|
Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Blaisdell has plans for
safety of large eventsQuestion: I attended the Islandwide Christmas Crafts & Food Expo, which was held at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall Nov. 28-30. The hall was so crowded that it was extremely difficult to move through the very narrow aisles. Besides the 400 vendors and mass of people, there were children in strollers, individuals maneuvering wheelchairs (both manual and motorized), and people with walkers and canes.
My first thought was about safety -- what would happen in an emergency? Would emergency personnel be able to get through the crowd quickly? What if an evacuation was necessary? Exit signs were also not clearly visible.
Are the staff of the Blaisdell Center and the event organizer trained to handle emergencies in such crowded conditions? If this event attracts such a large number of vendors and customers, has the event organizer considered expanding into the Blaisdell arena to alleviate overcrowding?
Answer: City officials acknowledge the large numbers of people, as well as strollers, at several recent events at the Neal Blaisdell Center.
The Crafts & Food Expo draws the biggest crowds of any event held at the center annually. This year, 6,000 people attended during the five hours of the first day, 11,000 over the 12 hours of the second day and 7,000 over the seven hours of the last day, according to city figures.
Because of the popularity of the event, the Events and Services staff is increasing monitoring activities and has come up with additional procedures "to limit or delay entry into exhibition areas if necessary to avoid any excessive overcrowding conditions," said Barry Fukunaga, director of the city Department of Enterprise Services, which oversees the Blaisdell.
"These revised arrangements are being included as part of pre-event planning meetings with operators and will be introduced in future exhibition activities," he said.
Prior to any event, the city's production manager will review layout and staging, seating and types of materials used "to assure that conditions conform to established fire and safety codes," he said.
General arrangements include setting up 9-foot aisles, which are aligned in relation to emergency exit doors, located on all sides of the Exhibition Hall, he said.
Fukunaga also explained that there are illuminated exit signs above the doors, which are "in accordance with building safety codes."
The Honolulu Fire Department makes unannounced inspections of the buildings, checking on things such as exit signs, fire sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, egress doors and other factors related to safety, he said.
By law, fire inspectors are required to inspect the premises every two years, said Capt. Bill Melemai, administrative captain for HFD's Fire Prevention Bureau.
The last formal inspection was in August 2002. "Some discrepancies" were noted then, but corrected by the following month, he said.
Melemai also said that booths and exhibits are set up to provide pathways to the exits.
City officials have "done these (events) for years and they try to keep a straight line, not only for exiting, but also for their security staff and/or medical emergency personnel," he said. "So if (emergency personnel) need to come in, they don't have to go through a maze to get through." The city has "been using the same basic template for years."
Meanwhile, Fukunaga said the center provides trained ushers and an event manager to monitor conditions whenever any activity is held at the Blaisdell Center or Waikiki Shell.
"Normally, event organizers will add their own security personnel, the numbers of which vary by the type of activity involved," he said.
We asked how the event was monitored in terms of the number of people allowed in.
Fukunaga explained that the Crafts Fair & Expo used the main hall, the Pikake Room and adjoining Hawaii Suites/ Galleria area, for a total of 83,700 square feet of space.
The permitted occupancy of the exhibition hall is 5,000; the additional rooms allowed another 1,400 people, for a total of 6,400 people.
"Given allowance for booth and exhibition areas, and the configuration of aisle spaces, the maximum capacity that we have established for safety purposes is 3,500 persons," Fukunaga said. "Given that estimate, we use 2,500 as a trigger to determine when we begin to implement adjustments to avoid exceeding the maximum, providing a cushion of 1,000 persons."
It is unlikely that "we would ever experience such numbers or conditions," he said, but added that the Blaisdell has established possible crowd "adjustment" procedures.
Those procedures range from slowing the number of people allowed in "to an extreme of stopping further entry altogether."
Regarding expanding the event into the arena, Fukunaga said that would depend on availability, as well as whether the organizer wants to pay extra for the space.
This year, there was not a competing event at the arena, but last year, the Dragon Tales show was held there.
"Several promoters have held events that used all of the available facilities, but they do so at considerable expense since they are assuming larger space and would need to have more booths to cover the additional area," Fukunaga said.
More costs would be added if the concourse has to be closed off to allow passage between the arena and exhibition hall.
"The promoter therefore needs to make a determination and decide on whether they would want to expand the show," Fukunaga said.
Check: Double-check
The Better Business Bureau of Hawaii is warning businesses to beware if they receive a check from a company in Boulder City, Nev.Yellow-Page.net has been sending Hawaii businesses "what appears to be a check in the amount of $3.50 made out to their business," according to the BBB. But "if a company endorses and returns or cashes this check, they are automatically signed up for Web directory listing and charged a monthly fee of $21.95."
While the terms and conditions of signing these checks are clearly stated on the back of the check, "this may be misleading," says Anne Deschene, president of the BBB of Hawaii.
The BBB warns businesses to be on the lookout for "invoices (that) are actually solicitations for listings in alternative business directories that differ from the well-known yellow pages. In fact, the alternative directories may not be that widely distributed, can be of little or no value to advertisers, or may never be published at all."
The BBB of Hawaii invites businesses and individuals to contact it at 536-6956, e-mail info@hawaii.bbb.org or check its Web site at www.hawaii.bbb.org to get information on a company.
|
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com