Middlebury

 

Crowd Manager

Scope

Middlebury College has adopted the Crowd Manager program in accordance with the
State of Vermont requirements under the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code section 13.7.5.

Under this provision all assembly occupancies, that is any occupancy greater than 50 people, shall be provided with a minimum of one trained crowd manager or crowd manager supervisor. Where the occupant load exceeds 250, additional crowd managers shall be provided at a ratio of 1 crowd manager/supervisor for every 250 occupants unless otherwise permitted by the following:

  1. This requirement shall not apply to assembly occupancies used exclusively for religious worship with an occupant load not exceeding 2000.
  2. The ratio of trained crowd managers to occupants shall be permitted to be reduced where, in the opinion of the authority having jurisdiction, the existence of an approved, supervised automatic sprinkler system and the nature of the event warrant. For the purpose of this document the AHJ would be a State of Vermont Fire Marshal or his/her designee.
  3. The crowd manager would be required to attend approved training to be certified as a crowd manager.
  4. This requirement shall not apply to assembly occupancies in College classrooms where used for nonpublic events.  That is an academic class session (students only) or team practices that are for the teams only.

Training

Training shall be provided through the Environmental, Health & Safety Department
on a regular basis as needed. Frequency will be determined by the EH&S Department. The training program must be approved by the AHJ.

Anyone approved by the College may take the training and be certified. The approval may come from the Department of Public Safety, EH&S or any Department Manager/Chair. Records of certified crowd managers will be retained by DPS.

Departments wishing to hire student crowd managers should contact student employment office for additional information on student availability.  Email: seo@middlebury.edu  or  phone 443-5377.  Anyone being employed to perform Crowd Manager duties must take the College workshop.  The on-line training is not enough.

Employees or attendants of assembly occupancies shall be instructed in the proper use of portable fire extinguishers and other manual fire suppression equipment where provided.

The certification would be valid for a period of three (3) years. The individual would then have to retake the training and written exam to recertify.

 

Alternative Training Plan  (Because of the many changes made by the Vermont Fire Marshall, this Plan is no longer being offered)

The Crowd manager alternative training plan was designed for the person who has a very limited number of open events each year where the general public is invited.  For example a faculty member who has a lecture open to the public once a semester.

All provisions of the Crowd manager rule must be followed, but you would be able to take an on-line training program to be certified.  In order to certify you must do the following:

1.  Take the on-line course from the Maryland State Fire Marshal.  http://www.firemarshal.state.md.us/ This program has been approved by the State of Vermont.

2.  Review the Middlebury College Policy on Crowd Managers.

3.  Review and become familiar with the inspection form found in the FORMS section of this web page.

4.  Notify the Department of Public Safety that you have completed these requirements and forward a copy of the   certificate provided by the Maryland Fire Marshal to DPS and retain a copy as your record of completing the class.

If you routinely have events that are covered by the Vermont Crowd Manager regulations you must attend the on site workshop.  ( that is more than two events a year or events in more than two different locations).  These workshops are posted on this web site under training.

This on line program will not qualify you to be employed as a Crowd Manager.  You would need to complete the on site workshop conducted by EH&S.

Assembly Inspections

The crowd manager or other approved individual shall inspect the means of egress to ensure it is maintained free of obstructions, and correct any deficiencies found, prior to each opening of the building to the public for the event.

The crowd manager or other approved individual shall prepare and maintain records of the date and time of each inspection on approved forms (by the AHJ), listing any deficiencies found and actions taken to correct them. These forms will be returned to the Department of Public Safety at the conclusion of the event.

Events where the occupancy is less than 100, the inspection form will not be required.  However, the crowd manager would identify the location of fire extinguishers in the area and the pull stations.  All other requirements of the inspection is required but without the need to complete the inspection forms.  It is recommended that the inspection form be used as a check list so you will cover all the safety points prior to the event.

All aspects of this program must be pre-approved by the State of Vermont Fire Marshal.

This policy was last updated on September 14, 2010.