Capacity and escape route calculator
How many people may be on your site or in your hall? The question has three answers, not one: the floor area sets one limit, the width of the exits sets a second, and the permit may set a third. The smallest one applies — and in practice it is rarely the one you thought of first.
Written for people organising LARPs, conventions, medieval markets, theatre and club events who want to know what they are talking about before they file with the licensing authority. The calculator shows all three limits together and tells you how much exit width is missing when the escape routes are the bottleneck.
The number this produces is the starting point for everything else — it opens the Safety concept assistant and it decides how much medical cover you need: Medical services calculator.
This result does not hold
- Without a floor area there is no capacity to calculate. Enter the area visitors actually use.
- Choose how the space is used. Standing, seated at tables or seated in rows halves or doubles the permissible number.
- Choose whether the area is inside a building or in the open. Escape route widths are measured differently for each.
- No exit is entered. Without an escape route there is no permissible visitor number.
Maximum number of visitors
0 persons
The floor area is the binding limit.
- 0 persons by floor area
- 0 persons by escape routes
- 0 persons — Total people on site (including crew)
- Creditable exit width: 0.00 m
- Required for this number of people: 0.00 m
Without an exit of at least 1.20 m clear width there is no permissible visitor number.
How this is calculated
Capacity by area follows MVStättVO § 1 Abs. 2: one visitor per square metre for seating at tables and for exhibition rooms, two per square metre for row seating and standing room.
Escape route capacity follows § 7 Abs. 4: every 1.20 m of clear width carries 200 people out of a building and 600 off an open-air site, because outdoors there is no smoke to outrun. Width is measured in units of 0.60 m, the width of one person-stream. A 1.50 m exit therefore counts as 1.20 m, and anything under 1.20 m is not an escape route at all.
Crew count towards the escape routes, because everyone has to get out. They do not count towards the area limit, which measures visitor places. So the calculator subtracts crew from the escape route capacity and not from the area capacity.
- MVStättVO § 1 Abs. 2 — determining visitor numbers
- MVStättVO § 7 Abs. 4 — dimensioning escape route width
- MVStättVO § 43 Abs. 2 — safety concept from 5,000 visitors
Every figure with its source and review date is in the metrics register — including when it was last checked against the regulation.
Common questions
The model regulation covers assembly venues, which includes open-air sites with a stage area above a certain size. For a tent camp in the woods without a stage it often does not apply directly. The figures are still the best available yardstick, and they are what an authority will measure you against. Plan with them, and settle the classification with your licensing authority early.
Because escape routes are measured in person-streams of 0.60 m. Two streams fit through 1.20 m, three need 1.80 m. The 30 cm in between carry nobody extra. To gain capacity you have to reach the next full step.
Because the permit is a ceiling, not a guarantee. If your exits carry fewer people than the permit allows, the smaller number applies — and that is exactly what gets examined if something happens. Enter the permit figure anyway, and you will see which of the three limits actually binds you.
From 5,000 visitors MVStättVO § 43 Abs. 2 requires one. Below that the authority may require one, and with fire, staged combat, night operation or minors present it regularly does. Either way, the risk assessment under DGUV 215-310 is your duty as the organiser regardless.
Organiser briefing
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Related tools
- Safety concept assistantA guided seven-step risk assessment, with hazard catalogue, measures plan and emergency card.
- Toilet and camp supply calculatorToilets, washbasins, showers, water and waste — and which of it the regulation actually prescribes.
- Medical services calculatorThe Maurer scheme and the Cologne algorithm side by side — helpers, vehicles, physicians, patrol districts.
Orientation value. This calculator is no substitute for talking to the licensing authority, the building inspectorate, the fire service or a qualified planner. The German states each adapt the model regulation, so what binds your event is your state's version plus the conditions in your own permit.
Figures as of: 1.0 · last reviewed: 2026-09-18