Friday, March 28, 2003 | 9:25 a.m.
Februrary's nightclub tragedies in Chicago and West Warwick, R.I., frightened club-goers nationwide, many of whom have begun questioning the safety of venues throughout the country in recent weeks.
So just imagine what club owners have been going through for the past month. On Wednesday a group of nightclub owners and operators voiced some of their own concerns during a panel discussion on safety practices at this year's 34th annual International Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
"As an industry, it's become apparent we must act now," said moderator Thom Greco, a nightclub owner and past president of the National Bar & Restaurant Association. "There might be a few bad situations, but we want to clear the air to let people know we are being pro-active."
For 90 minutes, Greco and a six-member panel addressed a wide range of safety issues and took questions from an audience numbering approximately 50 in one of the Convention Center's seminar rooms.
"How many of you watched the Rhode Island fire and scratched your heads when the walls were on fire and the band was still playing?" asked Jon Taffer, a safety consultant and another past president of the association, referring to the West Warwick fire that broke out during a performance by heavy metal band Great White.
"You were probably wondering where management was, because ultimately, the responsibility ends with us," Taffer said.
Agreed Greco: "You can try to shift the blame to the fire department or to an independent security agency, but as owners, we're responsible."
Much of the discussion focused on the best way to determine a venue's occupancy load and on exit strategies.
"Don't always go by that occupancy number on the wall," Taffer warned. "You have to evaluate your own room, your furniture and other safety issues. There's a characteristic unique to each venue, so it's not always a simple formula."
Mike Pfieffer, vice president of code development for Chicago's International Code Council, used the very room hosting Wednesday's event to illustrate the difficulty in pinpointing a facility's occupancy load.
"We have double doors on each end of the room, so it could probably hold around 1,500 people, right?" Pfieffer asked rhetorically, before quickly adding, "Clearly not. With the number of seats we have in here, that would be far too many people. But for a wedding, when the floor is completely clear, that might be all right. So this is truly a multipurpose room, with different occupancy limits."
Jeff Donahue, a deputy fire marshal for Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, said his department has begun using "fire modelling" -- a computer program designed to simulate human behavior in a disaster scenario -- to help determine how many exits venues require and where those exits should be positioned.
Fire retardancy was another major topic, as club owners in the audience tossed out questions about the best way to get bring their materials up to code.
Sandra Baker, assistant fire chief for Clark County, said that the oldest way of testing an item's flame retardancy can often still be the best.
"When we get a large operation like a hotel or casino, there are so many different interior finishes in there," Baker said. "So we ask for a sample of each, and we get out a lighter and test the materials."
Pfeifer said he expects to see several changes in the nation's fire codes as a result of last month's two nightclub tragedies, including a possible regulation requiring sprinklers in all public assembly locations.
But Robert Smith, a San Diego police officer and nightclub security consultant, said that until the nation's nightclub owners and operators are willing to put in additional time and money, safety hazards will remain in place.
"There are 30,000 people at this convention, and only about 50 are in this room," Smith said. "That's not a great ratio. This industry is driven by money and regulations, and everything we've talked about costs money."
archive
