In which a fire alarm is cause for doubting my self-worth

[Jetfire]

Really, one of the things that should be done, now that the emergency is over, is a meeting with you, the security guard and any other workers who were on duty, along with other appropriate people, to go over what happened, how it was handled and what can be done to improve it.

This meeting should NOT be a finger pointing exercise (but sadly some managers would probably do that. ). It should be a way to highlight weaknesses and flaws in the plans and training regimes.

The fact that the skill update is non existant should be one huge red flag that should be fixed.

It also seems that there isn't a hard copy emergency contact list (which includes 911, Fire, Police, Hospital, Ambulance, etc...) at the desk in a place that can't be lost. (As in it should be laminated and taped down somewhere so everyone can know where it is, and it can't walk off)

All in all, it does sound like you did the best of the bad situation. Now is the time to look at what happened (both in the car accident and the fire alarm), and see if there is any ways that could be improved/done differently so you're better prepared for the next time.

[KuariKaydrith]

One of the main things that gets handled by the Occupational Health & Safety committee at my work is building evacuations. I'm on the committee and we visit this topic each and every meeting because there is always room for improvement regardless of how well things went during the last drill or actual evacuation.

We have a muster station that is outside of and away from our building - if there is an actual fire in the place why would we want anybody to stay in the building? Yes, we do have handicapped folks that have difficulties in getting out, especially as we have to go down a couple flights of stairs and the elevators shut down as soon as the alarm goes...we have a buddy system implemented, and supervisors are aware of who may be in a stairwell, unable to get down the stairs (this took us forever to get properly implemented until some of us on the committee proceeded to lose our shit at the offending supervisors - it doesn't matter if the employee is not on YOUR team, you're responsible for ANY employee that goes out the door you're responsible for!!!!).

I would seriously recommend that you contact the fire department to ask about fire safety instructions for your site - they will be happy to assist. And if you don't have somebody trained in OH&H procedures there I would strongly push your employer to get at least one person per shift trained, and then run refreshers on a regular basis. I'm in full agreement that reviewing whatever is in the employee handbook 8 months ago is not sufficient. We revisit the evacuation procedures a minimum of once a quarter, as per provincial OH&S requirements, and make changes as necessary...such as moving the muster station.

I would say that the OP did pretty damn good considering the situation. Yes, more training is clearly needed but that needs to start at the top - management seems to have gotten pretty complacent and apparently does not want to admit that it is THEIR failing in keeping the staff current on evac procedures. Regular fire drills are necessary as well as reviewing/updating those procedures on a regular basis.

[Shangri-laschild]

I called 911. Upon silencing the alarm, I called them back to ask them to cancel that order for a firetruck (with extra mushrooms, and sauce on the side), but the fire truck was pulling up outside and a very nice female firefighter came in and reset the alarm, and also informed me that herding guests to the lobby won't cut it next time. They have to head out to the dumpster or else we'll get a ticket.

...

"It's easy to turn it off," he said, "You just find out what zone it's in and shut it off. That alarm went on too long and you inconvenienced everybody."

I work in a college police dept (full police, not security) and I will tell you that despite training and the fact that I dispatch police, the first time the fire alarm went off it was still a mess of "oh crap, what am I supposed to be doing??" so don't feel bad. And it does get annoying with all the phone calls. We have that here, alarm goes off and suddenly all the teachers are calling to see if it's a false alarm or a test, despite knowing that they have to evacuate either way no matter what they are doing in class. I learned the hard way due to bad training that the firefighters are very strict about things. Alarm goes off, people have to be evacuated. And the alarm can't be shut off by anyone but them. We aren't even allowed to silence it except for getting the alarm computer to stop beeping at us. The audible alarm still stays on, even if the officers can figure out exactly where the problem is and that it's safe. The fire department has to come out every single time no matter what even if we know the cause (who decided to put the smoke detector under the popcorn machine that the student workers were handling??) which is why whenever they are working on the system and think they might set it off, they take the alarm offline so that the fire dept isn't automatically contacted. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. It'd been a long time since training and this was your first one. It sounds like you handled it well.

