity, California, Sage Publications. Read More