Public attention is currently focused on the crowding incidents that have occurred over the last two months. Starting from the Kanjuruhan Football tragedy, the Itaewon Halloween tragedy, to the Singing and Waving Festival. The incident attracted public sympathy because the number of victims reached hundreds of people. Responding to this, the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Universitas Indonesia (UI) held an Online Seminar on FPH UI Series 26 with the theme “Management of Safety and Health in Activities that Cause Crowds” on Friday, 11 November 2022.
Riots that occur in a crowd are generally caused by sudden movements in response to danger, lack of space, or other excitement. To avoid this, a crowd safety risk assessment and hazard identification must be carried out. “Crowd risk management is divided into three aspects, namely arrival, onsite, and leaving aspects. The activity organizers must be able to ensure that the participants are safe and secure starting from their arrival, during the activity, until their return,” said Head of the FPH UI Masters of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Study Program, Dr. Zulkifli Djunaidi, M.App.Sc., in his material on Crowd Safety Management”. According to Doctor Zulkifli, disaster incidents that have already occurred should encourage the government to think more seriously about national policies regarding crowd management.
In addition to the safety aspect, the health aspect of the crowd must also be considered, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic which has not completely subsided. For this reason, the Professor of FPH UI, Prof. Dr. dr. L. Meily Kurniawidjaja, M.Sc., Sp.OK., who spoke about “Prevention of COVID-19 Transmission in Crowds”. Efforts to break the chain of spread of COVID-19 must involve synergy between individuals, event organizers, and related authorities. Participants in the activity must also be ensured to be in good health, have received the COVID-19 vaccination, and apply health protocols in a disciplined manner. “Crowds in activities are a necessity. It is our job to prevent things that are detrimental to health, especially the transmission of COVID-19, in crowds,” explained Prof. Meily.
Also, present Prof. dr. Fatma Lestari M.Sc., Ph.D., with her presentation on the topic “Mitigation of Emergency Conditions in an Event”. Therefore, before holding an event, we must do the best possible planning and design. Risk assessment is also an important thing that cannot be overlooked in this emergency mitigation,” said Prof. Fatma. Risk assessment is very important to find out the potential for emergencies that might occur. After that, the event organizer can make an emergency response plan and form an incident command system. Prof. Fatma also gave several recommendations for mitigating this emergency, one of which is to design activities that consider K3 aspects and emergency conditions that may occur.
Disaster incidents that have occurred should be a lesson for the Indonesian people. It is hoped that the management of safety and health in crowds will become an awareness for all parties so that the tragedy of accidents in crowds does not recur in the future. (WR)