ISO 22353:2026 — Crowd Management

Crowd dynamics vary from event venue layout, crowd size, and the event type. Whether it is a sports stadium or a festival, these events often involve swarms of people at the entrances, concessions, and exits. Managing this movement requires considering crowd characteristics, available space, capacity, ingress and egress routes, emergency situations, and coordination among the organizations responsible for public safety. ISO 22353:2026, Security and resilience – Guidelines for crowd management provides guidance for addressing these considerations at events, mass gatherings, and crowded places.

Why Is Crowd Management Important?

Large events and mass gatherings can bring thousands (or even millions) of people into shared spaces, such as concerts, sports arenas, parades, festivals, conventions, etc. To ensure that people can safely move through a venue, from start to finish, these events involve thoughtful planning. Besides assuring smooth movement, crowd management also helps prevent injuries and protect public safety from incidents like crowd collapses/crushes, crowd stampedes, and crowd surges.

Defining Crowd Management

ISO 22353:2026 defines crowd management as the “systematic process of planning, organizing, monitoring, and guidance of large gatherings of people.” Its objective is to support a positive event experience, while maintaining a safe and secure environment.

Managing crowd behavior in real time can involve using tools like mobile apps or cameras to help predict possible public safety challenges. Furthermore, ISO 22353:2026 lays out specifications for effective crowd management.

What Is ISO 22353:2026?

ISO 22353:2026 provides guidelines for crowd management at events, mass gatherings and crowded places. It is designed to assist event organizers, event rights holders, event hosts, venue operators and emergency services in planning and executing effective, successful and safe crowd management by assuring:

Implementation of the framework and principles for crowd management
Necessary event and crowd profiling to understand the crowd management risk
Available spaces for expected crowds using crowd capacity assessments
Sufficient crowd management in the ingress, event circulation, and egress phases
Safe and secure venues, spaces, and pathways for crowds in all phases and situations
Sufficient crowd management plans both for planned execution and in emergencies
Necessary engagement and involvement of public and private interested parties
Continual improvement through systematic evaluation of crowd management arrangements.

ISO 22353:2026 does not address crowd control or situations that require intervention to manage crowds that display undesirable or dangerous behaviors.

Weather Conditions Can Affect Crowd Safety

Crowd safety can be influenced by conditions beyond the size and movement of a gathering. A 2025 study “Effect of weather on crowd motion accidents” published in Progress in Disaster Science analyzed 161 fatal crowd-crush accidents (i.e., a dangerous emergency where a dense group of people is tightly packed and compressed by moving force) at mass gatherings across 65 countries from 2000 to 2024. The researchers found that 61% of these accidents occurred in countries with higher population densities; 60% occurred on days when the Humidex (i.e., a measure combining temperature and humidity) exceeded the high-discomfort threshold of 30°C.

The study identified the relationships between fatalities, attendance, and atmospheric conditions. It found that there was a higher incidence of fatal crowd accidents in tropical climates and that on accident days there was an elevated temperatures, air pressure, and apparent temperatures. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering weather when assessing risks at mass gatherings.

ISO 22353:2026 accounts for weather elements under its core risk mitigation guidelines. The guidelines mandate analyzing the environment and venue context to understand overall crowd risks.