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New BBC report says medical team understaffed at Asake crowd crush show
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 23 February 2023
The company that provided trained medical staff for the Asake show at the Brixton Academy last December – where two people died when a crowd crush incident occurred – has confirmed that it had five people on site for the concert, even though certain industry guidelines recommend ten people with relevant medical training for an event of that size.
That’s according to a new report from the BBC, which previously spoke to two whistleblowers who regularly work for Collingwood Services, the provider of medical staff for the Asake show. Although those two people were not working at the Brixton Academy on the night of the crowd crush, one said they had spoken to colleagues who were.
The whistleblowers claim that the Asake show was understaffed, adding that the same had happened at previous events too, and that “very often they would just tell you the extra staff were running late but they would never turn up”.
One of the whistleblowers also sent the BBC photos of seemingly out of date medical supplies used by Collingwood at the Islington Academy which, like the Brixton Academy, is also operated by the Academy Music Group.
Collingwood has now told the BBC that there were five trained medical staff in attendance at the Asake show. That included two student paramedics, two “first responders” and one “EMT”.
The BBC notes that “first responder” and “EMT” are somewhat vague terms that don’t really indicate the qualifications of the personnel Collingwood sent to the show.
The company declined to provide further details regarding the specific qualifications of its people, except to say that “all staff present were qualified to carry out the scope of practice they were contracted to perform”.
It added that – following an internal investigation into last December’s crowd crush incident – it was was fully confident that its team had “responded speedily, efficiently and with best practice. We believe strongly that the swift action and skill of medical staff, emergency services and others who assisted … were instrumental in avoiding further serious injuries or loss of life”.
The claim that there should have been double the number of trained medical staff at the Asake show is based on the BBC’s review of event industry guidelines. In particular it cites The Purple Guide, which is mainly focused on outdoor events, but – says the BBC – “is now also used as a benchmark for indoor ones too”.
It is based on those guidelines that the BBC reckons a sell out show at the Brixton Academy, with a capacity of just under 5000, should possibly have had on site eight first aiders, plus a paramedic or emergency care practitioner, and a nurse or emergency nurse practitioner.
The BBC’s new report on the medical staff employed at last December’s Asake show follows its earlier programme that made allegations about security personnel at the concert.
That included claims that the security team on site that night was also under-staffed, and that some stewards on the doors were colluding in the sale of fake tickets, allowing extra people into the venue for what was already a sold out show.
The Brixton Academy is currently closed after its licence was temporarily suspended as London police continue with their investigation into the crowd crush.
