Crowd Safety

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 one crowd manager/supervisor for every 250 occupants unless otherwise permitted by the following:

• This requirement shall not apply to assembly occupancies used exclusively for religious worship with an occupant load not exceeding 2000.
• The ratio of trained crowd managers to occupants shall be permitted to be reduced where, in the opinion of the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), 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.
• This requirement shall not apply to assembly occupancies in College classrooms where used for nonpublic events (example: an academic class session with 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.

Anyone approved by the College may take the training and be certified. The approval may come from the Department of Public Safety, EHS or any Department Manager/Chair. Records of certified crowd managers will be retained by EHS and maintained in the College training database.

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.

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 take refresher training and a written exam to recertify.

Pre-Event 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 using the Middlebury College Pre-Event Inspection Report, listing any deficiencies found and actions taken to correct them. These forms will be returned to the Environmental Health and Safety Office at the conclusion of the event.