The potential risks in crowded large space buildings: Holy Mosque as case study

In crowded large space buildings, safety is one of the most important concerns for facilities managers. A flow of risk factors within crowded large space buildings such as sports stadiums, concert halls, and religious buildings have resulted in crowd disasters in various venues across the world. Every user in such facilities during mass gathering can be exposed to safety risks, which can be mitigated by using effective risk management as a component of facilities management. This paper focused on identifying the potential risks and indicators for each risk in crowded large space buildings. Two theoretical frameworks (FIST and Six dimensions and loci of crowd disaster) and other relevant literature were used to generate indicators for the respective factors. This study has identified a comprehensive model of the potential risks in crowded large space buildings containing 12 critical risk factors and 59 indicators that can be used as a measurement. The research chose to use the Holy Mosque in Makkah as a case study (crowded large space building), which is 356,800 square metres with a maximum capacity of two million users (pilgrims). Data was collected using iPad devices via a group-administered questionnaire distributed to 1,940 pilgrims across 62 different nationalities. The data was analysed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for descriptive analysis.