Citation

Alkhadim M, Gidado K, Painting N. Safety Sci. 2018; 108: 29-38.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2018.04.021

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Facilities management within large space buildings used by large crowds must involve effective risk management as a key component. Poor risk management within large space buildings such as sports stadiums, concert halls, and religious buildings have resulted in crowd disasters in various venues across the world. Fruin suggested that Force, Information, Space and Time (FIST) are the main factors that influence the occurrence of crowd disaster. Within the built environment, safety is considered in two main parts: objective safety (normative and substantive) and subjective safety (perceived). This paper theorised that poor perceived safety alone could result in crowd disaster, and by using the FIST model, it investigates the relationship between the four critical FIST factors and perceived safety in crowded large space buildings. The research chose to use the Holy Mosque in Makkah as a case study, a building where large crowd always use on a continuous basis all year round with its peak occupancy usually reached during the Hajj (an annual pilgrimage to Makkah that is undertaken by Muslims from all over the world). The Holy Mosque is a large building of 356,800 square metres with a maximum capacity of two million users (pilgrims). Data was collected using iPad devices via a group-administered questionnaire distributed to 1940 pilgrims of 62 different nationalities. The results were analysed using SPSS for descriptive analysis and AMOS 22 for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The fitness of the model was tested, and the unidimensionality, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability were assessed. The findings confirmed that there is a significant relationship between the FIST factors and perceived safety in crowded large space buildings. These findings will assist the facilities managers by making them aware of the users' safety perception and the factors that make them feel unsafe.

Language: en

Keywords

Crowd disaster; Crowd safety; Facilities management; Perceived safety; Risk management; Structural equation modeling