Measures to Prevent and Manage Risks from Crowd Surges during Festive Periods and Public Events

9 Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Home Affairs what regulatory requirements and policy measures are in place to prevent risks arising from crowd surges during festive periods and at public events.

10 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether there are adequate crowd control measures whenever there are large-scale events involving large numbers of members of the public so as to avoid crowd crushes or stampedes.

11 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what lessons are learnt from the recent stampede incidents in several countries; (b) whether further enhancements to our crowd control measures by the relevant agencies will be needed; and (c) if needed, what are these.

12 Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Home Affairs what strategies are put in place to proactively manage crowds at large scale public and private events and ensure that they do not develop into crowd pushing, crushing and collapses.

13 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Ministry has identified a list of locations or events in Singapore at risk of crowd surge and stampede situations; (b) what are some of these locations or events; and (c) what are the enhanced safety steps that organisers at these locations or events are required to put in place.

14 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether SPF proactively informs the public of crowd surge risks and ways to stay safe when participating in large public events; and (b) whether tear gas will ever be used in crowded, confined spaces for the purpose of crowd control.

15 Miss Rachel Ong asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether Singapore has an occupant load limit for large assembly points; and (b) how is this limit monitored during events with large crowds.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to answer together Question Nos 9 to 15 in today's Order Paper?

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

Ms Sun Xueling: The Singapore Police Force (SPF) works with the relevant stakeholders to put in place measures to mitigate the risks associated with large crowds. Under the Public Order Act, event organisers, otherwise known as EOs, are required to notify the Police of public events expected to attract crowds of 5,000 persons or more, or private events expected to attract crowds of 10,000 persons or more. The Police will, then, engage these EOs on the appropriate measures to be deployed for public safety.

The Police also works closely with the EOs and other stakeholders on crowd management plans for major events, such as the National Day Parade, Christmas festivities at Orchard Road, New Year countdowns and the Formula One Night Race. These plans may include measures such as the monitoring of crowd size, the deployment of security personnel and the regulation of crowd flow at congregation areas and potential chokepoints. They may also include cordoning off areas with public safety risks, such as narrow pathways and bridges and signages to guide the public on diversions and closures of thoroughfares.

The Police are deployed on-the-ground at these major events to ensure law and order, as well as to provide swift responses to incidents. Contingency plans are also put in place. These may involve catering for emergency lanes to facilitate emergency responses within crowded areas and closing off high-risk areas pre-emptively before they become overcrowded.

As for indoor venues, occupant limits are regulated by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) under the Fire Code and Fire Safety Manager (FSM) Regulations. Under the Fire Code, functional spaces within a building are assigned an occupant load factor which determines the maximum number of people allowed at any point of time and there must also be sufficient egress capacity. In general, the Fire Code requires every storey of a building to have at least two independent exit staircases to ensure timely evacuation. Higher risk premises, such as those with an occupant load of 1,000 persons or more; floor area of 5,000 square metres (sqm) or more; or nine storeys or more, including basement levels, require an FSM to be appointed.

The Police conduct frequent patrols when there are large crowds at locations like Little India and Chinatown, and also deploy various sensors, such as CCTVs and drones to monitor the ground situation. They may be augmented by Auxiliary Police Officers. Members of the public may call 999 to alert the Police if there are safety concerns related to overcrowding.

If the Police assesses that there are disturbances to the mood of a crowd, the Police may seek to remove the source of the agitation. The Police may also provide adequate space for crowd dispersal or provide clear instructions on how the crowd may exit the congested area. To do so, the Police may use voice amplification devices, such as loudhailers, to gain the attention of the crowd.

To increase public awareness, the Police publicise safety measures pre-, during and post-event. The Police may also pre-empt the public on potential crowding and alert the public to avoid areas or events which are already crowded. For example, at National Day Parade 2022, the Crowd@MarinaBay website provided live updates of the crowd situation at hotspots for fireworks viewing in the Marina Bay area. Members of the public can help keep each other safe by informing one another of ground developments.

The Police regularly analyse major incidents, which occur around the world to improve their crowd management measures. They also regularly review their regulatory and policy levers, as well as operational plans. It is equally important that organisers and stakeholders act responsibly, including to adopt sufficient safety measures and to work with the authorities to keep events and the public safe.

Mr Speaker: Mr Gerald Giam.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I just have two supplementary questions. What lessons has MHA learnt or drawn from the recent tragedies in South Korea and Indonesia, to ensure that such incidents do not occur in Singapore. I understand as the Minister of State said that MHA does read and understand what happens in other parts of the world. So, will the Ministry be obtaining and studying the detailed investigation reports from the respective governments?

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his question. Definitely, the Police and the SCDF do regularly analyse incidents that happen in other parts of the world to see what lessons we can learn through these unfortunate incidents.

First and foremost, many of the questions filed were about the number of persons or the size of the crowd. But I think what is also important to understand and acknowledge is that it is not just about the absolute size of the crowd. You can have a situation whereby the absolute size is not very large, but actually, they are in a very concentrated, very congested area; and that there might not be entry and exit points that are regularly available.

So, I just wanted to clarify and elaborate that it is not just about the absolute size of the crowd, but about the specific terrain that we are looking at. So, before any incident happens, when the Police is aware that there is an event that is about to happen, when they receive notification of the application for the event, the Police actually works with the EOs to understand the lay of the land, to get a sense of what are the entry and exit points, to see whether or not, at least, from what we can understand pre-event, that this is an area whereby pre-emptively, we can ensure that we can have good crowd flow to prevent such incidents from happening.

