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  • Emergency Policies?

    Is there anyone else who works in a place where if theres an emergency youre kind of expected to deal with it? The recent thread about a fire in a building made me think about it.

    For example, the fire policy at my job:

    Were expected to fight it until its totally out of control lol.

    One time we had a fire (paper dust is very flamable) about 90 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 40 feet high lol, we all ran, and had to use equipment we werent trained on and hoses and had to put it out lol.

    Mind you we do have an EMS team, but that was small and they werent called, neither was the fire dept lol. I finally talked the supervisor into giving our crew live training on all our equipment, and he scheduled it for friday, so pretty sweet all in all.

    We recently had to emergency purge and drain a boiler and the whole back end except one operator was evacuated, and we werent even told about it, but could hear the blow off lol, but we were kept working. Mind you, if that boiler ever exploded it would be much like a hydrogen bomb that would leave a 5 mile wide hole in the ground...so maybe its better to be vaporized instantly lol.


    I guess neither of these things even really bother me, i mean if we waited for the fire dept wed all be out of work, so i guess its just what you do.

  • #2
    Quoth Pimento View Post
    Is there anyone else who works in a place where if theres an emergency youre kind of expected to deal with it?
    As a student paramedic pretty much every job is an emergency - prior to that I worked for the police so again...

    Two jobs prior to that I was the nominated first aider for the site so that's probably more along the lines you're after - but nothing ever happened when I was there!
    A PSA, if I may, as well as another.

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    • #3
      We have a specific policy in the event we need to evac the hotel or something like that. For most stuff, though, it's just "call the police".

      We did have a small hedge fire once. Myself and a guest managed to get it out with fire extinguishers before the fire dept. arrived.

      And we aren't supposed to do first aid unless we can show we have some sort of certification. Though personally, I'm not going to wait for EMS if I find a kid drowning in the pool or something like that. If it comes down to my job or saving a life, I choose the latter, because I couldn't live with myself if I chose the first. (I am currently certified, but since my wallet was stolen about a year ago I can't currently produce said certification, not right away anyway.)
      Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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      • #4
        Ya know, this brings up the point (to me anyway) that we really don't have any actual emergency policies in place where I work. Hmm, might have to see if we can do something about that.

        Minor emergencies (falls, customer having a seizure or something in the store) I got no problem coping with. Hit 911 on the phone and do what I can to help til professionals arrive. Maybe I'm weird, but unless other factors are involved, I'm inclined to class robbery as a (relatively) minor emergency. Long as no one gets hurt.

        Major emergencies... well, if it involves fire the main thing would be to get everyone in or near the store the hell OUT, pronto. Because very soon now, there's likely not gonna BE much left of the store.

        I know it's not really the same thing, but when I was driving a truck for a living (long haul OTR), I had to cope with little stuff on almost a daily basis. And twice I had to cope with full blown honest to gosh life threatening situations (not a damn thing POTENTIAL about either one of them, either). I reacted correctly in both situations, or at least correctly enough that I am still here and so is the lady who wiped out her little compact car just in front of me going down the expressway at highway speeds. I've learned that I don't exhibit panic til the emergency is over, and that my snap reaction is fairly likely to be a good one.
        You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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        • #5
          At Grocery Store, it was very hard for me to drill it into my staff that their only priority in an emergency like a fire was to get themselves out of the store. No, I don't want you to search isle by isle for stray customers. Don't try to put out the fire with the hose full of cleaners or run around and look for the fire extinguishers. I especially don't want you going into the back room to check the bathrooms. No, I don't care if someone is going to shoplift a can of tuna during a fire alarm. Get out now.

          My job is to make an announcement on the speakers (or yell really loud if they were broken), and get myself out. Anyone who didn't make it out before me (and wasn't injured) would get written up. Yes, I had to do this more than once.

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          • #6
            Medical emergencies was handled on case by case with 911 always called.

            In the repair center, fires were just GET THE F' OUT AND STAY THE F' OUT. No, seriously, that was the entirety of the policy for fires, because we had some not so fun chemicals stored in there for various kinds of repairs.

