<p>Bengaluru: At the recently concluded World Symposium for Sustainable Transport and Livability at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Milad Haghani, Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, presented a crowd safety protocol aimed at preventing stampedes and crowd crushes.</p>.<p>"One key aspect often overlooked in sustainability discussions is safety — especially for people on foot and in crowded spaces. In a growing economy, the more people step out, the greater the risks,” Haghani said.</p>.Chinnaswamy stampede | Nine eyewitnesses testify in RCB victory event crush that killed 11.<p>He noted that one of the biggest risks pedestrians faces in developing economies is crowd crush accidents. Since 2010, at least 20,000 people worldwide have died in such incidents, by his estimate.</p>.<p>"In the 1970s and 80s, most crowd crush deaths occurred in Europe at football stadiums. Now, they mostly happen during religious congregations, with India, due to its population size, unfortunately becoming a hotspot,” he explained. Crowd crushes in India have also occurred at charity events, sports venues, celebrations, and entertainment gatherings.</p>.<p>Haghani urged authorities not to normalise these tragedies and recommended adopting the 'Swiss Cheese Model'. Named after the cheese’s distinctive holes, which represent system weaknesses, the model visualises layers of defences — like slices of cheese — to block hazards.</p>.<p>The model outlines five safety levels: policy and legislation, planning, operation, community and behaviour, and incident response. Haghani emphasised integrating new technologies, studying complex crowd behaviour, and objectively assessing safety measures.</p>.<p>"If road deaths are avoidable, so are crowd deaths. The country must target zero casualties in crowd-related incidents,” he said. </p>
<p>Bengaluru: At the recently concluded World Symposium for Sustainable Transport and Livability at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Milad Haghani, Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, presented a crowd safety protocol aimed at preventing stampedes and crowd crushes.</p>.<p>"One key aspect often overlooked in sustainability discussions is safety — especially for people on foot and in crowded spaces. In a growing economy, the more people step out, the greater the risks,” Haghani said.</p>.Chinnaswamy stampede | Nine eyewitnesses testify in RCB victory event crush that killed 11.<p>He noted that one of the biggest risks pedestrians faces in developing economies is crowd crush accidents. Since 2010, at least 20,000 people worldwide have died in such incidents, by his estimate.</p>.<p>"In the 1970s and 80s, most crowd crush deaths occurred in Europe at football stadiums. Now, they mostly happen during religious congregations, with India, due to its population size, unfortunately becoming a hotspot,” he explained. Crowd crushes in India have also occurred at charity events, sports venues, celebrations, and entertainment gatherings.</p>.<p>Haghani urged authorities not to normalise these tragedies and recommended adopting the 'Swiss Cheese Model'. Named after the cheese’s distinctive holes, which represent system weaknesses, the model visualises layers of defences — like slices of cheese — to block hazards.</p>.<p>The model outlines five safety levels: policy and legislation, planning, operation, community and behaviour, and incident response. Haghani emphasised integrating new technologies, studying complex crowd behaviour, and objectively assessing safety measures.</p>.<p>"If road deaths are avoidable, so are crowd deaths. The country must target zero casualties in crowd-related incidents,” he said. </p>