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BROUGHTON HIGH SECURITY LAUNCHES
SECURITY RATED TURNSTILE
Broughton Control’s rapidly expanding High Security Division has launched a new high security turnstile, the Defender 970, aimed at customers requiring unsupervised control of pedestrian access within a site perimeter.
The Defender 970 High Security Turnstile is the latest addition to a range of products from Broughton High Security aimed at front line security locations including ports, airports, prisons, police stations and government buildings as well as high risk commercial and industrial facilities such as banks and oil refineries.
Are cost cutting and design aesthetics threatening stadium safety and security?
In a World Cup year, when stadium security and crowd safety will be under the highest scrutiny, Laurence Goode, managing director of UK entrance control solutions provider Broughton Controls, considers whether squeezing budgets and concentrating on design rather than function might be compromising successful crowd control.
British football alone carries something of a legacy of spectator tragedies. 306 fans have died and a further 3,500 have been injured over the last century in 27 separate incidents. Admittedly this is from a spectator base in excess of 1.2 billion fans but nevertheless we are not talking about casualties in a war here, these are totally avoidable accidents – tragedies that have occurred because of a combination of poor crowd management and sub-standard stadium facilities.
Before the death of 96 football fans at Hillsbrough in 1989, crowd control was seen mainly as a case of tackling outbreaks of football hooliganism. Following the tragic events at Sheffield however, Lord Justice Taylor’s investigation and subsequent report changed the face of UK football stadia.
Of the seventy-six recommendations that came out of the Taylor Report, the phasing out of terracing has resulted in what is arguably the most visible change to football grounds in the UK. The overall impact of the recommendations however has had implications for every part of the stadium particularly with regard to the prevention of bottlenecks and over capacity that could lead to the risk of another ‘Hillsbrough’.
Clubs and stadium designers alike have totally rethought their approach to the provision of facilities and crowd management, with the burden of crowd control now shifted onto the individual club whilst the police are responsible for dealing with crime and public order offences at and around the stadium rather than marshalling spectators.
One of the key locations for crowd control is obviously at the point of entry, where the need exists to permit authorised entry as quickly and smoothly as possible in order to prevent spectator congestion outside the ground. Equally, this is the point at which the integrity of stadium security must be maintained by preventing unauthorised entry.
In addition to these basic functions there are also many other operations to consider. The ability to check entry tickets, count the number of people entering the stadium and take admission payment, the ease of access for disabled visitors and ultimately the facility to eject troublemakers from the ground without the risk of compromising stadium security and opening the floodgates to unauthorised entry.
Guidance on stadium capacity, minimum rates of entry and exit and other such statistics are of course laid down in black and white in such publications as the ‘Green Guide to safety at sports grounds’ but such figures were only ever intended as a starting point. Few people realise however that these recommendations are actually given force of law at individual grounds by their inclusion in safety certificates issued under the 1975 (Safety at Sports Ground Act) or 1987 (Fire and Safety of Places of Sport Act) Acts.
At a basic level, stadium regulations state that ‘there should be no uncontrolled admission’ and for decades the recognised method of entrance control at a UK sports stadium has been the full height turnstile, complete with the steward in a booth, collecting cash or tickets and in many cases manually recording spectator numbers.
The system is simple, robust and extremely secure, providing no means of unauthorised entry with the possible exception of a forged ticket. Granted, these pieces of equipment were never designed to be aesthetically pleasing, but until very recent times, neither had the sports stadia of which they were such an important integral element.
Following the Taylor Report however, when clubs began to rebuild their stadia and new all-seated grounds started to spring up, the whole ethos behind sports stadia in the UK changed. There was a move away from the utilitarian, gladiatorial arena towards the multi-purpose, business, leisure and sports venue of the people. Grounds became more open, more inviting and more comfortable and football fans started to be treated as visitors rather than cattle. We have reached a point today where stadia win architectural prizes, are huge national or corporate statements and the sheer experience of visiting the stadium has become an integral part of ‘match day’.
The changes in use and design of stadia have also meant a change in the way in which visitors are treated. At every level from toilet facilities and seating comfort to the ticketing systems and the way we are welcomed to the ground, the push is on to make the experience as pleasurable as possible. And when a ticket for 90 minutes of Premiership football can cost upwards of £45, then fans have a right to expect the best.
There is a strong argument however to say that we have gone too soft on the fans with the new ‘friendly design’ and in the name of aesthetics and marketing have adopted solutions that threaten stadium security and crowd safety. At a time when other public buildings are beefing up security in the face of world terrorism and organised crime, we are seeing some stadia operators keen to run in the opposite direction. Out are coming the full height turnstiles that have served the industry from its infancy in favour of low-level, tripod units. It would appear that it could be stadium management’s desire for electronic ticket handling that is resulting in cuts to the hardware budget that may compromise stadium safety and security.