Astroworld task force finds inadequate training and inconsistent regulations may have added to safety failures

nme.com:

crowd crush tragedy at Travis Scott‘s Astroworld left 10 people dead and many more injured last year.The Texas Task Force on Concert Safety was established by Texas Governor Greg Abbott following the Astroworld tragedy, with the aim being to find ways to help prevent such an incident from occurring at large-scale events in the future.

Music industry representatives, law enforcement and event safety experts were among its members.The task force’s report, which was delivered to Governor Abbott on Tuesday (April 19), identifies five key themes in its findings, with its recommendations “narrowly tailored to address gaps that were identified as contributing to safety failures” at Astroworld.

The festival itself took place at NRG Park in Houston on November 5, 2021.The task force’s recommendations include the implementation of a central on-site command and control group at large events, which would be responsible for pausing or cancelling a show in the event of specific safety “triggers”.

Those “triggers” would be agreed upon prior to an event taking place, the task force advised, and should be part of the permit application process.Other recommendations include a more consistent permitting process, which could provide clarity around whose jurisdiction and authority it is for shutting down an event “in the face of a life-threatening incident”.A universal permitting process would require event promoters and venues to follow the same regulations and protocols.