Joint Operations Centre worked well during World Cup

The City of Cape Town has opened a Joint Operations Centre at the Transport Management Centre in Goodwood to help with operations during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. According to the spokesperson for Disaster Risk Management operations, Greg Pillay, to date at the centre has gone off without a hitch.

"It has worked remarkably well, all the applicable role players seated together in one room. In addition we have external role players like the South African Police Force, the Defence Force as well as provincial government representatives from the Western Cape. In addition to this we also have a lot of high-tech equipment available to us, including the CCTV footage. These images are actually used very gainfully to look at overcrowding and other issues as such."

Pillay said the centre is used mostly for monitoring purposes. "To a large extent it is has a monitoring overview facility. The idea is to be on top of matters and as they arise look at remedial action. We particularly look at the venues and the way venues fill so we use it as a monitoring tool at all the public viewing areas that basically gives you the totals as people enter the public viewing areas. This allows us to immediately get an idea of crowding and then you can also decide to remedial action. We also have a variable electronic signage on the free ways which is also control by the centre."

Warning system

According to Pillay, this has helped the City in warning the public of venues that are full. "In an instance for example if a particular area was full or overflowing we are able to then re-direct the public through the variable signage and ask them not to go to that venue. If the Fanfest at the Grand Parade such messaging has gone out in the last view weeks."

Pillay said that the high tech equipment at the Joint Operations Centre had alerted them to the possible stampede at the Grand Parade Fanfest at the free concert hosted before the kick off to the World Cup. "It is exactly because we had that in place that we were able to monitor the Grand Parade Fanfest.

"Remedial action could then be taken and we were able to avert a possible incident or disaster from occurring. That happened on the eve of the 2010 launch. Some of the lessons learnt out of that were then brought into future planning. That has helped us to a large extent to ensure that we have appropriate crowd management place," he said.

Pillay added that since the start of the World Cup no major changes have been made to how the centre has operated. He said that it was not unusual for the City of Cape Town to establish a Joint Operations Centre for major events.

"We have used this before. This principle has been ongoing for many years now that you have a Joint Operations Centre overseeing a major event. In addition to that each venue will have a Venue Operations Centre (VOC) in place and the Joint Operations Centre is in communication with the VOC. There are good organizational arrangements in place and communication with various role-player," Pillay said.