[eltf177]

And yes, he meant we should drag customers out if need be, because he was a tech before he became manager. The only faith he had left in customers were that they had no common sense.

That's a pretty fair summary of the average customer...

[morgana]

First, finish ringing up current customer, get them to pay, meanwhile try getting the other customers to leave their precious stuff behind and get outside. You had to wait until all customers were clear before you could leave. Oh, and we had to be calm and polite as possible so as to avoid scaring or pissing off customers.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

No. Manager wants somebody to burn to death to keep from annoying customers, he can do it himself. I'll be in the parking lot, talking to the customers who have a clue.

[blas]

A few years back, I remember supervisors and managers being so damn obsessed with productivity (I mean, just about the same as now, just different people), that they asked for volunteers to stay INSIDE during our annual fire drill. No. That stuff is timed and needs to be reported to OSHA and the local fire department. People did volunteer, though, and I'm sure they lied and said everyone got out in time.

Also, another time, we had an alarm test go off without any warning over the PA system, and when everyone went to leave the room and evacuate, my shift lead was screaming at everyone to get back to work, that it was just a test, we need to keep these machines running!!!

[Aragarthiel]

Yes, the visible smoke was from a customer who burned her toast, but it's always quite possible for there to be two sources of smoke; one of which you didn't see.

There could also be a chance of the smoky toaster actually bursting into flames. Not that I'd know...

[eltf177]

Also, another time, we had an alarm test go off without any warning over the PA system, and when everyone went to leave the room and evacuate, my shift lead was screaming at everyone to get back to work, that it was just a test, we need to keep these machines running!!!

"And that's when boss accidentally fell into the machine - several times" Blas sadly told the Fire Department...

[mathnerd]

Once while working for MajorBank, we had an actual tornado siren go off. This wasn't a test. There was an actual tornado aiming for the area. I happened to be on the phone at the time, and did what I was trained to do: tell the person "We have a tornado siren going off, so I have to disconnect", then hang up the phone without giving the person time to respond. A few days later I received a formal complaint for my rudeness. My boss ignored it once he figured out the banker was upset because I wouldn't keep researching the customer complaint in spite of the fact that we were all gathering in the tornado safe room.

[Jay 2K Winger]

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

No. Manager wants somebody to burn to death to keep from annoying customers, he can do it himself. I'll be in the parking lot, talking to the customers who have a clue.

This was my former CW, Little Mama Awesome's approach to an evacuation. She would not, under any circumstances, wait for management or a customer's say-so to evac a building if there was a fire alarm. She described it as "I have a higher calling. It's called 'Mommy.' I am gonna get home safe to my little girl."

[XCashier]

That's a pretty fair summary of the average customer...

Makes you wonder if they ought to bring in sheepdogs to round up the customers and herd them out the doors...

[Seshat]

If a flashover occurs, it's nearly instant. A trained firefighter can tell when one is likely - but I sure can't.

I also can't tell if a fire has compromised the structural integrity of the building, if the smoke is unusually toxic, or .. well, any of a hundred other dangers.


Now, if the boss asks for fire marshals, who will be trained by experts in evacuation procedures and regularly refresher-trained - that's one thing. Getting people out is a reason to stay in a burning building; if only for a short time.

[raudf]

Makes you wonder if they ought to bring in sheepdogs to round up the customers and herd them out the doors...

That's kinda why the alarms are designed the way they are. They're supposed to be just loud enough to drive you out of the store, but not loud enough to do damage. Given that I went to the "sister store" in the same city to shop and heard the alarm going off (they had a problem in the deli) and stupid customers were still trying to get in to shop! This was with doors locked and the fire trucks in the fire lane!

Given that, I'd be more afraid the customers would hurt the poor pooches in an effort to keep shopping and that's assuming you could get the dog into the burning store in the first place.

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the shire horse farm, the official line for a fire was "get out all customers and take them to the meeting point in the car park". The unofficial line, the one which we all planned on following, was "get the horses out the stable pronto cuz any member of the public without the sense to run towards the huge open doors is someone who needs to be excised from the gene pool".

[morgana]

any member of the public without the sense to run towards the huge open doors is someone who needs to be excised from the gene pool".

Amen, Lace. Amen.