            In the Mart of Wal, the policy wasn't much different, thanks to the fact that while the poles might be clearly marked.. by the time there is a fire, we're weren't gonna be able to see the markings. Our job was to get the customers in our area and ourselves out. I even think this would have been the one time I'd be allowed to smack the crap out of the customer to get them to leave their damned buggies of stuff and get out!

            Basically, thanks to the many various chemicals sold/used, it was too much to try to train us to put out fires. I mean, you can't use water on electrical (and I know a few of my co-workers would have been stupid enough to try) and lets just skip right over the pool supplies as well as the small engine cleaners.
            If I make no sense, I apologize. I'm constantly interrupted by an actual toddler.

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            • #7
              use to: but that was on board a military ship. depending on the type of fire, we were expected to call the shipboard emergency number, pass the word on where the fire was & what kind (then repeat the info). then grab the co2 and try to fight it until it became too dangerous to continue, in which case gtfo and set up boundaries etc.

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              • #8
                I worked at one office, only rule I recall in case of the fire alarm going off was that if you had one of those diskette boxes of company files on your desk, you were required to grab it and take it with you as you left (but they would regularly yell at women who grabbed their purses as well, even when they were right there at their desks). Sorry guys, if my purse is at my desk with me, I'm gonna grab it out of a drawer before evacuating unless I can see flames - there was almost always at least one theft during any fire drill.

                Madness takes it's toll....
                Please have exact change ready.

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                • #9
                  There are fire wardens at my office, one per floor. Unfortunately, due to a lack of planning, the one for the floor I'm on is an actual part-time fireman. He works in the office but gets called out for any emergencies due to the closeness of the fire station. This has led to a situation where if it's a fire practice he's around to help but if it's a real fire (where the fire warden has to help the disabled office workers down from the third floor and make sure that everyone's got out), he's running out of the door to the station the moment he hears the alarm. Bit of a bugger really.

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                  • #10
                    Yeah, i had some of my friends who work in an office type situation tell me that what my work expects is almost criminal, there was one time where the whole mill went up and we were told to keep working with sparks and stuff coming in the windows, with people on the roof wetting things down and other people at the other end of the machine keeping the flames at bay, it almost makes me wonder how many jobs would be saved if office people picked up a fire hose when there were just a few flames lol, ive repeatedly seen ametures put out large fires.

                    Though ill be the first to admit, that a fire in an industrial mill, is way different than being way up in a skyscraper. Plus i guess working in that kind of environment changes your "fight or flight" parameters a bit. Just to be clear im more or less seeing if my companies expectations are really that abnormal, or if theres other fields where its a "fight for your job" type deal.

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                    • #11
                      On the ships I was part of the fire team and was expected to put the equipment on and fight the fire if there was one, but I was also trained in industrial fire fighting during a four week long intensive course that included actually putting fires out in a full size mockup. I also had extensive medical training to help in medical emergencies, as the ships I worked on didn't carry nurses or doctors on board and we could be up to two days away from medical help unless an helo evac was called for.

                      At my current job, I'm to call an emergency over the radio, evacuate if hazardous materials are involved or attempt to put the fire out if it remains controllable, evacuate to a safe distance and monitor if uncontrollable until help arrives and inspect for damage afterwards. Or if the incident happens off property, I'm expected to be on scene as soon as humanly possible to inspect damage to the cars or locomotives and develop a repair plan and movement plan if at all possible. Also to render medical help if needed, as I kept that training up to date.

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                      • #12
                        Fire equipment here is for use to get yourself out to safety, unless it's an obviously small fire that can be contained & extinguished solo. Anything else is call-the-professionals time.
                        This was one of those times where my mouth says "have a nice day" but my brain says "go step on a Lego". - RegisterAce
                        I can't make something magically appear to fulfill all your hopes and dreams. Believe me, if I could I'd be the first person I'd help. - Trixie

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                        • #13
                          Where I work, we have a few rules for situations: 1. if the building was to catch fire someone in my department is to check the datacenter/computer room, for fire there, IF so we hit the power kill button if there's a fire on the floor. If not fire, we evac the building, then ONE of us goes back in and check that the datacenter is still ok, then evac again. (yes the DC is that important that they want eyes on it every 1 hour if an alarm is going off IF SAFE.
                          Crono: sounds like the machine update became a clusterf*ck..
                          pedersen: No. A clusterf*ck involves at least one pleasurable thing (the orgasm at the end).

