Task Force Launched in Response to Astroworld Fest Tragedy Releasing Report
Written by SOURCE on April 21, 2022
The Texas Task Force on Concert Safety (TFCS), which was launched in the wake of last year’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, has released what Governor Greg Abbott says will be its final report.
The report is billed as the “culmination of the work done by the TFCS,” including recommendations inspired by identified “gaps” that contributed to the “safety failures” at the 2021 edition of Travis Scott’s festival. As first reported by Rolling Stone, members of the task force behind the report included safety experts and industry reps, as well as “law enforcement officials.”
When announcing the report’s publication on Tuesday, Gov. Abbott pointed to the subsequent launching of the new Event Production Guide, which is designed as a centralized resource for best-practice recommendations for promoters. The guide is available via the official Texas Music Office site.
“The recommendations, findings, and solutions detailed in this report will help the State of Texas prevent another tragedy like that at Astroworld Festival from happening again,” Abbott said.
Among the identified “recurring themes” cited in the report are unified on-site command and control, permitting, training, planning with risk assessment, and centralized resources. The issue of permitting has been highlighted as a key takeaway here, with task force members explaining how a more “consistent” permitting process could be of benefit:
“Highlighted in the discussion of the Astroworld event was the fact that the County had jurisdiction over the permitting requirements, but City 911 was responsible for responding to event incidents. Additionally, there was no Occupancy Load issued for the event, which is typically determined by the Fire Department. A consistent permitting process could have helped established jurisdiction and authority over ultimate event shutdown in the face of a life-threatening incident.”
On the topic of training, the task force says public and contracted security members “must have adequate training” based on the demands of each event:
“A series of pre-show steps, such as tabletop exercises, site walkthrough drills, security briefings before and after shifts, establishment of a clear and well-disseminated communication tree, and agreed-upon show-stop triggers and responses are some of the elements of successful event protocol. Participating in the available training courses and conducting the suggested exercises can support a showing of due diligence.”
The task force’s full report can be read here.
A crowd crush incident on the first day of last year’s Astroworld Festival ultimately resulted in the deaths of 10 attendees, all from accidental compression asphyxia. In March, Scott’s team responded to an effort from a victim’s family to have a judge take action over the Utopia artist’s Project HEAL initiatives.
