11 Ways to Stay Safe in a Crowd

By Rachel Warren ChaddUpdated: Mar. 20, 2019

The advice here is not to avoid crowds. Rather, be sure to follow these tips to keep yourself and your loved ones safe and healthy while you’re out living life to the fullest.

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1. Keep Your Hands in Your Pockets

The formula for getting ill: germs get on hands, hands touch face, germs enter body, you are infected. Where there are crowds, there are germs – millions of them – on every surface. Don’t touch them and they won’t make you ill.

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2. Carry Hand Sanitizer

Use it after bathroom visits, before eating and any time you feel contaminated by the microbes of the masses.

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3. Bring Earplugs

Put a pair of earplugs in your handbag or pocket. If the event gets too loud, or you get stuck standing next to the speakers, use the earplugs.

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4. Locate the Emergency Exits

It takes only seconds – and those seconds could turn out to be the most worthwhile ever. One study found that more than half of fatalities at concerts occurred when people were trying to get out of the building or concert setting.

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5. Set a Meeting Place

Arrange a place to meet your family or friends in case you get separated. Actually, you should choose two places: one inside and one outside.

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6. Protect Yourself in a Stampede

In the rare event of a stampede, try to move sideways to the crowd until you get to a wall. Then press yourself against it until the crowd dissipates, or you find a better exit. It doesn’t happen often, but people do get trampled to death. If you’ve memorised the emergency exits, you’ll have a better chance of getting to one that the rest of the crowd may not have noticed.

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7. Pack Your Own Lunch

Peanut butter or jam sandwiches and apples will keep for the whole day and will help to forestall your children’s pleas for junk food from the vendors at the event site. If you can’t avoid buying from food stalls, check out the vendor. Does the stall look clean? Are the cook’s hands clean? Is the vendor handling the food with gloves? Does he or she handle money, then touch the food? It’s hard to tell just by looking at it if food will make you ill, but you should definitely avoid undercooked (pink) meats and meat that is not hot when served. The last thing you need when you’re in a place that only has portable bathrooms is food poisoning.

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8. Bring Tissue

Remember to put a wad of tissues in your handbag or pocket. Now you have emergency toilet paper if you have to use the portable bathrooms.

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9. Bring Water Bottles

Put water bottles in the freezer the night before. You’ll save money on overpriced bottled water at the event and, as the ice melts, you’ll have nice cold water on hand to stay hydrated.

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10. Dress in Layers

The crowd is pressing in around you, you feel overly warm … and suddenly the ground comes up to meet you. Don’t let it happen. If you’ve dressed in layers, you can shed one of them if you get too hot. If you’re wearing only one layer to start with, you might just get arrested! Of course, layering your clothing works the other way too. If the temperature drops as the match goes into overtime, you’ll be prepared.

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11. Take Your Time

Sit and wait when the curtain comes down. Let the crowd go first. You’ll get out of the car park more easily and avoid ruining your great time out with a bout of blood pressure-raising stress.

Originally Published: March 29, 2011