Evacuation Planning Guide for Stadiums

• Prepare for a directed evacuation in which a potential hazard may require the
evacuation to proceed via a specific route to avoid a certain area of concern.
• Identify the scenario options for the stadium and then develop evacuation or
shelter in place procedures for each scenario.
• Prior to each event at the stadium, a plan of action should be developed and
briefed to all stadium or arena employees/workers and public safety personnel in
case an incident occurs resulting in an evacuation.
3.1.3 Evacuation
Evacuation is a decision that will be made when an emergency situation occurs that
requires the movement of persons from a dangerous place due to the threat or occurrence
of a disastrous event. This includes a full or partial evacuation. The following questions
for Consideration and Supporting Actions statements are useful in performing an
evacuation.
Considerations
• What is the reason for evacuating (i.e. fire, structural failure, equipment failure,
crowd control)?
• What criteria are used when making evacuation decisions?
• How effective is the evacuation in removing the stadium spectators and
participants from a dangerous situation?
• How many people can be evacuated in a reasonable amount of time? Does this
meet evacuation needs? How can the evacuation rate be increased?
• Who will make the decision to evacuate? Who will implement the decision and
how?
• What steps need to be taken before an event occurs? How will it be determined if
there are harmful contaminants in the air?
Supporting Actions
• Develop decision criteria to assist in making the evacuation decision.
• Identify the person who will make the decision to evacuate.
• Develop procedures for implementing evacuation activities.
• Establish roles and responsibilities for the Evacuation Team to effect evacuation.
• Ensure that air monitoring teams and equipment are on site and functioning to
address any possible chemical or other contaminant situations.
• Be prepared and conduct exercises for the unintended/self-evacuation (i.e., flight
response) that may result by spectators deciding on their own to evacuate the
stadium. Be prepared to direct and mitigate the effects of an unintended
evacuation, especially if it conflicts with a potential hazard.
Evacuation Planning Guide for Stadiums 13