The Global Crowd Management Alliance (GCMA) officially launched today, bringing together crowd managers, organisations, businesses, academics, and individuals with a shared interest in safety from across the globe.
The initiative, spearheaded by the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association (UKCMA), the Event Safety Alliance (ESA) and Event Safety Alliance Canada (ESAC) has Board members from Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, and a list of supporters and advocates spanning over 15 countries on five continents.
GCMA is a not-for-profit organisation which will promote reasonable crowd management and crowd safety practices worldwide, leading to a globally recognised body of knowledge for professional crowd managers. The Alliance will also create and deliver learning opportunities for crowd management practitioners at all experience levels, in all geographic locations, and regardless of financial means.
The New Zealand founding board representative is Cary Caldwell – a seasoned events and safety professional. He said “New Zealand previously had the enviable situation where, because of our country's original border closures, we were in a position to continue to have mass-scale sporting and musical events and tours. With the Delta variant bringing a new round of lock-downs and the cancellations of multiple events, new government procedures and protocols are being put in place to get events back on track, thus creating new challenges for ingress, security, and crowd flow management while still maintaining a safe environment for attendees. The danger of 'forgetting' about other risks and safety aspects is foremost in the minds of all safety management teams. Having an international team of experts working towards a standardised level of safety protocols goes a long way to mitigating that"
This view was echoed by GCMA Chair Eric Stuart said, I am delighted to have been elected by the founding committee of the Global Crowd Management Alliance to serve as its first Chair. This organisation will enable us to expand the opportunities for sharing knowledge and experience that will help keep people safe. While crowd plans are sometimes complex and need specialist knowledge, basic safety principles can be applied to many locations where crowds gather, and those principles can often be learnt and implemented at little cost. Most importantly, we should never forget that crowds are made up of people who expect to enjoy a pleasant day or evening out, then return home safely. Good crowd management can help achieve that simple, fundamental goal.
Now, as we emerge from the global pandemic that brought the events industry to a standstill, and which has seen a mass exodus of experienced workers, training and education is more important than ever.
Eric, who also Chairs the UK Crowd Management Association (UKCMA), emphasised GCMA’s commitment to diversity in both leadership and membership. We welcome everyone who wishes to enhance crowd safety standards across the globe, and who supports GCMA’s goals to Educate, Advocate, and Motivate crowd management professionals.
If you would like to know more about membership, collaboration, or sponsorship opportunities please contact us on hello@thegcma.com or by visiting www.thegcma.com