Crowd management employing nudge theory for safe elevator use by masses of occupants during a high-rise building evacuation

This study examined crowd control during elevator evacuation for masses of people. Managing the boarding of elevators in an orderly manner without excessively depending on guide staff is necessary to close the elevator doors, depart, and also avoid crowd accidents. Two candidate strategies are proposed in the present study based on the lifeboat operation and occupant elevator operation (OEO). Both of these strategies employ the nudge theory, meaning that if evacuees can board the elevator without waiting in the elevator hall for a long time among heavy congestion, the evacuees will feel they can board elevators smoothly without anxiety. Four evacuation scenarios, including the above two scenarios involving evacuation using elevators and staircases from the 40 th floor of a 43-story building, were replicated in first-person or over-the-shoulder perspectives in movies using a virtual 3D model building. Eighty-five fire safety professionals and 72 laypeople participated in the experiments. The results showed that both the lifeboat operation and the OEO approach effectively controlled the evacuees’ anxiety about waiting in elevator halls and experiencing difficulty when boarding the elevators. The differences in the results between the professionals and laypeople were small. However, the few significant differences between them suggest that understanding the intention of the evacuation strategy will increase the sense of relief during an evacuation. The well-planned design of elevator and staircase capacity is essential. Moreover, strategies for providing information, such as emergency broadcasts, guide staff, or regular evacuation drills, will also enhance the evacuees’ sense of relief. • Crowd management for safe elevator use by masses of evacuees is presented. • Evacuation movies in a virtual high-rise building were used for experiments. • Evacuees are nudged; if the wait time is short, they orderly board the elevators. • Staircases are used to control the evacuation flow to the elevators. • Guide staff and evacuation strategy information will improve the sense of relief.