Volunteers, Crowds and Outdoor Music Festivals: Research to Support Improved Public Health Outcomes at Outdoor Music Festivals

Outdoor music festivals are complex events where attendance can exceed the population of a small city. With each festival there are numerous public health and safety concerns and minimising their impact is critical to holding a successfully event.Improved event planning and operations are considered the best way forward with environmental health practitioners and event volunteers having significant roles in achieving these changes. Any changes should be supported by evidence and to-date there has been limited research undertaken in this area. Consequently a series of exploratory research studies were designed to contribute positively to this work.The research focused on volunteers, crowd safety, quality event planning and outdoor music festivals. The studies involved: an investigation of volunteers contributions to public health and emergency management; explored a case study on leadership in event planning and operations; and identified priority concerns and influential factors that impact on crowds at outdoor music festivals.