By David Gold
February 22 – In response to growing calls for “safe standing” areas, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has said that sports fans should remain seated at major stadia.
The safe-standing debate has been reignited recently; Premier League team Aston Villa have said that they will discuss the possibility of opening such an area for supporters while the Scottish Premier League has also said it will pilot safe standing.
Arguments in favour of safe standing often centre on the example of Germany, where seats can be easily folded into rails in parts of stands to create standing areas.
A survey for IOSH, which interviewed 3,000 fans, found that a third had been involved in a crowd surge.
It was such an incident at Hillsborough in 1989 prior to an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, and which led to the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans, which saw all-seater stadia brought into the top two divisions of English football.
IOSH say that terracing should not be reintroduced, and their view is backed by the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
The results of the survey were unveiled at Wembley at the launch of IOSH’s new Sports Grounds and Events Group.
The group’s chair John Holden said: “Safe seating should be provided wherever possible instead of standing areas to prevent any chance of crowd surges.
“While smaller terraces may pose less of a risk, it’s a known fact that it’s safer to sit than stand, especially where large numbers of people are in the same area.
“By allowing people to sit down they have their own safety zone in which they can safely support their team without the threat of being pushed, trampled on or crushed.
“Stewards, supervisors and safety officers need to be trained to the relevant standards in crowd safety management to help ensure accidents don’t happen.
“They spend enough money on players, football clubs – and other sports clubs for that matter – and should not be cutting corners with the safety of their supporters.”
Margaret Aspinall (pictured), whose son died in the disaster and is the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said: “There should be no terracing brought back to English League football.
“We’ve moved on since the 80s when football fans were treated like cattle.
“Fans feel safer and families can go to games and be 99.9 per cent certain they will go home safe – the legacy left behind by the deaths at Hillsborough is everyone’s safety.
“Those who want to forget what happened could end up reliving it again if standing was brought back.
“Why would people want to take 10 steps back when sports ground safety has now gone forwards.
“This is not an emotional mother speaking – it’s too late for our 96.
“This is about being a mother and having grandchildren and looking after their future.”
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