ESTA ES1.40 PDF

Scope and Terminology

Security planning should be organized by the three phases of any event in which a crowd must be managed: ingress, circulation, and egress. See ANSI ES1.9-2020, Crowd Management, Section 3.2.

Geographically, event security considerations may begin beyond the walls of a brick-and-mortar venue or the perimeter of an outdoor event space, instead starting at public transit stations near the venue, rideshare drop-off points, parking areas, public sidewalks, or other means of pedestrian access.

Chronologically, security work begins with crowd management planning. Ideally, representatives from the security provider are included in operational planning discussions. Security duties ramp up as people arrive at and circulate through the event space, and they conclude only after all guests have left the event, incident reports have been written, and any debriefing has been conducted.

Substantively, event security occupies a middle ground in the spectrum of crowd management activity between guest services and crowd control.

The guest services side of this equation includes ushers, ticket-takers or ticket scanners, people who provide information, and anyone else who helps guests safely navigate the venue. Staff who provide guest services, regardless of their title or whose shirt they wear, can help provide a positive guest experience and diffuse potential conflicts. In the traditional view, security guards protect people and property, language that still appears in some U.S. state security guard licensing materials. Functionally, the job of security guards is sometimes described as “observe and report,” as distinguished from law enforcement officers authorized to use force, detain, or arrest.

This standard adopts a modern perspective regarding event security work and the people who perform it. Throughout this document, the term “event security” is intended to encompass all the crowd management functions of guest services, plus the more physical work of restricting unauthorized access on an event site, maintaining public order, enforcing event rules regarding prohibited items and activities, and being the first professionals to respond to guests who engage in unreasonable or prohibited conduct. Some of this work is accomplished by being obviously ready to respond, which provides a visual deterrent to guest misconduct – some of it is accomplished by actually responding, which addresses the immediate problem and reinforces that rules will be enforced for everyone.

Crowd control occupies the far end of the crowd management spectrum. As defined in Section 2.4, crowd control is what law enforcement tries to regain when the crowd is out of control. Security providers may be asked to support law enforcement officers exercising their legal authority to restore order.

Providers of security services at live events are known by different names in different places. Sometimes this is a function of regional custom or language or local law. This standard refers to “security guards” and their “security supervisors” collectively as “security personnel,” rather than “security officers.” This is not mere semantics. We mean to underscore the distinction between privately retained or volunteer security providers versus public safety officials such as police, sheriffs, constables, or firefighters who perform crowd control.

This standard excludes “industrial security,” which generally involves the protection of buildings, such as the people who sit at the front desk of commercial office towers, night watch staff, and roving security patrols on a private campus or residential community. It also does not cover “tour security,” who travel with an artist or entertainer, or “close protection” who provide security for VIPs.

Patterns of reasonably foreseeable behavior exist from one event to the next, and the history of similar events is a clue what may happen next time. But event security is an interesting and challenging job precisely because every event presents different risks to be identified, assessed, and mitigated.

Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to help reduce the risk of harm to people and their property while they attend music, sports, cultural, corporate, and other events and mass gatherings.