Secondly, I think the Member had filed a question about the use of tear gas. I would be quite specific about this – that the Police will only use riot control agents, which include tear gas, in very specific situations where there is a serious threat of harm to persons and property or the risk of significant public disorder. Just based on recent memory, I do not think there have been recent incidents whereby we use tear gas because we acknowledge that it can cause public chaos. So, another lesson that we have learnt from looking at incidents that happen overseas is that the actions that we take have to be proportionate and we have to be very careful in the way we handle such incidents.

Mr Speaker: Dr Tan Wu Meng.

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): I thank the Minister of State for her answer. I have Clementi residents who saw what happened at these tragedies elsewhere in the world and were concerned as well. I have two supplementary questions. The first question is, do our agencies look for situations where there may be multiple events, multiple gatherings that individually do not cross the threshold for notification but which may actually lead to a substantial crowd, either by coincidence or by just the organic growth of the crowd around these events and gatherings?

Secondly, does our MHA Home Team also look at how the flow of the crowd may go after a major event is completed and dispersed? I say this because I have had Clementi residents who were able to attend F1 this year and they felt that the crowds were quite substantial after the race ended and when people were heading home, heading off in multiple different directions through different thoroughfares.

Mr Speaker: Dr Tan, do keep your supplementary questions shorter, please.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: That is all. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. First and foremost, even where there are instances where the individual event itself does not cross thresholds, I think we recognise that typically when crowds gather, they tend to happen around two specificities.

One is that it typically happens around specific festivals. So, where there are specific festivals, whether or not it is New Year or Christmas, I think our Police are on quite high alert and they know that there are, historically, venues that crowds will gather. So, it is not like if, let us say, for example, in a place like Orchard Road, you can have different groups of crowds gathering, each does not cross the threshold of 5,000, but it does not mean that the Police are not doing anything. Because the Police would already be quite well aware that this particular venue is a place where crowds typically can gather and they will gather around specific times of the year; and they would be on standby, there would be Police patrols to ensure that there is law and order and to disperse crowds if necessary.

On the second point, indeed, I had mentioned in my earlier reply, about both entries and exits, and is not just about physical doors. It is also about how people move in and out of an event. Many of us would have attended National Day Parades and all sorts of other large-scale events before. You would have noticed that we have road diversions and we have had crowd marshals. That will take place both before and after an event.

Mr Speaker: Mr Murali Pillai.

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. I have two supplementary questions for the hon Minister of State. First, I wonder whether the Police is minded to develop bespoke regulations to deal with different types of crowds. For example, a crowd at a rock concert would behave differently from a crowd at a place of worship. And this is something that is found in scientific literature and the practical considerations are different. So, I wonder whether the Police could consider this suggestion.

Second, on the point about voice amplification made by the hon Minister of State, I wonder whether the Police is minded to leverage on technology. For example, issuing SMS text messages at a particular area so that all the people in the crowd would get the right message and act in accordance with the Police advice.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his two suggestions. It always allows us to further think about how we can improve our processes.

On the first point that he mentioned about bespoke regulations, I just wanted to add that when the Police assess an event or potential risk, it is not just about physical attributes such as the terrain or numbers of people. Indeed, we also do pay attention to the dynamics of the crowd – what kind of people are likely to attend, what kind of fervour or enthusiasm or emotions they will likely display. So, these are already taken into account. When the Police work with the EOs in the first instance to think about how to best manage the crowd.

On the second point, definitely, we are always on the lookout for better use of technology. We do have an SGSecure app. I would have to check internally whether or not we use it to send out SMS notifications, but that is one possibility. So, thank you very much.

Mr Speaker: Mr Gan Thiam Poh.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio): I thank the Minister of State for the clarifications. I just want to ask whether MHA has identified some areas where it would advise the public not to hold events that could lead to these possible consequences.

Ms Sun Xueling: Yes, like I mentioned earlier, we work very actively with EOs in the first instance. So, when we are aware that EOs want to specifically organise an event, and at that point in time, when they submit their application, they would already mention the venue, the likely crowd size and what their crowd control measures are. At that point in time, if the venue is not something that is suitable, the Police would already inform them.

Mr Speaker: Mr Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Thank you, Speaker. May I ask the Minister of State, what if there is no one single organiser? For example, at Clarke Quay and Boat Quay, where many pubs organise New Year Countdown events. Who would the Police typically liaise with, in trying to manage the crowd, where there are large crowds of people in those areas? So, Clarke Quay and Boat Quay, where there are New Year Countdowns.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his question. Like my earlier response, I believe it was to Dr Tan Wu Meng, we are aware that there are certain venues that typically over festivities, there would be crowds. Whether or not there is a specific EO organising the entire event, does not change the fact that there would be Police, security, crowd control, crowd marshals on standby and Police patrolling the venue and the entire event space.

Where there are separate applications by individual EOs, even though it might not be one combined EO for the whole space, the Police would have already made their individual assessment and they would know that, for example, there is going to be a large-scale event because this is the New Year or something. And after considering what is the likely size of the overall crowd, regardless of whether or not the individual EOs have specified what their individual crowd sizes are, the Police would assess it as a whole.

So, it is not so much as like they definitely have to have one counterparty to discuss with. They will look at law and order and public control as a whole and they will deploy the necessary trained personnel and crowd marshals. Sometimes, they may also activate volunteers – some of the EOs may have volunteers – to take into account what the overall crowd management situation should be like.