SHORT & TWEET

Crowd safety maven; Crowd safety expert and consultant Paul Wertheimer, formerly of Chicago and now of Los Angeles, is featured in an article in the February 7 issue of The New Yorker.

The article, "Crush Point: When large crowds assemble, is there a way to keep them safe?" by John Seabrook, focuses on the 2008 post-Thanksgiving "Black Friday" crowd crush at a Wal-Mart store on Long Island, N. Y., in which a store worker died.

In 2009, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited and lined Wal-Mart. Although the fine was minimal - - $7,000 - the implications wereifar-reaehing, and Wal-Mart contested the decision.

To prove their case, OSHA needed an expert to testify that proper crowd management could have prevented the disaster. They found their expert in Wertheimer, the only one willing to go up against the retail giant, according to the article. He testified that the store should have been prepared for the crowd crush and he detailed safety measures it could have taken. A verdict has not yet been handed down.

Wertheimer, born and raised in Chicago, founded and runs the company Crowd Management Strategies. In 2002, the company was the first to publish on the Internet, with permission, an Israeli police leaflet on how to spot potential terrorists (Jewish Star, Sept. 13, 2002). Wertheimer is the brother of Jewish Star editor Douglas Wertheimer.

Gantz approved as IDF head: Major-General Benny Gantz has received the unanimous approval of Israel's Cabinet, as the new Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, ending a process of appointments and cancellations that began to resemble a soap opera (Jewish Star, February 11). Gantz is former Deputy Chief of Staff and head of the Northern Command. Sworn in on Feb-13, Gantz met with Adm. Mike Mullen, his U.S. counterpart, who was in Israel for the farewell ceremony for Gantz's predecessor, Gabi Ashkenazi.

- Compiled by the CHICAGO JEWISH STAR