Cruise ships are a place where people gather in hordes. And this huge milling causes unwanted problems and situations. The concept of crowd control has emerged as a solution to this problem and crowd control management essentially forms a part of the effective management of risks and emergencies involved in cruise ships.
Crowd control management is a specific training program that all individuals of a ship’s crew need to learn. Crowd safety, is not just about trying to merely control the crowd, it involves using the right kind of communication and effectuating the perfect leadership skills to manage the crowd. This is why the crowd control safety program has been recommended by the STCW stipulations.
In order to take up the training program for crowd safety, entrants do not need any precedent requirements and even the certification provided is on the basis of the aptitude and perceiving of the situation by the individual rather than a formal certificate of passing. The duration of the program is around seven hours and it is compulsory.
Some of the main instructions imparted in the program can be enumerated and elaborated as follows:
- In case of any emergency, panic is the first reaction. In cruise ships, in case of complications, the element of panic will be on the higher side. This is why crowd managers in cruise ships need to have the knowledge to pacify the crowd and provide with them with the necessary information, in a manner that does not cause them to panic further
- Leadership skills, mentioned above, also is an aspect devoted to in the crowd control for cruise ships program. A leader is a person who is able to guide others without being rude and incoherent. In a situation of extreme exigency, the people in the cruise ship will want to listen to someone who is able to give them clear instructions and reason things in the most calm manner
- Understanding the psyche is another area where the safety program looks into. In a cruise ship, lots of people are around so the problem of communication differences and other minor conflicts arising is but natural. Crew members need to pay close attention to people so that they can prevent such conflicts from arising and thereby avoid a stressful scenario.
Similarly gauging the psyche of an individual will help the communication better between the individual and the crew member as the latter will be in a better position to know the needs and requirements of the individual.
In terms of leadership qualities in cruise ships, the Y theory is preferred to the X theory where the former refers to a democracy in leading while the latter refers to an autocracy in leading.
In terms of statistics, the cruising industry has tremendous potential with a revenue generation of about US$ 38 million. With the help of crowd control safety, channelizing and ensuring that more revenue is generated in this perpetually intriguing industry for the days to come, can be successfully carried out.