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                          • #14
                            The usual policy over here is in three stages.

                            1) Get the evacuation of everyone else started, and call the emergency services to the scene. In many places both of these can be accomplished by simply using the break-glass panels beside each evacuation route. But call the emergency number (999 in the UK, 112 elsewhere) anyway to be sure.

                            2) Tackle the fire if safe to do so. The positions of the extinguishing equipment are clearly marked, and often beside the break-glass panels. In the kitchen, turn off the stove and know how to use the chip-pan blanket.

                            3) GTFO. If you hear the alarm from step 1 and don't know where the fire is yourself, start here. Know in advance what the main routes are, noting that they will often be different from daily operation.

                            This is heavily modified for specific circumstances, however. For example, on board a train:

                            1) Get away from any part of the train that is actually on fire, dangling over a cliff, etc. Unless the train is in a station, the best way is to move to another carriage.

                            2) Use the passenger communication equipment ("pull the cord") to inform the traincrew of the problem (this applies to medical emergencies, as well as things that endanger the train as a whole such as bags stuck in doors or fires). On modern trains this includes an intercom to give the driver more information, after which he will decide where to stop the train. On older trains it will simply apply the brakes, prompting the crew to investigate.

                            3) DO NOT LEAVE THE TRAIN unless it is at a platform, or you are directed to do so by the traincrew, or the situation is becoming unsurvivable on board and you have no on-train evacuation options left. There may be live rails, live wires, and fast-moving trains immediately outside, which are probably more dangerous than staying inside. NB: traincrew usually know enough about the line to know where it is safe to get out, and they can also communicate with ground staff (eg. signalmen) to make the track area safe to evacuate into (stop trains, turn off power). They may also want to move the train to a place that is not in a tunnel, deep cutting or on a hundred-foot-tall viaduct.

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                            • #15
                              We get regular training in the hospital for what to do in case of fires. We use two acronyms, pretty much nationally, RACE and PASS. We have to be prepared to tell Joint Commission what those mean in case of an inspection.

                              PASS refers to the fire extinguisher. During regular drills, we're expected to know where the extinguishers are and where the oxygen cutoff switches are (oxygen is VERY flammable if it soaks into bedding, which is why smoking is no longer allowed in hospitals). PASS means Pull Aim Squeeze Sweep. Pull the pin, aim the hose, squeeze the trigger, and sweep the area back and forth. I've used a fire extinguisher on a trash can fire, and this put it right out.

                              RACE means Rescue Activate Contain Evacuate. Rescue anyone in immediate danger of the fire, activate the fire alarm, contain the fire (often by closing a door) and evacuate the immediate area.

                              I've also had training in how to use stretcher chairs to move immobile patients down stairs (elevators are verboten in a fire).

                              Fire drills are regular occurrences. Operator pages overhead a code. Doctor Red is a common one, or Code Red, and the location.

                              For other emergencies we have other codes. Code Pink means infant/child abduction. That's pretty standard. Other codes vary by hospital. Code Blue is cardiac arrest, usually. Code Brown is either a bomb threat or a bad joke about dirty beds, depending Code White is a tornado warning.

                              For injuries like falls, the reaction depends on the hospital. Most places, you call the ER and they send someone up to evaluate if they need to be seen. Or the nearest available nurse handles it.

                              We once had the wife of a patient have a seizure and arrest right in the patient's room. We evacuated the patient and the floor staff worked her like any other CPR (with a successful resuscitation I might add), then sent her to the ER where she was evaluated and admitted to ICU.

                              For disturbances (usually family members or visitors, sometimes the patient) we'll call a Manpower alert and get staff with special training in dealing with violence to respond. Hospital security also responds. Hospital security varies; one place I worked was so small we had no security and just called the cops if we needed them (rare). Other places, the security was pretty much a joke, but some places they were very well trained and very good.

                              If weapons were involved, we called 911 straight away. Had that happen a few times, also in instances where a staff member was assaulted weapons or no.
                              They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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