A world of idiots.

[C-130]

I finished work at 5:20 today but decided to hold onto 6:00 for a lift home (why pay for transport?). Anyway I had to wait in the tearoom and as I waited the fire alarm started at about 5:35. At this point after the many months of training recieved in the evnt of an actua fire alarm going off do this I looked around perplexed with a an fire alarm? really? Now? why?

So instead of running out like I should do. I went downstairs and notice customers just wandering IGNORING THE ALARM and staff who are just lost and confused. And a few members running checking everything! I went to tills to see my superviser who said I have deicded to say we are nott o evacuate. i am not sure if there is a fire or not!

As i recall my traiing any alarm is to be responded to with an evacuation! We can not confirm nor deny a fire but we should evacuate! I actually got into ym role for a fire and told customers ot start making there way to a fire exit. There reply: "Their is no real need. i mean its only an alarm." I believe I have fallen into a world of idiots.

if a fire alarm goes off in your place of work doy uo evacuate?

[Chromatix]

The usual policy *anywhere* is to evacuate if a fire alarm goes off. There are occasional exceptions, such as hospitals, but those places have special needs and precautions.

In some types of buildings it is *critical* to get out within a couple of minutes in case of a real fire. That was the case at the secondary boarding school I went to, which had been converted from a stately home and had a lot of old wood in the structure.

In most types of office buildings, an evacuation takes a while, for example due to stairwells, and must therefore be started immediately so that it can be completed before the fire breaks out from it's original seat.

In public-accessible buildings you have a special problem, in that the public does not know the local procedure or where the nearest exits are. That's why the main fire exits from a theatre or cinema are normally at the front (where they can be seen) and indicated with big green EXIT signs. In retail, you as staff have the responsibility of ensuring that customers know that they need to get outside, to leave their shopping behind so that they can move more quickly, and to direct them to the nearest usable exit.

In a transport hub, the problem is like retail but magnified, because there are generally a lot more people and about the same number of staff. A fire at a transport hub tends to be treated as a potentially major incident by the fire service and the police, who will both show up in force and in double-quick time to help with corralling the wandering masses, and to control any confirmed fire ASAP.

[ShadowTiger]

I remember the fire my store had half a year ago in the summer. I saw the fire, and started shoo'ing everyone out as one of the staff pulled the fire alarm. Roughly 90% of the population of the customers continued their shopping. One person pulled me aside to yell at me that his shopping experience had been greatly disturbed by the incessant alarm. I told him there was a fire in the store, and he told me "Well!? What are you waiting for? Put it out so I can keep shopping! Don't be such a cock!" (He was an old man. He seriously used that word. )

So people kept on shopping. I passed the register and there was this one lady who wanted to buy an umbrella as the cashier was leaving her till. She absolutely insisted that she needed the umbrella to go to the beach or she would "just die." The cashier generally agreed with her that she would just die, but only on the condition that she stay to complete the transaction, considering that the fire was about a diagonal 50 feet behind the customer.



Then you consider all the people who drive up to the store with 92% of its staff sitting outside on the sill, smoking or chatting, and the tremendous industrial fans mounted on a pole across the open entrance double doors, oh, and the Fire Engine parked right outside the entrance, and the lights off, and the smoke billowing out the door, looking at them, and not thinking "Hey, is there something going on here?" No, the line is "Why can't I go in? I'm the customer, damnit."

We posted huge signs and everything shoo'ing people away. Of course nobody notices them either. One person drove over one of our signs with their car.

[Dips]

if a fire alarm goes off in your place of work doy uo evacuate?

Yes. Even if I know for a fact that it's a false alarm, the sound is loud enough that remaining in the building is physically uncomfortable.

If it's nice out we hang around outside. If it's not nice out we split into small groups and retreat into our cars.

[C-130]

Yes. Even if I know for a fact that it's a false alarm, the sound is loud enough that remaining in the building is physically uncomfortable.

If it's nice out we hang around outside. If it's not nice out we split into small groups and retreat into our cars.

Some genius in my company decided that the alarm should be deafening only in the staff areas and in the shop floor it is rather quite. It meets the bare minimal requirments of audible throughout even through closed doors. However, one failure we did have in store was all security doors are meant to release for quick evacuation upstairs and the person in charge of safe is meant to be able to stay in the room locked if the safe will not shut. Our security doors did not release and instead responded as if it were a burglar alarm in that our doors totally bolted shut upstairs. Meaning you had to stop to place in a key code which hinders my exit. if their where a fire in that area of store i could potentially die if that occurs again.

I do believe the look of amazement from members of staff is tremndous as if we are not trained for a fire alarm. And i can not forget the customer whom i instructed to moe to check out and leave the buildings reply of "I know but these flowers are just too important to miss out on". I wonder if she knows the death people can experience due to a fire? Idiot.

[Zoom]

My store has had fires, but interestingly the alarms never went off. (I must remember the last fire we had, that would make a good story some time.)

[Sheldonrs]

Our office building has fire drills. Each company has to account for every employee, there or not. If we can't, we get fined.

The last one we had was 2 months ago. When they gave us the all clear, we all came back in to find the elevators not working.
It's only 4 floors but it's not a pretty sight to see some of us after that. lol!

[morgana]

I've said it here before, I'll say it here again. If I hear a fire alarm, don't get between me and the door; you'll have footprints on your back.

Don't get me wrong; I'll give a warning. But if the customers want to DIAF, I'll let 'em DIAF. It'll leave the gene pool a little cleaner.

[Krivak]

I've said it here before, I'll say it here again. If I hear a fire alarm, don't get between me and the door; you'll have footprints on your back.

Don't get me wrong; I'll give a warning. But if the customers want to DIAF, I'll let 'em DIAF. It'll leave the gene pool a little cleaner.

I imagine where you work, there's a note from you saying:

"If a fire alarm goes off, and you are between me and the door, the only warning you shall receive is the pit pat of my shoes going full steam towards that door."

[morgana]

Not really. In fact, the first one we had in my current position, I guided the new employees (three of them) to the nearest door, and showed them where our office meets to make sure everybody's out.

However, had any of them acted like some of the idjits you all have been talking about, I would've abandoned them. I'm not getting killed because some idjit's being an idjit.

[Midorikawa]

I work in a data center that is equipped with an automatic door lock and an FM-200 nozzle every so many feet (there's one directly above my head).

While it's not as dangerous as the old Halon systems, FM-200 is definitely a "get out or die" situation, as the gas is designed to displace oxygen in the room, killing the fire without killing the precious servers. According to my training, we get 1 minute to leave from the time the alarm starts ringing, then it's bye bye world.

So, yes, it's vital I leave in the event of an alarm, no matter whether it's false or not. :-P

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The swamp's fire alarm would be the sprinklers going off. Or somebody yelling or announcing over the PA "Fire, get out now" or some such.

There's been a couple fires, but they were well before my time.